RESUMO
Phytotherapy has long been a source of medicinal products and over the years there have been many attempts to use herbal medicines for the treatment of diabetes. Several medicinal plants and their preparations have been demonstrated to act at key points of glucidic metabolism. The most common mechanisms of action found include the inhibition of α-glucosidase and of AGE formation, the increase of GLUT-4 and PPARs expression and antioxidant activity. Despite the large amount of literature available, the actual clinical effectiveness of medicinal plants in controlling diabetes-related symptoms remains controversial and there is a crucial need for stronger evidence-based data. In this review, an overview of the medicinal plants, which use in the management of diabetes is supported by authoritative monographs, is provided. References to some species which are currently under increasing clinical investigation are also reported.
Assuntos
Diabetes Mellitus/tratamento farmacológico , Hipoglicemiantes/farmacologia , Fitoterapia/métodos , Plantas Medicinais/química , Etnobotânica/métodos , HumanosRESUMO
Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a common disease in men aged over 50 years old, with an incidence increasing to more than 80% over the age of 70, that is increasingly going to attract pharmaceutical interest. Within conventional therapies, such as α-adrenoreceptor antagonists and 5α-reductase inhibitor, there is a large requirement for treatments with less adverse events on, e.g., blood pressure and sexual function: phytotherapy may be the right way to fill this need. Serenoa repens standardized extract has been widely studied and its ability to reduce lower urinary tract symptoms related to benign prostatic hyperplasia is comprehensively described in literature. An innovative investigation on the mechanism of inhibition of 5α-reductase by Serenoa repens extract active principles is proposed in this work through computational methods, performing molecular docking simulations on the crystal structure of human liver 5ß-reductase. The results confirm that both sterols and fatty acids can play a role in the inhibition of the enzyme, thus, suggesting a competitive mechanism of inhibition. This work proposes a further confirmation for the rational use of herbal products in the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia, and suggests computational methods as an innovative, low cost, and non-invasive process for the study of phytocomplex activity toward proteic targets.
RESUMO
The Italian herbal products market is the most prosperous in Europe. The proof is represented by the use of these products in several marketing categories, ranging from medicine to nutrition and cosmetics. Market and legislation in Italy are at the same time cause and consequence of this peculiar situation. In fact, the legislation on botanical food supplements in Italy is very permissive and at the same time the market shows an overall satisfaction of users and strong feedback in terms of consumption, which brings a widening use of medicinal plants, formerly the prerogative of pharmaceuticals, to other fields such as nutrition. This review summarizes the market and normative panorama of herbal products in Italy, highlighting the blurred boundaries of health indications, marketing authorizations and quality controls between herbal medicines and non pharmaceutical products, such as food supplements, cosmetics and other herbal-based "parapharmaceuticals".
RESUMO
The relevance of H. pylori to the pathogenesis of gastritis and gastroduodenal ulcers has been proposed for about the past 25 years; the presence of this bacterium is now established as the main risk factor in the development of stomach carcinomas and lymphomas. Antibiotic treatment does not always inhibit or kill H. pylori because of the potential side effects of antibiotic resistance. Previous research has indicated that red wines have therapeutic benefits against this bacterium. The purpose of our study was to determine the potential of Italian red wines to inhibit H. pylori in a laboratory medium and to compare their antimicrobial activity with that of red grape juice and with isolated procyanidins. The antiradical capacity of Italian red wines was also determined. In conclusion, a novel approach is offered coupling antioxidant benefits of red wines with synergistic effectiveness.
Assuntos
Antibacterianos/química , Antibacterianos/farmacologia , Sequestradores de Radicais Livres/química , Helicobacter pylori/efeitos dos fármacos , Vinho/análise , Compostos de Bifenilo/química , Itália , Picratos/químicaRESUMO
Sedum telephium ssp. maximum is a medicinal plant that possesses anti-inflammatory, analgesic and keratolytic properties. We investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of its methanolic extract (STME) in rat peritoneal macrophages (MPhis) stimulated with lipopolysaccharide from Salmonella enteritidis. After stimulation with 10 microg/ml of LPS, MPhis were coincubated with different doses of STME (8, 16 and 32 microg/ml) or RPMI medium alone using different times of incubation. STME reduced levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha, both mRNA and its protein, and significantly decreased IL-1beta and IL-6 production. Moreover, STME inhibited inducible nitric oxide synthase expression and blunted nitrite release and inhibited both extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and c-Jun N-terminal kinase activation in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated MPhis. Data show that STME might be useful as a potential anti-inflammatory agent.
Assuntos
Anti-Inflamatórios/farmacologia , Inflamação/tratamento farmacológico , Extratos Vegetais/farmacologia , Sedum/química , Animais , Anti-Inflamatórios/administração & dosagem , Anti-Inflamatórios/isolamento & purificação , Relação Dose-Resposta a Droga , Regulação da Expressão Gênica/efeitos dos fármacos , Inflamação/fisiopatologia , Interleucina-1beta/efeitos dos fármacos , Interleucina-1beta/metabolismo , Interleucina-6/metabolismo , Proteínas Quinases JNK Ativadas por Mitógeno/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteínas Quinases JNK Ativadas por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Lipopolissacarídeos , Macrófagos Peritoneais/efeitos dos fármacos , Macrófagos Peritoneais/metabolismo , Masculino , Proteína Quinase 1 Ativada por Mitógeno/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteína Quinase 1 Ativada por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteína Quinase 3 Ativada por Mitógeno/metabolismo , Óxido Nítrico Sintase Tipo II/efeitos dos fármacos , Óxido Nítrico Sintase Tipo II/metabolismo , Extratos Vegetais/administração & dosagem , RNA Mensageiro/efeitos dos fármacos , RNA Mensageiro/metabolismo , Ratos , Ratos Sprague-Dawley , Salmonella enteritidis/imunologia , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/efeitos dos fármacos , Fator de Necrose Tumoral alfa/metabolismoRESUMO
Plant kingdom has a wider biochemical diversity than animals and at least four-fifths of secondary metabolites come from vegetable world. This is probably due to the link between soil and plants, therefore these have to develop numerous adaptation mechanisms. To date, about 40% of modern monomolecular drugs derives directly or indirectly from plants. The phytotherapy today constitutes the most popular medical practice of complementary medicine, and in many countries its increase is continuous. Some vegetable preparations are marked as pharmaceutical regulation. However in the most cases, in absence of clinical tests, the empiric experience matured in a long period can be considered acceptable testimony of their efficacy. The vegetable products, that are used to cure smaller indications, are based on the Directive 2004/24/EC of March 2004.