Department of Chemical Science and Technologies, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
CIMER Center for Regenerative Medicine, University of Rome Tor Vergata, via Montpellier 1, 00166 Rome, Italy.
Nutrients. 2019 Jul 12;11(7):1581. doi: 10.3390/nu11071581.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a socially relevant chronic disease with high prevalence worldwide. DM may lead to several vascular, macrovascular, and microvascular complications (cerebrovascular, coronary artery, and peripheral arterial diseases, retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy), often accelerating the progression of atherosclerosis. Dietary therapy is generally considered to be the first step in the treatment of diabetic patients. Among the current therapeutic options, such as insulin therapy and hypoglycemic drugs, in recent years, attention has been shifting to the effects and properties-that are still not completely known-of medicinal plants as valid and inexpensive therapeutic supports with limited side effects. In this review, we report the relevant effects of medicinal plants and nutraceuticals in diabetes. In particular, we paid attention to the organosulfur compounds (OSCs) present in plant extracts that due to their antioxidant, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects, can contribute as cardioprotective agents in type 2 DM. OSCs derived from garlic ( sp.), due to their properties, can represent a valuable support to the diet in type 2 DM, as outlined in this manuscript based on both in vitro and in vivo studies. Moreover, a relevant characteristic of garlic OSCs is their ability to produce the gasotransmitter HS, and many of their effects can be explained by this property. Indeed, in recent years, several studies have demonstrated the relevant effects of endogenous and exogenous HS in human DM, including by in vitro and in vivo experiments and clinical trials; therefore, here, we summarize the effects and the underlying molecular mechanisms of HS and natural HS donors.
2 型糖尿病（DM）是一种具有全球高患病率的具有社会相关性的慢性疾病。DM 可能导致多种血管、大血管和微血管并发症（脑血管、冠状动脉和外周动脉疾病、视网膜病变、神经病变和肾病），常常加速动脉粥样硬化的进展。饮食疗法通常被认为是糖尿病患者治疗的第一步。在目前的治疗选择中，如胰岛素治疗和降糖药物，近年来，人们的注意力已经转向药用植物的作用和特性——这些作用和特性仍不完全为人所知——作为有效且廉价的治疗支持物，具有有限的副作用。在这篇综述中，我们报告了药用植物和营养保健品在糖尿病中的相关作用。特别是，我们关注了植物提取物中存在的有机硫化合物（OSC），由于其抗氧化、降血糖、抗炎和免疫调节作用，它们可以作为 2 型 DM 的心脏保护剂。大蒜（ sp.）中提取的 OSC 由于其特性，可以作为 2 型 DM 饮食的有价值的补充，本手稿基于体外和体内研究对此进行了概述。此外，大蒜 OSC 的一个重要特征是它们能够产生气体递质 HS，并且它们的许多作用可以用这种特性来解释。事实上，近年来，多项研究已经证明了内源性和外源性 HS 在人类 DM 中的相关作用，包括体外和体内实验以及临床试验；因此，在这里，我们总结了 HS 和天然 HS 供体的作用及其潜在的分子机制。
