School of Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, China.
School of Ethnic Medicine, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, 611137, China.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Jan;133:110984. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2020.110984. Epub 2020 Nov 10.
The increased incidence of metabolic diseases (e.g., diabetes and obesity) has seriously affected human health and life safety worldwide. It is of great significance to find effective drugs from natural compounds to treat metabolic diseases. Berberine (BBR), an important quaternary benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, exists in many traditional medicinal plants. In recent years, BBR has received widespread attention due to its good potential in the treatment of metabolic diseases. In order to promote the basic research and clinical application of BBR, this review provides a timely and comprehensive summary of the pharmacological and clinical advances of BBR in the treatment of five metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hyperlipidemia, and gout. Both animal and clinical studies have proved that BBR has good therapeutic effects on these five metabolic diseases. The therapeutic effects of BBR are based on regulating various metabolic aspects and pathophysiological procedures. For example, it can promote insulin secretion, improve insulin resistance, inhibit lipogenesis, alleviate adipose tissue fibrosis, reduce hepatic steatosis, and improve gut microbiota disorders. Collectively, BBR may be a good and promising drug candidate for the treatment of metabolic diseases. More studies, especially clinical trials, are needed to further confirm its molecular mechanisms and targets. In addition, large-scale, long-term and multi-center clinical trials are necessary to evaluate the efficacy and safety of BBR in the treatment of these metabolic diseases.
代谢性疾病（如糖尿病和肥胖症）的发病率不断上升，已严重影响全球人类健康和生命安全。从天然化合物中寻找有效药物来治疗代谢性疾病具有重要意义。小檗碱（BBR）是一种重要的季铵型苄基异喹啉生物碱，存在于许多传统药用植物中。近年来，由于在治疗代谢性疾病方面具有良好的潜力，BBR 受到了广泛关注。为了促进 BBR 的基础研究和临床应用，本文就 BBR 治疗 5 种代谢性疾病（2 型糖尿病、肥胖症、非酒精性脂肪性肝病、高脂血症和痛风）的药理学和临床进展进行了及时而全面的综述。动物和临床研究均证实，BBR 对这 5 种代谢性疾病具有良好的治疗作用。BBR 的治疗作用基于调节各种代谢方面和病理生理过程。例如，它可以促进胰岛素分泌，改善胰岛素抵抗，抑制脂肪生成，减轻脂肪组织纤维化，减轻肝脂肪变性，改善肠道微生物失调。总之，BBR 可能是治疗代谢性疾病的一种良好且有前途的候选药物。需要更多的研究，特别是临床试验，以进一步证实其分子机制和靶点。此外，还需要大规模、长期和多中心临床试验来评估 BBR 治疗这些代谢性疾病的疗效和安全性。
