Natural flavonoids as potential herbal medication for the treatment of diabetes mellitus and its complications.
Diabetes mellitus, together with its various complications, is becoming a serious threat to human health. Natural products are secondary metabolites widely distributed in plants, having a broad range of biological activities. The development of antidiabetic medication from natural products, especially those originating from plants with a traceable folk-usage history in treating diabetes, is receiving more attention. Many studies highlighted not only the benefits of natural flavonoids with hypoglycemic effects, but also their importance in the management of diabetic complications. This review describes selected natural flavonoids that have been validated for their hypoglycemic properties, together with their mechanisms of action. Also discussed are their activities in the treatment of diabetic complications demonstrated via laboratory diabetic animal models, in vitro and clinical trials using human subjects. Published papers from 2000 to date on flavonoids and diabetes were covered through accessing Web of Science and multiple databases for biomedical sciences. The major potential benefits of natural flavonoids discussed in this review clearly suggest that these substances are lead compounds with sufficient structural diversity of great importance in the antidiabetic drug developing process.
Jian
J
Chen
Sven
S
Mangelinckx
An
A
Adams
Zheng-Tao
ZT
Wang
Wei-Lin
WL
Li
Norbert
N
De Kimpe
D000818:Animals; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000188:drug therapy; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D005419:Flavonoids; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D010936:Plant Extracts