Pharmacological effects of Berberine – A Chinese medicine, against xenobiotics toxicity

Introduction: Traditional Chinese medicine has used plant-derived natural antioxidants from herbs since ages. Berberine is an iso-quinoline-based alkaloid found in various medicinal herbs: Coptis chinensis (Huanglian), Phellodendron amurense (Huangbai) and used in traditional Chinese medicine as decoctions: ‘Xie Xin’ and ‘Huanglian Jiedu’. It has been used since long to treat inflammation, auto-immune diseases and dysentery. Studies have also confirmed its antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and pharmacological properties. Still, there is a gap between the preclinical significance and clinical efficacy of Berberine against organ toxicity. Thus, the present review summarises the ameliorative potential of Berberine against free radicals-mediated oxidative stress, cholinergic stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunctions, and apoptosis. Methods: Various scientific research articles in Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect, were explored to find the pharmacological effects of Berberine. More than 80 articles since 2010 were explored among which 40 were shortlisted with the keywords: Berberine followed by ‘mechanism,’ ‘ameliorative properties,’ ‘pharmacological properties,’ ‘antioxidant; Berberine against ‘pesticide toxicity’, ‘heavy metal toxicity’ ‘nephrotoxicity’ ‘hepatotoxicity’ ‘neurotoxicity’. The thus selected research articles were carefully read to summarise the latest and most recent developments in writing of this review. Results: The structural and functional diversity of Berberine is responsible for the protective efficacy against organ toxicity. The molecular mechanism of Berberine suggests attenuation of oxidative stress, regulation of endogenous antioxidants, and activation of signaling pathways, including PPARɣ/PGC-1α, HNF4α/MTTP, PTEN/Akt, Nrf-2/HO-1/MnSOD, and SIRT1/P66Shc along with inhibition of NF-κB translocation; can ameliorate organ dysfunctioning. Discussion: The current review summarises a baseline and preclinical evidence comprising their mechanistic bases, highlighting the ethnopharmacological applications of Berberine for both traditional Chinese medicine and modern therapeutics. This evaluation will give the crucial insight essential for toxicological and pharmacokinetic research on human models to verify the safety issues and confirm the effects of active components of Berberine in the body in a clinical context.