Zastosowanie chińskich materiałów leczniczych i produktów naturalnych w epilepsji: przegląd badań działania wielocelowego na neurony, komórki glejowe i stan zapalny
Ethnopharmacological relevance of Chinese medicinal materials and natural products in epilepsy: a critical multi-target review integrating neurons, glia and inflammatory signaling
W skrócie
Badanie analizuje 15 chińskich materiałów leczniczych i naturalnych substancji, które mogą pomagać w leczeniu epilepsji. Naukowcy badali, jak te naturalne produkty działają na mózg - zmniejszają drgawki, chronią neurony i hamują stan zapalny. Choć badania wstępne wykazują obiecujące wyniki, potrzebne są jeszcze lepsze badania kliniczne na pacjentach, aby potwierdzić czy rzeczywiście mogą leczyć epilepsję.
Oryginalny abstract (angielski)
Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures, substantial comorbidity, and persistent pharmacoresistance in approximately one-third of affected patients. Chinese medicinal materials, including botanical drugs, selected animal-derived medicinal materials, extracts, and defined natural metabolites, have long been used as adjunctive approaches for seizure-related disorders; however, their modern pharmacological evidence remains heterogeneous and is often interpreted too broadly. This critical review synthesizes experimental, clinical, and translational evidence on 15 representative Chinese medicinal materials or natural metabolites that have been investigated in epilepsy-related models. Using a structured narrative search and an evidence-appraisal framework, we map these materials to neuronal excitability, hippocampal and entorhinal vulnerability, dentate-gyrus remodeling, microglial activation, astrocyte dysfunction, neurotransmitter balance, ion-channel regulation, and inflammatory signaling pathways including MAPK, mTOR, PI3K/AKT/FoxO1, TLR4/NF-κB, Nrf2/HO-1, and CREB. We distinguish acute seizure suppression, neuroprotection after status epilepticus, and true anti-epileptogenic or disease-modifying effects. Overall, preclinical data support multi-target biological plausibility, particularly for regulation of neuroinflammation and neuron-glia homeostasis, but most evidence remains limited by acute chemoconvulsant models, pre-treatment designs, incomplete botanical or chemical characterization, variable dose reporting, and limited high-quality clinical validation. Future studies should prioritize taxonomically validated materials, chemically characterized preparations, clinically relevant chronic seizure models, standardized outcomes, pharmacokinetic and herb-drug interaction testing, and rigorously designed randomized trials.