Advances in health-promoting effects of natural polysaccharides: Regulation on Nrf2 antioxidant pathway

Abstract

Natural polysaccharides (NPs) possess numerous health-promoting effects, such as liver protection, kidney protection, lung protection, neuroprotection, cardioprotection, gastrointestinal protection, anti-oxidation, anti-diabetic, and anti-aging. Nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) antioxidant pathway is an important endogenous antioxidant pathway, which plays crucial roles in maintaining human health as its protection against oxidative stress. Accumulating evidence suggested that Nrf2 antioxidant pathway might be one of key regulatory targets for the health-promoting effects of NPs. However, the information concerning regulation of NPs on Nrf2 antioxidant pathway is scattered, and NPs show different regulatory behaviors in their different health-promoting processes. Therefore, in this article, structural features of NPs having regulation on Nrf2 antioxidant pathway are overviewed. Moreover, regulatory effects of NPs on this pathway for health-promoting effects are summarized. Furthermore, structure-activity relationship of NPs for health-promoting effects by regulating the pathway is preliminarily discussed. Otherwise, the prospects on future work for regulation of NPs on this pathway are proposed. This review is beneficial to well-understanding of underlying mechanisms for health-promoting effects of NPs from the view angle of Nrf2 antioxidant pathway, and provides a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of NPs in promoting human health.

A review of the pharmacological action and mechanism of natural plant polysaccharides in depression

“…Therefore, the reduction of oxidative stress damage through elevation of antioxidant levels such as SOD and GSH, along with inhibition of MDA production, contributes to alleviating depressive symptoms in PSD. Moreover, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), a transcription factor, emerges as a pivotal regulator of antioxidant signaling pathways and holds promise as a therapeutic target for depression (Bouvier et al, 2017;Zuo et al, 2022;Luo et al, 2023). It has been observed that conventional pharmaceutical drugs exhibit limited efficacy in alleviating symptoms and may even induce severe adverse reactions in 30%-60% of patients (Liang et al, 2021).…”

Relationship of Gene-Structure–Antioxidant Ability of Exopolysaccharides Derived from Lactic Acid Bacteria: A Review

“…The evolutionarily conserved endocrine insulin/IGF-1-like signaling (IIS) pathway and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) signaling pathway both have functional effects against oxidative stress . Natural EPS activates the Nrf2/HO-1/PPAR-γ signaling pathway and concerning factors like Keap1, HO-1, and NQO1 are regulated in vivo to enhance resistance to oxidative stress . Hence, EPS regulates multiple signals and elements associated with the Keap1-Nrf2-ARE antioxidant response pathway, thereby adjusting the levels of relevant genes and proteins in response to oxidative stress.…”

“…59 Natural EPS activates the Nrf2/HO-1/PPAR-γ signaling pathway and concerning factors like Keap1, HO-1, and NQO1 are regulated in vivo to enhance resistance to oxidative stress. 60 Hence, EPS regulates multiple signals and elements associated with the Keap1-Nrf2-ARE antioxidant response pathway, thereby adjusting the levels of relevant genes and proteins in response to oxidative stress.…”

Green polyphenol-based photothermal interfacial evaporation systems toward solar water production

“…31 Polyphenols, with di/tri hydroxyphenyl as the most basic expression structure, are ubiquitous in natural plants and marine organisms and come in many varieties. [32][33][34] Typical polyphenols are represented by polydopamine (PDA), tannic acid (TA), and gallic acid (GA), [35][36][37] and also include tea polyphenols, laccase, plant flavonoids, etc., [38][39][40] which have many distinct properties such as hydrophilicity, 41 adhesion, 42,43 secondary reactivity, 44 photothermal property, 45,46 etc. These excellent properties endow polyphenol-based photothermal materials with many advantages to environmentally develop high-performance PIES, and more and more relevant and important studies have been reported most recently, leading the next hotspot and frontier.…”