Harnessing nature's pharmacy: investigating natural compounds as novel therapeutics for ulcerative colitis

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Aug 14:15:1394124. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1394124. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Backgrounds: Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a form of chronic inflammatory bowel disease, and UC diagnosis rates continue to rise throughout the globe. The research and development of new drugs for the treatment of UC are urgent, and natural compounds are an important source. However, there is a lack of systematic summarization of natural compounds and their mechanisms for the treatment of UC.

Methods: We reviewed the literature in the databases below from their inception until July 2023: Web of Science, PubMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Data, to obtain information on the relationship between natural compounds and UC.

Results: The results showed that 279 natural compounds treat UC through four main mechanisms, including regulating gut microbiota and metabolites (Mechanism I), protecting the intestinal mucosal barrier (Mechanism II), regulating intestinal mucosal immune response (Mechanism III), as well as regulating other mechanisms (Mechanism Ⅳ) such as cellular autophagy modulation and ferroptosis inhibition. Of these, Mechanism III is regulated by all natural compounds. The 279 natural compounds, including 62 terpenoids, 57 alkaloids, 52 flavonoids, 26 phenols, 19 phenylpropanoids, 9 steroids, 9 saponins, 8 quinonoids, 6 vitamins, and 31 others, can effectively ameliorate UC. Of these, terpenoids, alkaloids, and flavonoids have the greatest potential for treating UC. It is noteworthy to highlight that a total of 54 natural compounds exhibit their therapeutic effects by modulating Mechanisms I, II, and III.

Conclusion: This review serves as a comprehensive resource for the pharmaceutical industry, researchers, and clinicians seeking novel therapeutic approaches to combat UC. Harnessing the therapeutic potential of these natural compounds may significantly contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of patients with UC and promotion of disease-modifying therapies in the future.

Keywords: gut microbiota; intestinal immune responses; intestinal mucosal barrier; natural compounds; ulcerative colitis.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20409, No. 81803742), the Science and Technology Plan Project of Sichuan Province (2021YJ0251), Special Foundation for Scientific Research on Traditional Chinese Medicine of Sichuan Provincial Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2023MS600), Youth Foundation Talent Special Project of Xinglin Scholars’ of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (QJRC2022027), Young Teachers Special Foundation of School of Pharmacy/School of Modern Chinese Medicine Industry of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2022JJRC04), the fellowship from China Scholarship Council (No. 202308510149), the Natural Science Foudation of Sichuan Province (2024NSFSC0712), Young Teachers Special Foundation of School of Pharmacy/School of Modern Chinese Medicine Industry of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (2024JCRC04), and the authors also thank the support of the experimental equipments from the State Key Laboratory of CDUTCM.