Takei Mineo
Pharmacological Research, Central Research Laboratories, Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Saitama, Japan.
Yakugaku Zasshi. 2012;132(3):271-7. doi: 10.1248/yakushi.132.271.
Zinc, one of essential trace elements, functions as a structural component in more than 300 different enzymes in the human body, playing crucial roles in performing a number of functions, including protein and DNA synthesis. Also hereditary or dietary zinc deficiency leading to pathological changes such as growth retardation, skin symptoms and taste disorders in human has been well investigated. Polaprezinc (Promac(®), Zeria Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), a chelate compound consisting of zinc and L-carnosine, is a zinc-related medicine approved for the first time in Japan, which has been clinically used to treat gastric ulcers. Its mechanism of action is believed to oxygen radical scavenging, anti-oxidation, and acceleration of wound healing. Further, as zinc deficiency is known to be a primary cause of taste disorders, a clinical phase III study is in progress to determine taste disorders as a new indication of polaprezinc. The pharmacological action of polaprezinc, however, on taste disorders remains unclear. So we examined the effect of polaprezinc on taste disorders induced by feeding rats a zinc-deficient diet and clarified its mechanism of action in restoring the reduced zinc content in the lingual epithelium and improving delayed cell proliferation of taste bud cells due to zinc deficiency. In this review, we primarily make reference to our own data on the pharmacological action of polaprezinc on taste disorders and introduce recent research on the effects of polaprezinc in treating other diseases.
锌是人体必需的微量元素之一，在人体内300多种不同的酶中作为结构成分发挥作用，在包括蛋白质和DNA合成在内的多种功能中起着关键作用。此外，遗传性或饮食性锌缺乏导致人类生长发育迟缓、皮肤症状和味觉障碍等病理变化已得到充分研究。聚普瑞锌（宝乐普（Promac®），泽里亚制药有限公司）是一种由锌和L-肌肽组成的螯合物，是日本首次批准的锌相关药物，已临床用于治疗胃溃疡。其作用机制被认为是清除氧自由基、抗氧化和加速伤口愈合。此外，由于已知锌缺乏是味觉障碍的主要原因，一项临床III期研究正在进行中，以确定味觉障碍作为聚普瑞锌的新适应症。然而，聚普瑞锌对味觉障碍的药理作用仍不清楚。因此，我们研究了聚普瑞锌对喂食缺锌饮食大鼠诱发的味觉障碍的影响，并阐明了其恢复舌上皮中降低的锌含量以及改善缺锌导致的味蕾细胞延迟增殖的作用机制。在这篇综述中，我们主要参考我们自己关于聚普瑞锌对味觉障碍药理作用的数据，并介绍聚普瑞锌在治疗其他疾病方面作用的最新研究。
