Abstract
Glycyrrhizic acid (GA) is the main active component of the licorice root, which has been known in traditional medicine since the ancient times. It is a molecule composed of a hydrophilic part, two glucuronic acid molecules, and a hydrophobic part, glycyrrhetinic acid. GA, when subjected to acid hydrolysis, releases 18β- and 18α-glycyrrhetinic acids. Glycyrrhetinic acid is most responsible for the pharmacological activities of licorice. GA has been reported to have multiple therapeutic properties: anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, antimicrobial and hepatoprotective. Different approaches have revealed similar anti-inflammatory mechanisms of action of GA, such as the inhibition of translocation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and suppression of Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukins. In this sense, several in vitro and in vivo studies have described the use of GA in the prevention and treatment of several complications, especially microbial/viral infection, and as a novel chemo-preventive agent for liver injury. Recent studies postulated that GA nanoparticles (GANPs) can be a promising strategy for the treatment of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections. This mini-review summarizes the pharmacological activities of GA and its beneficial effects against various health problems and provides perspectives on the development of versatile nanoplatforms to overcome some limiting physicochemical properties and for enhancing the therapeutic benefits of GA.
Highlights
Received: 17 November 2021Historical references on medicinal plants bring reports of their use in virtually all ancient civilizations
The results indicated that Glycyrrhizic acid (GA) improved the production of antimicrobial peptides in tissues surrounding the burn area [43]
The main molecular antitumor mechanism of GA reported in the literature is through the down-regulation of proliferation, metastasis, cell-cycle arrest and apoptotic cell death, and transcription factor–nuclear factor kappa beta (NF-κB), as well as the inflammatory agents cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and nitric oxide (NO), while up-regulating p53 and p21/Cip1 to protect DNA from damage and promote DNA repair [9,10,46–52] (Figure 3)
Summary
Historical references on medicinal plants bring reports of their use in virtually all ancient civilizations. Glycyrrhiza glabra is a perennial herb native to central and south-western the region It is cultivated in the Mediterranean basin of Africa, in southern. There is considerable interest in the extraction extraction of GA with a water-soluble organic solvent by several methods reported in of literature, GA with a such water-soluble organic solvent by several methodsand reported in the literature, the as room temperature, ultrasonic extraction, microwave-assisted such as room ultrasonic extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, and extraction, andtemperature, its isolation through differentand methods, such as high-performance its isolation through different methods, such as high-performance liquid liquid chromatography (HPLC), resin column and adsorbent, supercritical fluid chromatogextraction, raphy resin column and adsorbent, supercritical extraction, with foam and with(HPLC), foam separation [5,11–13] In this sense, this article summarizes the pharmacological activities ical activities of GA and its beneficial effects against various health problems
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