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Heliyon Jun 2023(MO), has been studied extensively, and has numerous medicinal and socioeconomic benefits. Emerging research has investigated the efficacy of MO extract and/or its... (Review)
Review
(MO), has been studied extensively, and has numerous medicinal and socioeconomic benefits. Emerging research has investigated the efficacy of MO extract and/or its phytochemical derivatives against ischemic stroke . To date, no studies comprehensively reviewing the effects of MO extract and/or its phytochemical derivatives against ischemic stroke have been published. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effects of MO extract and/or its phytochemical derivatives against focal ischemic stroke, modeled . Compared with control groups, significant reduction in infarct volume and malondialdehyde levels, and signficant increase in antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and catalase. The primary mechanism of action of MO extract and its phytochemical derivatives which confers neuroprotection is reduction in oxidative stress by increasing antioxidant enzymes. On the whole, the present systematic review critically assessed evidence which demonstrated that MO extract may confer protective effect on experimental ischemic stroke. Although effect size may have been overestimated due to the limited number of included studies, small sample sizes and possible publication bias, results generated in this meta-analysis dmeonstrate that MO extract may be a promising neuroprotective agent against human ischemic stroke.
PubMed: 37303567
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16622 -
Zeitschrift Fur Naturforschung. C,... Mar 2021() refers to an important presence in Mexican cuisine. The information of this review article was gathered from several electronic sources such as Scopus, Medline,... (Review)
Review
() refers to an important presence in Mexican cuisine. The information of this review article was gathered from several electronic sources such as Scopus, Medline, Scielo, ScienceDirect, SciFinder, Web of Science, Google Scholar and Lilacs. Phytochemical studies have revealed the presence of benzoic acid derivatives, phenylpropanoids and triterpenoids, while the essential oils have shown its richness in safrole, hence it has several activities, such as antioxidant, toxicity, insecticidal, anti-diabetic and cytotoxic properties. This review is expected to draw the attention of medical professionals and the general public towards as well as to open the door for detailed research in the future.
Topics: Antioxidants; Benzoic Acid; Medicine, Traditional; Phytochemicals; Phytotherapy; Piper; Plant Extracts
PubMed: 32960783
DOI: 10.1515/znc-2020-0116 -
Life (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2022Spinal cord injury (SCI) possesses a complicated etiology. There is no FDA-approved treatment for SCI, and the majority of current interventions focus on reducing... (Review)
Review
Spinal cord injury (SCI) possesses a complicated etiology. There is no FDA-approved treatment for SCI, and the majority of current interventions focus on reducing symptoms. During SCI, inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and autophagy are behind the secondary phase of SCI and cause serious consequences. It urges the need for providing multi-targeting agents, that possess lower side effects and higher efficacy. The plant secondary metabolites are multi-targeting agents and seem to provide new roads in combating diseases. Flavonoids are phytochemicals of continual interest to scientists in combating neurodegenerative diseases (NDDs). Flavonoids are being studied for their biological and pharmacological effects, particularly as antioxidants, anti-inflammatory agents, anti-apoptotic, and autophagy regulators. Quercetin is one of the most well-known flavonols known for its preventative and therapeutic properties. It is a naturally occurring bioactive flavonoid that has recently received a lot of attention for its beneficial effects on NDDs. Several preclinical evidence demonstrated its neuroprotective effects. In this systematic review, we aimed at providing the biological activities of quercetin and related derivatives against SCI. Detailed neuroprotective mechanisms of quercetin derivatives are also highlighted in combating SCI.
