Anthocyanins: Traditional Uses, Structural and Functional Variations, Approaches to Increase Yields and Products’ Quality, Hepatoprotection, Liver Longevity, and Commercial Products

Abstract

Anthocyanins are water-soluble, colored compounds of the flavonoid class, abundantly found in the fruits, leaves, roots, and other parts of the plants. The fruit berries are prime sources and exhibit different colors. The anthocyanins utility as traditional medicament for liver protection and cure, and importance as strongest plants-based anti-oxidants have conferred these plants products different biological activities. These activities include anti-inflammation, liver protective, analgesic, and anti-cancers, which have provided the anthocyanins an immense commercial value, and has impelled their chemistry, biological activity, isolation, and quality investigations as prime focus. Methods in extraction and production of anthocyanin-based products have assumed vital economic importance. Different extraction techniques in aquatic solvents mixtures, eutectic solvents, and other chemically reactive extractions including low acid concentrations-based extractions have been developed. The prophylactic and curative therapy roles of the anthocyanins, together with no reported toxicity has offered much-needed impetus and economic benefits to these classes of compounds which are commercially available. Information retrieval from various search engines, including the PubMed®, ScienceDirect®, Scopus®, and Google Scholar®, were used in the review preparation. This imparted an outlook on the anthocyanins occurrence, roles in plants, isolation-extraction, structures, biosynthetic as well as semi- and total-synthetic pathways, product quality and yields enhancements, including uses as part of traditional medicines, and uses in liver disorders, prophylactic and therapeutic applications in liver protection and longevity, liver cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. The review also highlights the integrated approach to yields maximizations to meet the regular demands of the anthocyanins products, also as part of the extract-rich preparations together with a listing of marketed products available for human consumption as nutraceuticals/food supplements.

Hepatoprotective Effect of Silver Nanoparticles at Two Different Particle Sizes: Comparative Study with and without Silymarin

“…Silymarin has been shown to increase DNA and protein synthesis [ 50 ] and to inhibit NF-B, a transcription factor that regulates the expression of several genes involved in inflammation, cell defense, and cancer [ 15 , 51 , 52 ]. It has been shown that silymarin preserves intact liver cells or cells that are not yet permanently damaged by lowering oxidative stress and the resulting cytotoxicity, and thus it may be termed hepatoprotective [ 19 ]. In our study, treatment with silymarin prevented the increase of TNF-α, which had a key role in increasing IL-6 and iNOS and in turn reduced the NO activation.…”

“…Other studies claimed that the AgNP may work as a “Trojan horse”, releasing Ag+ ions after crossing the biological barriers, which are the main cause for cell injury [ 10 ]. On the other hand, silymarin, a hepatoprotective agent and bioactive compound of Silybum Marianum, was renowned for its high clinical efficacy and use in herbal treatment of chronic liver disease [ 19 , 20 ]. No health hazards are known in aggregation, along with properly managed compounds.…”

Role of phenolic acid, tannins, stilbenes, lignans and flavonoids in human health – a review

“…The antioxidant properties or free radical scavenging activities of flavonoids are due to the highly reactive hydroxyl groups or substituents (Ruiz‐Cruz et al ., 2017). Anthocyanins (flavonoids) contributing to the red, violet and blue colours in flowers and fruits, have biological activities such as anti‐inflammation, liver protection, analgesic and anticancer (Mohammed & Khan, 2022). Anthocyanins in blackcurrants modulate the metabolism of glucose influencing digestive enzyme activities (Mu et al ., 2021).…”

A Review of Potential Hepatoprotective Compounds from Medicinal Plants

“…Flavonoids belong mostly to the secondary metabolites that plants create through a phenolic molecule. Phytochemicals, also known as flavonoids, are responsible for a vast variety of products that are beneficial to one's health and serve as a multifaceted ingredient in a wide variety of nutraceuticals, medicines, therapeutic effects, and cosmetic applications [39]. Their ability to scavenge free radicals, fight microbes, prevent cancer, and reduce inflammation, as well as their anticarcinogenic properties, can modify primary enzyme functioning within the cells.…”