title: The antihyperglycemic effects of Rhizoma Coptidis and mechanism of actions: a review of systematic reviews and pharmacological research.
abstract: Rhizoma Coptidis (Huang Lian in Chinese pinyin) is among the most widely used traditional Chinese herbal medicines and has a profound history of more than 2000 years of being used as a therapeutic herb. The antidiabetic effects of Rhizoma Coptidis have been extensively investigated in animal experiments and clinical trials and its efficacy as a promising antihyperglycemic agent has been widely discussed. In the meantime, findings from modern pharmacological studies have contributed the majority of its bioactivities to berberine, the isoquinoline alkaloids component of the herb, and a number of experiments testing the antidiabetic effects of berberine have been initiated. Therefore, we conducted a review of the current evidence profile of the antihyperglycemic effects of Rhizoma Coptidis as well as its main component berberine and the possible mechanism of actions, in order to summarize research evidence in this area and identify future research directions.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute for Clinical Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 88 Yuquan Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute for Clinical Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 88 Yuquan Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mu
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute for Clinical Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 88 Yuquan Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Hongcai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute for Clinical Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 88 Yuquan Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Institute for Clinical Evaluation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 88 Yuquan Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Lei
mesh_terms: D001599:Berberine / Q000494:pharmacology; D000089042:Coptis chinensis; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000078202:Systematic Reviews as Topic
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D001599:Berberine; C107393:Coptidis rhizoma extract