PubMed: 36556325
DOI: 10.3390/life12121960 -
Food & Function Apr 2023Phytosterols (PSs) have been reported to improve blood lipids in patients with hypercholesterolemia for many years. However, meta-analyses of the effects of phytosterols... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Phytosterols (PSs) have been reported to improve blood lipids in patients with hypercholesterolemia for many years. However, meta-analyses of the effects of phytosterols on lipid profiles are limited and incomplete. A systematic search of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science from inception to March 2022 was conducted according to the 2020 preferred reporting items of the guidelines for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. These included studies of people with hypercholesterolemia, comparing foods or preparations containing PSs with controls. Mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were used to estimate continuous outcomes for individual studies. The results showed that in patients with hypercholesterolemia, taking a diet containing a certain dose of plant sterol significantly reduced total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (TC: Weight Mean Difference (WMD) [95% CI] = -0.37 [-0.41, -0.34], < 0.001; LDL-C: WMD [95% CI] = -0.34 [-0.37, -0.30], < 0.001). In contrast, PSs had no effect on high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) or triglycerides (TGs) (HDL-C: WMD [95% CI] = 0.00 [-0.01, 0.02], = 0.742; TG: WMD [95% CI] = -0.01 [-0.04, 0.01], = 0.233). Also, a significant effect of supplemental dose on LDL-C levels was observed in a nonlinear dose-response analysis (-nonlinearity = 0.024). Our findings suggest that dietary phytosterols can help reduce TC and LDL-C concentrations in hypercholesterolemia patients without affecting HDL-C and TG concentrations. And the effect may be affected by the food substrate, dose, esterification, intervention cycle and region. The dose of phytosterol is an important factor affecting the level of LDL-C.
Topics: Humans; Hypercholesterolemia; Phytosterols; Cholesterol, LDL; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Lipids; Hyperlipidemias; Triglycerides; Cholesterol, HDL; Dietary Supplements
PubMed: 36891733
DOI: 10.1039/d2fo03663k -
Toxicon : Official Journal of the... Oct 2022The genus Handroanthus Mattos (Bignoniaceae) is widely used for the treatment of cancer in traditional medicine in Brazil and other South American countries. The... (Review)
Review
The genus Handroanthus Mattos (Bignoniaceae) is widely used for the treatment of cancer in traditional medicine in Brazil and other South American countries. The anticancer potential of species of this genus has been reported in the literature, indicating that their chemical compounds may be effective against different tumor cell lines. In this perspective, the present study aimed to conduct a systematic review of ethnobotanical, pharmacological, phytochemical and toxicological information on Handroanthus species related to cancer treatment. Searches were conducted in the Google Scholar, PubMed®, ScienceDirect® and SciELO databases. A total of 78 articles published in the last thirty-two years (1990-2022) were eligible and included in the review. According to the scientific documents analyzed, five species of Handroanthus are widely used for the treatment of cancer in the traditional medicine of Brazil and other South American countries, including Bolivia and Argentina. The bark (88%) is the main part used in traditional preparations. Extracts and fractions from Handroanthus showed cytotoxicity against the following tumor cell lines: HL-60, MDA-MB-435, MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, HT-29, HCT-8, HCT-116, HEp-2, HepG2, CACO-2, SF-295, NCI-H292, NCI-H460, HeLa, and OVCAR-8. β-Lapachone, a naphthoquinone isolated from some species of this genus, is the most investigated compound for anticancer potential and has proved effective against some lung cancer cell lines (CL1-1, CL1-5 and A549). Results related to toxicological studies were not conclusive, considering that some extracts and compounds isolated from plants of this genus may present some degree of toxicity depending on the time of use and the concentration/dose used. Thus, despite the promising effects against various cancer cell lines, caution is needed when making use of these products.
