Department of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy, Northern Border University,Saudi Arabia.
Faculty of Pharmacy, DIT University, Dehradun, India; 3College of Pharmacy, Jazan University, Jazan,India.
Curr Pharm Biotechnol. 2022;23(1):60-71. doi: 10.2174/1389201022666210208152113.
Natural products are well known for their high potency with minimum side effects. Plant extracts are the most commonly used natural products because of their ease of availability and relatively low production cost. Berberine (BBR), a phytochemical component of some Chinese medicinal herbs (most commonly Berberis vulgaris), is an isoquinoline alkaloid with several biological and pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumour, antimicrobial, antidepressant, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic, and hypoglycemic actions. Interestingly, multiple studies have shown that BBR is a potential drug candidate with a multi-spectrum therapeutic application. However, the oral delivery of BBR is challenged owing to its poor bioavailability. Therefore, its oral bioavailability needs to be enhanced before it can be used in many clinical applications. This review provides an overview of the various studies that support the broad range of pharmacological activities of BBR. Also, it includes a section to address the issues and challenges related to the drug and methods to improve the properties of BBR, such as solubility, stability and bioavailability that may be explored to help patients reap the maximum benefit from this potentially useful drug.
天然产物以其高效低副作用而闻名。由于易于获取和相对较低的生产成本，植物提取物是最常用的天然产物。小檗碱（BBR）是一些中草药（最常见的是小檗属植物）的植物化学成分，是一种异喹啉生物碱，具有多种生物学和药理学作用，包括抗氧化、抗炎、抗肿瘤、抗菌、抗抑郁、保肝、降血脂和降血糖作用。有趣的是，多项研究表明，BBR 是一种具有多谱治疗应用的潜在药物候选物。然而，由于其生物利用度差，BBR 的口服给药受到挑战。因此，在其被广泛应用于许多临床应用之前，需要提高其口服生物利用度。本文综述了支持 BBR 广泛的药理活性的各种研究。此外，它还包括一个部分，讨论了与该药物相关的问题和挑战，以及改善 BBR 性质的方法，如溶解度、稳定性和生物利用度，这些方法可能会被探索以帮助患者从这种潜在有用的药物中获得最大的益处。
