Hypolipidemic properties of saparal and oleanolic acid

Aralia elata var. mandshurica (Rupr. & Maxim.) J.Wen: An overview of pharmacological studies

PURPOSE

Aralia elata var. mandshurica (Rupr. & Maxim.) J.Wen syn. A. mandshurica Rupr. & Maxim is evaluated for its medicinal application. The aim of this study is to analyze pharmacological studies on A. elata var. mandshurica published until December 2015.

METHODS

The information regarding the chemistry, safety, effectiveness, and pharmacological and clinical effects of A. elata was systematically collected from the scientific literature through library catalogs; online services such as E-library.ru, Medline/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar.

RESULTS

A. elata is often considered an example of a medicinal plant used in Chinese, Korean, and Japanese traditional medicine. However, the contemporary applications of Aralia in officinal medicine result primarily from a large number of pharmacological and clinical investigations carried out in the former USSR in the mid-20th century. Since the 1950s, medicinal preparations from radices of A. elata and radices of A. mandshurica have secured an established position within Russian/USSR medicine as evidenced by the inclusion of the drug in recent editions of the National Pharmacopoeia of the USSR and in the Register of Medicinal Preparations of Russia. Pharmacological studies on animals have shown that Aralia increases physical working capacity and affords a stress-protective effect against a broad spectrum of harmful factors including cold stress, immobilization, UV irradiation, and low air pressure. The phytoadaptogen exerts an effect on the central nervous, reproductive, immune, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems; the metabolic syndrome including hypolipidemic and antidiabetic effects; and blood coagulation. Together with general properties of adaptogens, Aralia has its own specificity, which manifests in cardioprotective and antiarrhythmic activities. Studies on isolated organs, cells, and enzymes have revealed that Aralia preparations exhibit antioxidant activities and enhance sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPase activity, inhibit endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated apoptosis markers (GRP78, CHOP, Caspase-12, and JNK), and increase phosphorylation of STAT3 and Bcl2/Bax ratio; they also show cytotoxic activities against some tumor cell lines; affect NF-κB and PPARs activities; and regulate biosynthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines and inflammation-related protein expression, tissue respiration, and oxygen consumption. In healthy subjects, Aralia increases mental performance, working capacity, and endurance of movement. Numerous clinical trials have shown the efficiency of Aralia preparations in patients with traumatic brain injury (accompanied with asthenic syndrome and neurotic reactions, depression, neurasthenia, and psychasthenia), neurological diseases (accompanied with astheno-depressive and astheno-hypochondriasis syndromes), myasthenia syndrome (accompanied with chronic post-influenza arachnoiditis), and arterial hypotension. Aralia tincture and "Saparal" are useful as antiviral remedies. Radioprotective properties of Aralia have been reported in pregnant women. Synergistic antiobesity effect was reported for the combination of A. mandshurica and Engelhardtia chrysolepis extracts and antidiabetic effect for the combination of Aralia and glipizide. Promising stress-relieving effects of Aralia are reported for professionals whose work requires a high level of attention. Its proposed ability to moderate stress-induced damage and dysfunction in the cardiovascular tissue might make Aralia the adaptogen of choice among patients with higher risk for cardiovascular diseases. Because Aralia extract administration appears to affect plasma glucose level and hepatic lipid accumulation and ameliorate hyperinsulinemia, it might also provide benefits and be the adaptogen of choice for patients with obesity and diabetes.

CONCLUSION

This review describes the considerable diversity of pharmacological effects of A. elata reported in numerous studies carried out in the former USSR and other countries, which have been confirmed over >47 years of use of the plant as an official medicinal remedy. The knowledge discussed in this review can be applied to the expansion of the use of this high-value plant in the pharmacotherapy of European and other countries and for the further discovery of new drugs based on the secondary metabolites of this plant. Modern approaches in mechanisms of action, including a study of gene expression profiling, suggest the most up-to-date challenges for the future research of Aralia.

Medicinal plants of the Russian Pharmacopoeia; their history and applications

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Due to the location of Russia between West and East, Russian phytotherapy has accumulated and adopted approaches that originated in European and Asian traditional medicine. Phytotherapy is an official and separate branch of medicine in Russia; thus, herbal medicinal preparations are considered official medicaments. The aim of the present review is to summarize and critically appraise data concerning plants used in Russian medicine. This review describes the history of herbal medicine in Russia, the current situation and the pharmacological effects of specific plants in the Russian Pharmacopoeia that are not included in the European Pharmacopoeia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Based on the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR (11(th) edition), we selected plant species that have not yet been adopted in Western and Central Europe (e.g., selected for inclusion in the European Pharmacopoeia) and systematically searched the scientific literature for data using library catalogs, the online service E-library.ru, and databases such as Medline/Pubmed, Scopus, and the Web of Science regarding species, effectiveness, pharmacological effects, and safety.

RESULTS

The Russian Federation follows the State Pharmacopoeia of the USSR (11(th) edition), which contains 83 individual plant monographs. Fifty-one of these plants are also found in the European Pharmacopoeia and have been well studied, but 32 plants are found only in the Pharmacopoeia of the USSR. Many articles about these medicinal plants were never translated in English, and much of the information collected by Russian scientists has never been made available to the international community. Such knowledge can be applied in future studies aimed at a safe, evidence-based use of traditional Russian medicinal plants in European and global phytopharmacotherapy as well as for the discovery of novel leads for drug development.

CONCLUSION

The review highlights the therapeutic potential of these Russian phytopharmaceuticals but also highlights cases where concern has been raised about product safety and tolerability, which would aid in supporting their safe use.