Evolution of the adaptogenic concept from traditional use to medical systems: Pharmacology of stress- and aging-related diseases

Abstract

AbstractAdaptogens comprise a category of herbal medicinal and nutritional products promoting adaptability, resilience, and survival of living organisms in stress. The aim of this review was to summarize the growing knowledge about common adaptogenic plants used in various traditional medical systems (TMS) and conventional medicine and to provide a modern rationale for their use in the treatment of stress‐induced and aging‐related disorders. Adaptogens have pharmacologically pleiotropic effects on the neuroendocrine‐immune system, which explain their traditional use for the treatment of a wide range of conditions. They exhibit a biphasic dose‐effect response: at low doses they function as mild stress‐mimetics, which activate the adaptive stress‐response signaling pathways to cope with severe stress. That is in line with their traditional use for preventing premature aging and to maintain good health and vitality. However, the potential of adaptogens remains poorly explored. Treatment of stress and aging‐related diseases require novel approaches. Some combinations of adaptogenic plants provide unique effects due to their synergistic interactions in organisms not obtainable by any ingredient independently. Further progress in this field needs to focus on discovering new combinations of adaptogens based on traditional medical concepts. Robust and rigorous approaches including network pharmacology and systems pharmacology could help in analyzing potential synergistic effects and, more broadly, future uses of adaptogens. In conclusion, the evolution of the adaptogenic concept has led back to basics of TMS and a new level of understanding of holistic approach. It provides a rationale for their use in stress‐induced and aging‐related diseases.

Autoren

Alexander G Panossian
Thomas Efferth
Alexander N Shikov
Olga N Pozharitskaya
Kenny Kuchta
Pulok K Mukherjee
Subhadip Banerjee
Michael Heinrich
Wanying Wu
De‐an Guo
Hildebert Wagner

DOI

10.1002/med.21743

eISSN

1098-1128

ISSN

0198-6325

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Medicinal Research Reviews

Sprache

en

Online publication date

2020

Paginierung

630 - 703

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Status

Published

Herausgeber

Wiley

Herausgeber URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/med.21743

Datum der Datenerfassung

2023

Titel

Evolution of the adaptogenic concept from traditional use to medical systems: Pharmacology of stress‐ and aging‐related diseases

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

41

Data source: Crossref

Abstract

Adaptogens comprise a category of herbal medicinal and nutritional products promoting adaptability, resilience, and survival of living organisms in stress. The aim of this review was to summarize the growing knowledge about common adaptogenic plants used in various traditional medical systems (TMS) and conventional medicine and to provide a modern rationale for their use in the treatment of stress-induced and aging-related disorders. Adaptogens have pharmacologically pleiotropic effects on the neuroendocrine-immune system, which explain their traditional use for the treatment of a wide range of conditions. They exhibit a biphasic dose-effect response: at low doses they function as mild stress-mimetics, which activate the adaptive stress-response signaling pathways to cope with severe stress. That is in line with their traditional use for preventing premature aging and to maintain good health and vitality. However, the potential of adaptogens remains poorly explored. Treatment of stress and aging-related diseases require novel approaches. Some combinations of adaptogenic plants provide unique effects due to their synergistic interactions in organisms not obtainable by any ingredient independently. Further progress in this field needs to focus on discovering new combinations of adaptogens based on traditional medical concepts. Robust and rigorous approaches including network pharmacology and systems pharmacology could help in analyzing potential synergistic effects and, more broadly, future uses of adaptogens. In conclusion, the evolution of the adaptogenic concept has led back to basics of TMS and a new level of understanding of holistic approach. It provides a rationale for their use in stress-induced and aging-related diseases.

Addresses

Phytomed AB, Vaxtorp, Sweden.

Autoren

Alexander G Panossian
Thomas Efferth
Alexander N Shikov
Olga N Pozharitskaya
Kenny Kuchta
Pulok K Mukherjee
Subhadip Banerjee
Michael Heinrich
Wanying Wu
De-An Guo
Hildebert Wagner

DOI

10.1002/med.21743

eISSN

1098-1128

Externe Identifier

PubMed Identifier: 33103257
PubMed Central ID: PMC7756641

Open access

true

ISSN

0198-6325

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Medicinal research reviews

Schlüsselwörter

Humans
Plant Extracts
Signal Transduction
Aging

Sprache

eng

Medium

Print-Electronic

Online publication date

2020

Open access status

Open Access

Paginierung

630 - 703

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Status

Published

Publisher licence

CC BY

Datum der Datenerfassung

2020

Titel

Evolution of the adaptogenic concept from traditional use to medical systems: Pharmacology of stress- and aging-related diseases.

Sub types

review-article
Review
Journal Article

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

41

Files

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/med.21743 https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC7756641?pdf=render

Data source: Europe PubMed Central

Abstract

Adaptogens comprise a category of herbal medicinal and nutritional products promoting adaptability, resilience, and survival of living organisms in stress. The aim of this review was to summarize the growing knowledge about common adaptogenic plants used in various traditional medical systems (TMS) and conventional medicine and to provide a modern rationale for their use in the treatment of stress-induced and aging-related disorders. Adaptogens have pharmacologically pleiotropic effects on the neuroendocrine-immune system, which explain their traditional use for the treatment of a wide range of conditions. They exhibit a biphasic dose-effect response: at low doses they function as mild stress-mimetics, which activate the adaptive stress-response signaling pathways to cope with severe stress. That is in line with their traditional use for preventing premature aging and to maintain good health and vitality. However, the potential of adaptogens remains poorly explored. Treatment of stress and aging-related diseases require novel approaches. Some combinations of adaptogenic plants provide unique effects due to their synergistic interactions in organisms not obtainable by any ingredient independently. Further progress in this field needs to focus on discovering new combinations of adaptogens based on traditional medical concepts. Robust and rigorous approaches including network pharmacology and systems pharmacology could help in analyzing potential synergistic effects and, more broadly, future uses of adaptogens. In conclusion, the evolution of the adaptogenic concept has led back to basics of TMS and a new level of understanding of holistic approach. It provides a rationale for their use in stress-induced and aging-related diseases.

Date of acceptance

2020

Autoren

Alexander G Panossian
Thomas Efferth
Alexander N Shikov
Olga N Pozharitskaya
Kenny Kuchta
Pulok K Mukherjee
Subhadip Banerjee
Michael Heinrich
Wanying Wu
De-An Guo
Hildebert Wagner

Autoren-URL

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33103257

DOI

10.1002/med.21743

eISSN

1098-1128

Externe Identifier

PubMed Central ID: PMC7756641

Ausgabe der Veröffentlichung

1

Zeitschrift

Med Res Rev

Schlüsselwörter

adaptogen
aging
ethnopharmacology
network pharmacology
stress
Aging
Humans
Plant Extracts
Signal Transduction

Sprache

eng

Country

United States

Paginierung

630 - 703

Datum der Veröffentlichung

2021

Status

Published

Datum, an dem der Datensatz öffentlich gemacht wurde

2021

Titel

Evolution of the adaptogenic concept from traditional use to medical systems: Pharmacology of stress- and aging-related diseases.

Sub types

Journal Article
Review

Ausgabe der Zeitschrift

41

Data source: PubMed

Evolution of the adaptogenic concept from traditional use to medical systems: Pharmacology of stress- and aging-related diseases

Files

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