Current Medicinal Chemistry - Volume 25, Issue 37, 2018

Algae have been consumed for many years in Asian countries; at present, its consumption around the world either as food ingredient or directly as food commodity has increased considerably mainly due to the Asian influence and its cuisine, but also because of the growing interest in the beneficial health effects of algae. Although several biological activities have been attributed to different algae compounds such as pigm Read More

Diabetes mellitus is a complex metabolic disease characterized by high blood sugar levels. Different pathogenic processes are involved in the etiology of the disease. Indeed, chronic diabetes hyperglycemia is often associated with severe long-term complications including cardiovascular symptoms, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Although the precise molecular mechanisms underlying diabetes are not yet clea Read More

Background: Obesity in the 21st century society became an important health problem, alarming both the scientists and medicine doctors around the world. That is why, the search for new drug candidates capable to reduce the body weight is of high concern. Objective: This contribution tends to collect current findings on the biochemistry of obesity and on the application of plants and in particular turmeric tuber – a commonly Read More

Crataegus oxyacantha L. (syn. C. rhipidophylla Gand.) (Rosac-eae) is one of the two medicinally recognized hawthorn species in European Pharmacopeia. Standardization of the extract prepared from the berry and flowers of the plant is required according to its oligomeric procyanidins. C. oxyacantha is well-known for its use in the treatment of various heart problems particularly, including heart failure in cases of declinin Read More

Ursolic acid, a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid is commonly found in plants and foods with promising biological and pharmacological activities. The compound has been under the attention of researchers due to its considerable anticancer effects through suppression of differentiation, angiogenesis, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells via different pathways with low toxicity. Bioavailability of ursolic acid is poor due to Read More

Quercetin has multiple potential to control various cell function keeping our body condition healthy. In this review article, we describe the molecular mechanism on how quercetin exerts its action on blood pressure, neurite elongation and epithelial ion transport based from a viewpoint of cytosolic Cl- environments, which is recently recognized as an important signaling factor in various types of cells. Recent studies show various rol Read More

The consumption of berry-type fruits has become very popular in recent years because of their positive effects on human health. Berries are in fact widely known for their health-promoting benefits, including prevention of chronic disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Berries are a rich source of bioactive metabolites, such as vitamins, minerals, and phenolic compounds, mainly anthocyanins. Numerous in vitro and in viv Read More

This review gives an overview of the phenolic compounds composition of cocoa beans and their modification during manufacturing processes to the final products. Recently published papers dealing with the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the different classes of cocoa phenolic compounds will be discussed. Modifications of the qualitative profile and amount of phenolic compounds in cocoa after the main process Read More

Recently many studies showed anticancer activities of piperine, a pungent alkaloid found in black pepper and some other Piper species. We attempted to summarize acquired data that support anticancer potential of this natural agent. Piperine has been reported to possess effective chemopreventive activity. It has been studied to affect via several mechanisms of action, in brief enhancing antioxidant system, increasi Read More

Background: The benefits of the Mediterranean diet for protecting against many diseases are usually attributed to high consumption of certain foods, characterized by the presence of bioactive substances such as polyphenols. Inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases such as arthritis, allergies or neurodegenerative disorders. Dietary polyphenols constitute a large family of bioactive Read More

The popularity of food products and medicinal plant materials containing hydrolysable tannins (HT) is nowadays rapidly increasing. Among various health effects attributable to the products of plant origin rich in gallotannins and/or ellagitannins the most often underlined is the beneficial influence on diseases possessing inflammatory background. Results of clinical, interventional and animal in vivo studies clearly indicate t Read More