title: Pinocembrin: a novel natural compound with versatile pharmacological and biological activities.
abstract: Pinocembrin (5,7-dihydroxyflavanone) is one of the primary flavonoids isolated from the variety of plants, mainly from Pinus heartwood, Eucalyptus, Populus, Euphorbia, and Sparattosperma leucanthum, in the diverse flora and purified by various chromatographic techniques. Pinocembrin is a major flavonoid molecule incorporated as multifunctional in the pharmaceutical industry. Its vast range of pharmacological activities has been well researched including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer activities. In addition, pinocembrin can be used as neuroprotective against cerebral ischemic injury with a wide therapeutic time window, which may be attributed to its antiexcitotoxic effects. Pinocembrin exhibits pharmacological effects on almost all systems, and our aim is to review the pharmacological and therapeutic applications of pinocembrin with specific emphasis on mechanisms of actions. The design of new drugs based on the pharmacological effects of pinocembrin could be beneficial. This review suggests that pinocembrin is a potentially promising pharmacological candidate, but additional studies and clinical trials are required to determine its specific intracellular sites of action and derivative targets in order to fully understand the mechanism of its anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and apoptotic effects to further validate its medical applications.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory of Molecular Epigenetics of MOE, Institute of Genetics and Cytology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China.
authors.forename: Azhar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasul
authors.forename: Faya Martin
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Millimouno
authors.forename: Wafa
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ali Eltayb
authors.forename: Muhammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaomeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001688:Biological Products / Q000494:pharmacology*; D044950:Flavanones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D000893:Anti-Inflammatory Agents; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001688:Biological Products; D044950:Flavanones; C016063:pinocembrin