Department of Pharmaceutics, Banaras Hindu University, Institute of Technology, Varanasi 221005, India.
Expert Opin Investig Drugs. 2010 Oct;19(10):1297-307. doi: 10.1517/13543784.2010.517745.
The use of traditional medicines of natural origin is being encouraged for the treatment of chronic disorders, as synthetic drugs in such cases may cause unpredictable adverse effects. Berberine, a traditional plant alkaloid, is used in Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine for its antimicrobial and antiprotozoal properties. Interestingly, current clinical research on berberine has revealed its various pharmacological properties and multi-spectrum therapeutic applications.
An extensive search in three electronic databases (Unbound Medline, PubMed and ScienceDirect) and internet search engines (Scirus and Google Scholar) were used to identify the clinical studies on berberine, without any time constraints. This review elaborates the recent studies which reveal that with time, the drug has evolved with superior therapeutic activities. In addition, this review will also attract the attention of formulation scientists towards the issues and challenges associated in its drug delivery and the probable approaches that may be explored to help patients reap the maximum benefit of this potentially useful drug.
A relatively large number of studies discussed here have revealed the possible areas where this phytochemical constituent can exhibit its therapeutic activities in the treatment of chronic ailments or diseases including diabetes, cancer, depression, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.
The potential of the drug remains to be harvested by designing a suitable formulation that could overcome its inherent low bioavailability.
由于合成药物在这种情况下可能会引起不可预测的不良反应，因此鼓励使用天然来源的传统药物来治疗慢性疾病。小檗碱是一种传统的植物生物碱，在印度阿育吠陀和中药中被用于其抗菌和抗原生动物特性。有趣的是，目前对小檗碱的临床研究揭示了其各种药理学特性和多谱治疗应用。
在三个电子数据库（未绑定的 Medline、PubMed 和 ScienceDirect）和互联网搜索引擎（Scirus 和 Google Scholar）中进行了广泛的搜索，以确定关于小檗碱的临床研究，没有任何时间限制。本综述阐述了最近的研究，这些研究表明，随着时间的推移，这种药物已经发展出了更优越的治疗活性。此外，本综述还将引起制剂科学家对其药物传递相关问题和挑战的关注，以及可能探索的可能方法，以帮助患者从这种潜在有用的药物中获得最大益处。
这里讨论的大量研究揭示了这种植物化学成分在治疗慢性疾病或病症（包括糖尿病、癌症、抑郁症、高血压和高胆固醇血症）方面可能表现出治疗活性的可能领域。
通过设计合适的制剂，可以克服其内在的低生物利用度，从而挖掘药物的潜力。
