Silymarin and its components are inhibitors of beta-glucuronidase.

Silymarin, a commercial crude drug used as a hepatoprotective, was found to inhibit 53% of beta-glucuronidase activity at a final concentration of 0.8 mg/ml. Of three compounds A, silybin and C, which were isolated from silymarin, A and silybin potently inhibited the enzyme activity, followed by C. beta-Glucuronidases of intestinal bacteria, HGU-1 and HGU-2, and E. coli HB101 were noncompetitively inhibited by silybin. beta-Glucuronidase of the feces of a healthy human and of a human with colon cancer were also inhibited by silybin, silymarin and saccharic acid 1,4-lactone at 0.03-0.15 mg/ml. Silymarin and silybin protected the increase in enzyme activity in the serum of the rats treated with CCl4.