Topics: Bignoniaceae; Brazil; Caco-2 Cells; Ethnopharmacology; Humans; Phytotherapy; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal
PubMed: 35998713
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.08.007 -
Medicine Mar 2017Prostate cancer (PCa) now remains the 2nd most frequently diagnosed cancer. In recent years, chemoprevention for PCa becomes a possible concept. Especially, many... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Prostate cancer (PCa) now remains the 2nd most frequently diagnosed cancer. In recent years, chemoprevention for PCa becomes a possible concept. Especially, many phytochemicals rich foods are suggested to lower the risk of cancer. Among these foods, green tea is considered as effective prevention for various cancers. However, clinical trials and previous meta-analyses on the relationship between green tea consumption and the risk of PCa have produced inconsistent outcomes. This study aims to determine the dose-response association of green tea intake with PCa risk and the preventive effect of green tea catechins on PCa risk. Seven observational studies and 3 randomized controlled trials were retrieved from Cochrane Library, PubMed, Sciencedirect Online, and hand searching. The STATA (version 12.0) was applied to analyze the data. The relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals were pooled by fixed or random effect modeling. Dose-response relations were evaluated with categories of green tea intake. Although there was no statistical significance in the comparison of the highest versus lowest category, there was a trend of reduced incidence of PCa with each 1 cup/day increase of green tea (P = 0.08). Our dose-response meta-analysis further demonstrated that higher green tea consumption was linearly associated with a reduced risk of PCa with more than 7 cups/day. In addition, green tea catechins were effective for preventing PCa with an RR of 0.38 (P = 0.02). In conclusion, our dose-response meta-analysis evaluated the association of green tea intake with PCa risk systematically and quantitatively. And this is the first meta-analysis of green tea catechins consumption and PCa incidence. Our novel data demonstrated that higher green tea consumption was linearly reduced PCa risk with more than 7 cups/day and green tea catechins were effective for preventing PCa. However, further studies are required to substantiate these conclusions.
Topics: Carcinoma; Catechin; Humans; Male; Phytotherapy; Prostatic Neoplasms; Tea
PubMed: 28353571
DOI: 10.1097/MD.0000000000006426 -
Phytomedicine : International Journal... Dec 2016Rotaviruses can cause life-threatening health disorders, such as severe dehydrating gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children. Vaccination is the main preventive strategy... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Rotaviruses can cause life-threatening health disorders, such as severe dehydrating gastroenteritis and diarrhea in children. Vaccination is the main preventive strategy to reduce rotavirus diarrhea and the severity of episodes, but vaccines are not fully effective and new episodes may occur, even in vaccinated children. The WHO recommends oral rehydration therapy and zinc supplementation for rotavirus-induced diarrhea management. There is little preclinical evidence to support the use of phytotherapeutics in the management of rotaviral infections.
PURPOSE
We aim to review the use of medicinal plants and natural molecules in the management of rotavirus infections in experimental studies.
METHODS
Articles, published in the English language between 1991 and 2016, were retrieved from PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science using relevant keywords. The scientific literature mainly focusing on plant natural products with therapeutic efficacies against experimental models of rotavirus, were identified and tabulated. In addition, an assessment of the reliability of animal experiments was determined under ``Risk of Bias'' criteria.
CHAPTERS
After an initial search and a revision of the inclusion criteria, 41 reports satisfied the objectives of the study. 36 articles were found concerning the anti-rotaviral potential in rotavirus infected cell lines. Among the active secondary metabolites screened for rotavirus inhibition, the polyphenols of flavonoid structure had acquired the highest number of studies in our survey, compared to phenolic acids, stilbenoids, tannins, pectins, terpenoids and flavonoid glycosides. Also, many phytochemicals reduced the efficacy of viral capsid proteins foremost to their elimination and improved the tendency of host-cell inhibiting virus absorption or by prevention of viral replication. Furthermore, five in vivo studies reported that herbs, as well its components, reduced the duration and severity of diarrhea in mice and piglets. The anti-rotavirus efficacy were highlighted based on improvements in reduction on liquid stool, fecal virus shedding, small intestinal histology, levels of inflammation related cytokines and signaling receptors. However, the quality of the experiments in animal studies contained certain types of bias in terms of how they were conducted and reported.
CONCLUSION
We identified and summarized studies on medicinal plants and natural molecules having anti-rotavirus activity in order to further future developments of cures for rotavirus gastroenteritis.
Topics: Animals; Diarrhea; Humans; Phytotherapy; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Rotavirus; Rotavirus Infections; Viral Proteins; Virus Replication
PubMed: 27912886
DOI: 10.1016/j.phymed.2016.11.005 -
Electronic Physician Jan 2017Vitex agnus-castus, also called vitex is aboriginal to the Mediterranean region, with long leaves, tender stem, flowers and ripening seeds. The aim of this study was to... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION
Vitex agnus-castus, also called vitex is aboriginal to the Mediterranean region, with long leaves, tender stem, flowers and ripening seeds. The aim of this study was to overview premenstrual, postmenstrual and infertility disorder of Vitex agnus-castus.
