1,721,289 research outputs found
Naturally Occurring SGLT2 Inhibitors: A Review
No full textWith an increasing incidence of diabetes mellitus globally due to various factors, including unhealthy lifestyle, there is a need for developing novel drugs for the management of diabetes. This chronic metabolic disorder results in high blood glucose levels due to the body’s inability to reduce the concentration of glucose. The decreased secretion of insulin and increased resistance to insulin action contribute to the development of diabetes mellitus. There have been efforts to target pathways involved in the metabolism of blood glucose. It seems that most of the currently applied antidiabetic medications are associated with unwanted side effects. Hence, it appears that plant-derived chemicals can be considered as potential candidates in the management of diabetes. Sodium-glucose cotransporter inhibitors (SGLT2i) are synthetic hypoglycemic medications approved for managing patients with diabetes in lowering blood glucose. SGLT2i reduces blood glucose concentration by enhancing its urinary excretion and inhibition of its absorption through the kidney. It has been demonstrated that some of the naturally occurring nutraceutical agents can imitate the action of SGLT2i and, consequently, diminish the level of blood glucose. At the present review, we have discussed the phytochemicals that act like SGLT2i to decrease blood glucose level
Health Benefits of Turmeric and Curcumin Against Food Contaminants
No full textFood contaminants are one of the most important and concerning issues worldwide. Protecting the public from the harm of contaminated foods has become a daunting task. On the other hand, the elimination of these contaminants from food seems impossible. Therefore, one of the best solutions is to recommend inexpensive and publicly available food additives like many spices used in food as flavoring and coloring. Curcuma longa or turmeric is one of the well-known spice, which confers many medicinal properties. Curcumin is the main active ingredient in turmeric, which has many health benefits. Recent research has revealed that turmeric/curcumin has protective effects against toxicants, mostly natural and chemical toxins. In this review article, we reviewed studies related to the protective effects of turmeric and its active ingredient against food contaminants
The Effects of Nutraceuticals and Bioactive Natural Compounds on Chronic Periodontitis: A Clinical Review
Full text linkThe paper aims to review the current clinical evidence of various herbal agents as an adjunct treatment in the management of chronic periodontitis patients. Gingivitis and periodontitis are two common infectious inflammatory diseases of the supporting tissues of the teeth and have a multifactorial etiology. An important concern about chronic periodontitis is its association with certain systemic disease. New treatment strategies for controlling the adverse effects of chronic periodontitis have been extensively assessed and practiced in sub-clinical and clinical studies. It has been shown that the phytochemical agents have various therapeutic properties such as anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects which can be beneficial for the treatment of periodontitis. The findings of this review support the adjunctive use of herbal agents in the management of chronic periodontitis. Heterogeneity and limited data may reduce the impact of these conclusions. Future long-term randomized controlled trials evaluating the clinical efficacy of adjunctive herbal therapy to scaling and root planing are needed
Crocin Improves Diabetes-Induced Oxidative Stress via Downregulating the Nox-4 in Myocardium of Diabetic Rats
No full textBackground:: Oxidative stress has a crucial role in the pathophysiology of cardiac dysfunction in the diabetic milieu. Crocin is a natural compound that acts as an antioxidant which could potentially ameliorate oxidative damages in various tissues. The potential role of crocin in the myocardial tissue is not clear yet. This study was aimed to evaluate the possible antioxidative properties of crocin in the myocardium of diabetic rats. Materials and Methods:: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups as normal, normal-treated, diabetic, and diabetic-treated. Diabetes was induced by a single intravenous injection of STZ (40 mg/kg). Two treated groups of animals (diabetic and non-diabetic) were treated with crocin daily for 8 weeks (40 mg/kg/IP). At the end of day 56, animals were sacrificed under deep anesthesia, and blood and tissue samples were collected. After tissue preparation, the level of nitrate, malondialdehyde, and glutathione and the activity of superoxide dismutase and catalase enzymes were measured via standard protocols. In addition, the level of Nox-4 mRNA expression was examined by RT-PCR method. The data were analyzed via one-way ANOVA, and P < 0.05 was considered as a significant difference. Results:: Diabetes induces oxidative damages by upregulating the Nox-4 enzyme and increasing nitrate and malondialdehyde levels in the myocardium. Diabetes reduced the superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione activities in the myocardial tissues. Treatment with crocin reversed these changes, reduced Nox-4 mRNA expression, and reduced the nitrate and malondialdehyde content in the myocardium of diabetic rats. Conclusion:: Diabetes induces oxidative stress in myocardium via the upregulating Nox-4 enzyme, and the treatment with crocin reversed these changes. Thus, crocin could be considered as a novel agent for potentially protecting myocardial tissues against diabetes-induced oxidative damages
The Effects of Ginsenosides on the Nrf2 Signaling Pathway
No full textNuclear factor erythroid-2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a major signaling pathway for the maintenance of homeostasis and redox balance. This pathway also plays a significant role in proteostasis, xenobiotic/drug metabolism, apoptosis, and lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. Conversely, the Nrf2 signaling pathway is impaired in several pathological conditions including cancer. Although various drugs have been developed to target the Nrf2 pathway, plant-derived chemicals than can potentially impact this pathway and are particularly attractive due to their minimal side effects. Ginsenosides are active components of ginseng and have been shown to exert pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antidiabetes, neuroprotective, and hepatoprotective activities. In this article, we have reviewed the effects of ginsenosides on Nrf2 signaling pathway
