Abstract
The Cistanche species (“Rou Cong Rong” in Chinese) is an endangered wild species growing in arid or semi-arid areas. The dried fleshy stem of Cistanches has been used as a tonic in China for many years. Modern pharmacological studies have since demonstrated that Herba Cistanches possesses broad medicinal functions, especially for use in anti-senescence, anti-oxidation, neuroprotection, anti-inflammation, hepatoprotection, immunomodulation, anti-neoplastic, anti-osteoporosis and the promotion of bone formation. This review summarizes the up-to-date and comprehensive information on Herba Cistanches covering the aspects of the botany, traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology, to lay ground for fully elucidating the potential mechanisms of Herba Cistanches’ anti-aging effect and promote its clinical application as an anti-aging herbal medicine.
Highlights
Among the Cistanche species, only C. deserticola has been reordered in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia (2000 edition) [5], and C. tubulosa was added to the 2005 Chinese Pharmacopoeia as an alternative, for its similar chemical constituents, pharmacological activities and its relatively affluent resource compared to C. deserticola [6]
According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, at least 0.3% of the total contents of echinacoside and acteoside for medical application should be determined from the dried stem of C. deserticola by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method [5]
Aging in humans is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation state characterized by an increase in pro-inflammatory markers including but not restricted to tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), IL-6, IL-1β, and C-reactive protein [81]
Summary
There are several outstanding theories including mitochondrial mutation, oxidative damage, carbonyl toxification and free radical theory associated with phenomenon of aging [11, 12]. The inflammatory state is characterized by an inflammatory origin of aging given by the activation of cellular systems responsible for gene promotion and suppression such as the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), sirtuins, forkhead box O and KLOTHO, which are directly or indirectly involved in cellular mechanisms of resistance to oxidative stress, apoptosis and nucleic acids repair [16]. Pharmacological research showed that extracts from Cistanche plants possess a wide spectrum of activities, such as increasing the ability to learn and memorize, treating AD, enhancing immunity, prolonging lifespan, as well as anti-aging and anti-fatigue effects [20,21,22,23]. This review aims to lay the ground for fully elucidating the potential mechanisms of Herba Cistanches’ anti-aging effect to promote its clinical application as an anti-aging herbal medicine
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