Herbal remedies for liver fibrosis: A review on the mode of action of fifty herbs

Abstract

Liver fibrosis is a dynamic pathological condition which can be slowed down in its initial phases. Without proper clinical management of fibrosis, progressive liver damage may lead to cirrhosis and ultimately to liver failure or primary liver cancer, which are irreversible conditions. Therefore, in order to cure fibrotic damage to liver, its early stages should be the centre of attention. In this context, some supplements and ‘complementary and alternative medicine (CAM)’ deserve specific mention, because of their already recognized natural way of healing and long lasting curative effects. Moreover, CAM display negligible side effects and hence it is gaining worldwide importance in clinical practices. In particular, herbal medicines are now replacing synthetic pharmaceuticals and looked upon as the sources of novel bioactive substances. To develop satisfactory herbal combinations for treating liver fibrosis, phytoproducts need to be systematically evaluated for their potency as anti-fibrotic, anti-hepatotoxic and antioxidant agents. More importantly, the identified herb/agent should have the remarkable tendency to stimulate hepatocytes regeneration. The present review is a systematic account of at least fifty medicinal herbs and their products which in experimental models have demonstrated antifibrotic activity and thus, most likely candidates to offer therapeutic protection to liver. Nevertheless, much additional work is still needed to explore molecular pathways to discover potential applications of these medicines so as to open up new vistas in biomedical research.

Liver Fibrosis: Mechanistic Concepts and Therapeutic Perspectives

“…Generally, anti-fibrotic therapies can be divided into agents that mediate its anti-fibrotic effects by i) hepatocyte protection, ii) inhibition of HSC activation and fibrotic scar evolution, or iii) immune modulation (for recent reviews see [24] and [245]). Moreover, several phytodrugs have been characterized to potentially exert multidimensional protective effects on liver fibrosis progression [246,247].…”

“…Several studies investigated herbal formulations and phytodrugs in treatment of liver fibrosis. Among many other phytochemicals, resveratrol, silymarin, and curcumin are the most extensively studied phytodrugs with potential anti-fibrotic activity [246,247].…”

Naturally Derived Compounds Used for Prevention or Regression of Experimentally Induced Liver Fibrosis

“…Interleukin 6 (IL-6), also is one of the profibrotic cytokines that is produced by Kupffer cells and plays a role in the initiation and perpetuation of liver fibrosis (Peng et al, 2009). TNFα, a proinflammatory cytokine involved in the inflammatory and apoptosis response that also regulate NF-B (Latief and Ahmad 2018). It is produced by activated liver macrophages during acute inflammation caused by ROS exposure.…”

“…Therefore, the center of attention in treating liver fibrosis is the early stage of fibrosis. The Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), is the new trend in handling chronic diseases as they possess a natural healing process and a long acting effects along with negligible side effects when experimentally evaluated (Latief and Ahmad 2018).…”

Green tea infusion aggravates nutritional status of the juvenile untreated STZ-induced type 1 diabetic rat

“…Therefore, non-pharmacological strategies, such as physical exercises and use of natural compounds with antioxidant polyphenols have been described as a complementary treatment 10–14 . Within this category of compounds, studies have focused on the effect of epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a catechin present in large amounts in green tea 14–16 . Due to its potential therapeutic effect and pharmacological action (e.g.…”