Antitumor and Protective Effects of Melatonin: The Potential Roles of MicroRNAs
Full text linkMicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous short noncoding RNAs with approximately 22 nucleotides. The primary function of miRNAs is the negative regulation of target gene expression via mRNA degradation or translation inhibition. During recent years, much attention has been made toward miRNAs’ role in different disorders; particularly cancer and compounds with modulatory effects on miRNAs are of interest. Melatonin is one of these compounds which is secreted by the pineal gland. Also, melatonin is present in the leaves, fruits, and seeds of plants. Melatonin has several valuable biological activities such as antioxidant, anti-inflammation, antitumor, and antiaging activities. This important agent is extensively used to treat different disorders such as cancer and neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases. This review aims to describe the modulatory effect of melatonin on miRNAs as novel targets
The Effect of Herbal Medicine and Natural Bioactive Compounds on Plasma Adiponectin: A Clinical Review
No full textNoncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are one of the major public health concerns globally. Most of the NCDs including insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes mellitus, fatty liver disease, and coronary heart disease are related to obesity and are called obesity-related NCDs (OR-NCDs). However, adipocytes can reduce OR-NCDs by secreting adiponectin. Adiponectin has an inverse relationship with body fat. Obese people have impairment in differentiating pre-adipocytes to adipocytes, the process facilitated by adiponectin. Adiponectin directly increases insulin sensitivity and reduces obesity-related insulin resistance by down-regulating hepatic glucose production and increasing fatty acid (FA) oxidation in skeletal muscle. Considering the various beneficial effects of adiponectin on health, increasing adiponectin might be a promising approach to prevent and treat OR-NCDs. Recent studies have shown that nutraceuticals and medicinal compounds isolated from plants could prevent and treat various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), diabetes mellitus, obesity, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. However, to our knowledge, the effect of these natural products, including herbal supplements and functional foods on adiponectin, has not yet been fully reviewed. The main aim of this review is to summarize the effects of nutraceuticals and herbal bioactive compounds on plasma adiponectin concentrations based on clinical studies. It can be concluded that medicinal plants, and herbal bioactive compounds, particularly curcumin, anthocyanins, resveratrol, soy, walnut, and dihydromyricetin can be used as adjunct or complementary therapeutic agents to increase plasma adiponectin, which could potentially prevent and treat NCDs
The Role of Chemokines in Cardiovascular Diseases and the Therapeutic Effect of Curcumin on CXCL8 and CCL2 as Pathological Chemokines in Atherosclerosis
No full textCurcumin, as a vegetative flavonoid, has a protective and therapeutic role in various adverse states such as oxidative stress and inflammation. Remedial properties of this component have been reported in the different chronic diseases including cancers (myeloma, pancreatic, breast, colorectal), vitiligo, psoriasis, neuropathic pains, inflammatory disorders (osteoarthritis, uveitis, ulcerative colitis, Alzheimer), cardiovascular conditions, and diabetes. Cardiovascular disorders include atherosclerosis and various manifestations of atherosclerosis such as stroke, and myocardial infarction (MI) is the leading cause of mortality globally. Studies have shown varying expressions of inflammatory and non-inflammatory chemokines and chemokine receptors in cardiovascular disease, which have been highlighted first in this review. The alteration in chemokines secretion and chemokine receptors has an essential role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease. Chemokines as cytokines with low molecular weight (8–12 kDa) mediate white blood cell (WBC) chemotactic reactions, vascular cell migration, and proliferation that induce endothelial dysfunction, atherogenesis, and cardiac hypertrophy. Several studies reported that curcumin could be advantageous in the attenuation of cardiovascular diseases via anti-inflammatory effects and redress of chemokine secretion and chemokine receptors. We present these studies with a focus on two chemokines: CXCL8 (IL-8) and CCL2 (chemoattractant protein 1 or MCP-1). Future research will further elucidate the precise potential of curcumin on chemokines in the adjustment of cardiovascular system activity or curcumin chemokine-based therapies
Role of Herbal Medicines in the Management of Brain Injury
No full textBrain is susceptible to oxidative stress due to its increased oxygen consumption and low antioxidant levels. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of various neurological diseases. This review on the role of herbal medicines in the management of brain injury was performed by searching Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Iran Medex between 1976 to January 2020. The search words contained brain injury, and the total number of publications for the review study was 32. Studies with various medicinal plants such as Acanthopanax senticosus, Bacopa monnieri, carnosol, Cassia mimosoides, Centella asiatica, Crocus sativus, Cuminum cyminum, curcumin, Feronia limonia, Gardenia jasminoides, Ginkgo biloba, Kaempferia parviflora, Mentha longifolia, Nigella sativa, olive, orientin, pomegranate, quercetin, rice bran, Rosa damascena, Thymus vulgaris, Viola odorata, Withania coagulans, Zingiber officinale, and Ziziphus spina-christi show a significant improvement in brain injury. The different mechanisms for improvement in brain injury by these medicinal plants include HIF-1 (hypoxia-inducible factor 1) signaling, free-radical scavenging, reduction of nitric oxide (NO) toxicity and acetylcholine esterase (AChE) activity, decrease of pAkt and its downstream targets, downregulation of the aquaporin-4 (AQP-4) and TLR4/NF-ĸB/TNF-α signal, reduction in malondialdehyde and NO levels, increasing neuronal density in the hippocampus, and inhibition of oxidative stress. In this review, the neuroprotective actions and molecular mechanisms of herbal medicines are evaluated by reviewing available studies
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