Medicinal plants have been a vast supply of therapeutic agents for many thousands of years. It is a fact that nature is the source of seemingly endless molecular structures. These molecular structures can be used as constant sources for creating new drugs, potent chemotypes, and pharmacophores that are in a position to be transformed into the form of scaffolds for new drugs to treat diverse illnesses. Astragalin is a naturally occurring flavonoid discovered in a wide variety of plants like Cuscuta Chinensis Lam.
Before the dawn of the postgenomic age with its high-throughput screening, around 80percent of the medicines were pure extracts from medicinal plants or semi-synthetic analogs of different compounds derived from nature. Following the Second World War, pharmaceutical research grew to a massive examination of the plant’s extracts in the search for new drugs derived from natural resources. Up to date, 60% of the anticancer compounds and 49percent of the anti-infective chemicals were discovered in natural substances.
Natural Sources of Astragalin
Most of the medicines discovered to originate from natural products or derivatives of natural substances. It is a member of the Convolvulaceae family that comprises around sixty genera as well as 1,650 varieties. The seeds belonging to the Cuscuta genus Cuscuta have been identified as rich in astragalin. You can buy research chemicals online. They are used as a traditional folk remedy for treating osteoporosis across Asian countries, including Pakistan. C. Chinensis is a high-content species of astragalin. That is 29-34 percent of the total phenolics contrasted with other species.
Biological Activities of Astragalin and Their Mechanisms of Action
The bioactive and therapeutically efficient chemical “astragalin” has been known to have a broad range of pharmacological characteristics, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer neuroprotective, antidiabetic cardio protective, antiulcer, and antifibrotic. In addition, numerous life and in vitro research studies on astragalin have revealed its therapeutic properties and mechanisms of action.
Anti-inflammatory Activity
Inflammation is the body’s immediate reaction to the damage to its tissues caused by pathogens. And other harmful stimuli like physical or chemical injuries. Though it is an effective defense mechanism, in persistent inflammation. It may result in multiple ailments, including allergies, cancer, atherosclerosis, and autoimmune illnesses. The adverse side effects of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). They are arousing a need for researchers to discover efficient and safer alternatives. Plant extracts that are enriched with flavonoids are known to have anti-inflammatory properties.
Astragalin is an active natural flavonoid that is bioactive is known to ease inflammation in mice induced by LPS to develop mastitis and lung injury models by decreasing the activity of myeloperoxidase and the expression of the inflammatory mediator IL-1 b, IL-6, and TNF one. The anti-inflammatory effect of Astragalin is triggered by the inhibition of LPS-induced activation of the NFand NF- kB. In addition, it is involved in reducing the degeneration of IkB and limiting the nuclear transfer of the NFand NF KB.
Neuroprotective Activity
The disturbance in the homeostasis of cerebral redox is the most significant cause of neurodegenerative illnesses in humans. Cerebral oxidative stress causes dopaminergic neuronal cell loss and dysfunction. The Neuroprotective systems of bioactive substances that naturally occur are agreed with their ability to scavenge free radicals. And produced by neurotoxins and the oxidative stress-related processes that occur in the brain’s neuronal cells. Astragalin is known to reduce the neurodegeneration of C. elegans that 6-OHDA stimulates. It is also known to extend the lifetime of nematodes treated with astragalin. It also lowers ROS levels, reduces the process of lipid peroxidation, and increases SOD and GPx actions.
Astragalin is a promising anticancer agent that can be used to treat as well as prevent UVB-stimulated skin lesions caused by keratosis. It does this by inhibiting the phospho-MSK1 receptor, g-H2AX, and p38MAPK activity in a dose- and time-dependent manner for humans HaCaT cells grown in vitro as well as Babl/c mouse in the Vivo. Furthermore, in another report, astragalin strongly exerted cytotoxic effects in A375P and SK-MEL-2 cancerous cells in a concentration-dependent way through induction of apoptosis.