METHODS
This review article was carried out by searching studies in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and IranMedex databases. The initial search strategy identified about 87 references. In this study, 43 studies were accepted for further screening, and met all our inclusion criteria (in English, full text, therapeutic effects of Vitex agnus-castus and dated mainly from the year 2009 to 2016). The search terms were Vitex agnus-castus, premenstrual, postmenstrual, infertility disorder properties and pharmacological effects.
RESULT
Vitex agnus-castus was shown to contribute to the treatment of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Moreover, the result of the present study showed that this valuable plant is helpful in alleviation of pain resulting from postmenstrual disease. Furthermore, it was found that Vitex agnus-castus is beneficial in infertility disorder.
CONCLUSION
Vitex agnus-castus (AC) is a phytopharmaceutical compound and is shown to be widely used to treat PMS and PMDD. In addition, it was shown to be beneficial in post-menstrual cases and it can also contribute to treatment of infertility cases in both men and women. Dopaminergic compounds available in this plant help to treat premenstrual mastodynia as well as other symptoms of the premenstrual syndrome.
PubMed: 28243425
DOI: 10.19082/3685 -
Phytotherapy Research : PTR Jul 2021In this study, we summarized the effect of soy isoflavones and soy isoflavones plus soy protein on serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) among... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
The effect of soy isoflavones and soy isoflavones plus soy protein on serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-α? A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
In this study, we summarized the effect of soy isoflavones and soy isoflavones plus soy protein on serum concentration of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) among adult participants. We systematically searched Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane Library, PubMed, and clinicaltrials.gov for articles published up to May 2020. Effect size was calculated by mean change from baseline of TNF-α concentrations and its standard deviation (SD) for intervention and comparison groups. If the heterogeneity test was statistically significant, DerSimonian and Laird random effects model was used to estimate the summary of the overall effects and its heterogeneity. Nineteen and fourteen randomized clinical trials were included in our systematic review and meta-analysis, respectively. The result of overall effect size indicated a non-significant effect in serum concentration of TNF-α following soy isoflavones intake (WMD = 0.2 pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.13, 0.53; p = .226) and the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein intake (WMD = 0.02 pg/ml, 95% CI: -0.02, 0.06; p = .286). Subgroup analyses revealed no significant change in circulatory levels of TNF-α following soy isoflavones plus soy protein intake. In conclusion, the present systematic review and meta-analysis found insufficient evidence that soy isoflavones or the combination of soy isoflavones and soy protein significantly reduce serum concentration of TNF-α.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Isoflavones; Phytochemicals; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; Soybean Proteins; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
PubMed: 33586244
DOI: 10.1002/ptr.7047 -
Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2023species represent a source of bioactive compounds that have been widely used in folk medicine. This study aimed to synthesize the anticancer and anti-proliferative... (Review)
Review
species represent a source of bioactive compounds that have been widely used in folk medicine. This study aimed to synthesize the anticancer and anti-proliferative potential of species through a systematic review. Searches were performed in the electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Scielo and via a manual search. or studies that evaluated the anticancer or anti-proliferative effect of at least one species were included. In total, 942 studies were identified, with 33 articles read in full and 17 studies included for qualitative synthesis. Of these, 14 (82.35%) refer to assays, one (5.88%) was , and two (11.76%) were designed as and assays. Different extracts and isolated compounds from species were evaluated through cytotoxic analysis against various cancer cells lines (especially hepatocellular carcinoma-HepG2; n = 7, 41.18%). was the most evaluated species. The possible cellular mechanism involved in the anticancer activity of some species included the inhibition of enzymatic activities and expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which suggested anti-metastatic effects, anti-melanogenic activity, cell proliferation inhibition pathways, and antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects. The results reinforce the potential of species as a source for the discovery and development of new potential cytotoxic and anticancer agents. However, further studies and improvements in experimental designs are needed to better demonstrate the mechanism of action of all of these compounds.
PubMed: 37259435
DOI: 10.3390/ph16020293