Skip to main content
An official website of the United States government
Government Funding Lapse
Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov.

Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

milk thistle

A substance derived from any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs including the plant Silybum marianum. Milk thistle's active chemical component is silymarin, which is a combination of flavonoids such as silibinin, dehydrosilibinin, silychristin and silydianin. These compounds are antioxidants and may alter the membrane structure of the liver cell, thereby blocking the absorption of toxins; they may also stimulate the production of new liver cells. In addition, milk thistle may increase cellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels, exhibiting dose-dependent cardiac myocyte cytoprotection against doxorubicin. The silibinin component of milk thistle has been shown to inhibit growth factor receptor-mediated mitogenic and cell survival signaling, thereby inhibiting tumor growth.
Check for active clinical trials using this agentView this agent in the NCI Thesaurus
Search NCI's Drug Dictionary
Please enter up to 30 characters for your search