An Overview of Herbal-Based Antidiabetic Drug Delivery Systems: Focus on Lipid- and Inorganic-Based Nanoformulations

Abstract

Diabetes is a metabolic pathology with chronic high blood glucose levels that occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body does not properly use the insulin it produces. Diabetes management is a puzzle and focuses on a healthy lifestyle, physical exercise, and medication. Thus far, the condition remains incurable; management just helps to control it. Its medical treatment is expensive and is to be followed for the long term, which is why people, especially from low-income countries, resort to herbal medicines. However, many active compounds isolated from plants (phytocompounds) are poorly bioavailable due to their low solubility, low permeability, or rapid elimination. To overcome these impediments and to alleviate the cost burden on disadvantaged populations, plant nanomedicines are being studied. Nanoparticulate formulations containing antidiabetic plant extracts or phytocompounds have shown promising results. We herein aimed to provide an overview of the use of lipid- and inorganic-based nanoparticulate delivery systems with plant extracts or phytocompounds for the treatment of diabetes while highlighting their advantages and limitations for clinical application. The findings from the reviewed works showed that these nanoparticulate formulations resulted in high antidiabetic activity at low doses compared to the corresponding plant extracts or phytocompounds alone. Moreover, it was shown that nanoparticulate systems address the poor bioavailability of herbal medicines, but the lack of enough preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic trials still delays their use in diabetic patients.

Blackberries and Mulberries: Berries with Significant Health-Promoting Properties

“…Because of their low cost, availability, and lack of negative effects, the use of natural plants was and still is an alternative for many people. Various plant genera and phytochemical constituent types with anti-diabetic properties have been used in this context [31,45,97,98]. Therefore, it is not surprising that formulations using anti-diabetic plant extracts or phytocompounds have been derived.…”

“…Therefore, it is not surprising that formulations using anti-diabetic plant extracts or phytocompounds have been derived. Additionally, nowadays, systems such as "Herbal-based anti-diabetic drug delivery systems" are largely used to provide herbal medicines to treat diabetes [98].…”