Laboratory for Translational Cancer Research, Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India.
Department of Experimental Therapeutics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, USA.
Phytomedicine. 2017 Oct 15;34:14-20. doi: 10.1016/j.phymed.2017.07.001. Epub 2017 Jul 3.
For centuries, agents derived from natural sources (mother nature), especially plants have been the primary source of medicine. Neem, also referred to as Azadirachta indica is one such plant that has been so named because it provides freedom from all diseases, and used for thousands of years in Indian and African continents. Different parts of the plant including flowers, leaves, seeds and bark have been used to treat both acute and chronic human diseases; and used as insecticide; antimicrobial, larvicidal, antimalarial, antibacterial, antiviral, and spermicidal.
What is there in neem and how it manifests its wide variety of effects is the focus of this review. How neem and its constituents modulate various cellular pathways is discussed. The animal and human studies carried out with neem and its constituents is also discussed.
Over 1000 research articles published on neem has uncovered over 300 structurally diverse constituents, one third of which are limonoids including nimbolide, azadarachtin, and gedunin. These agents manifest their effects by modulating multiple cell signaling pathways.
几个世纪以来，源自天然来源（大自然母亲）的药物一直是医学的主要来源，尤其是植物。印度楝树，也被称为印楝，是一种这样的植物，因为它能治疗所有疾病而得名，在印度和非洲大陆已经使用了数千年。该植物的不同部位，包括花、叶、种子和树皮，已被用于治疗急性和慢性人类疾病；并用作杀虫剂；具有抗菌、杀幼虫、抗疟、抗菌、抗病毒和杀精子作用。
本综述的重点是印度楝树中存在的物质及其表现出的多种作用。讨论了印度楝树及其成分如何调节各种细胞途径。还讨论了用印度楝树及其成分进行的动物和人体研究。
发表的 1000 多篇关于印度楝树的研究文章揭示了 300 多种结构不同的成分，其中三分之一是三萜类化合物，包括印苦楝素、印楝素和苦楝素。这些药物通过调节多种细胞信号通路来发挥作用。
