Editorial: Herbal medicines in women’s lives

Abstract

Editorial on the Research Topic Herbal medicines in women's livesIn many areas, natural products are traditionally used to improve body conditions in several periods of a women's life, including adolescent, reproductive, and menopausal periods. In the adolescent period, medical herbs are used to enhance growth. At childbearing age, medical herbs are used to treat menstruation problems, decrease vaginal infection, and increase fertility. During pregnancy, medical herbs are used to reduce discomfort and prevent miscarriage. After menopause, medical herbs are used to alleviate symptoms and delay degeneration. All the above-mentioned usages of natural products are considered to improve life quality for women. Herbs used in women' lives deserve careful study. The articles in this Research Topic involve the use of herbal medicines during childbearing and menopausal periods. The conditions involved dysmenorrhea, endometriosis, infertility, lactation, osteoporosis, and menopausal symptoms.At child-bearing age, dysmenorrhea affects 45% of women (Iacovides et al., 2015). In several countries and areas with traditional medicines, herbs are commonly used to relieve cramps in primary and secondary dysmenorrhea. In this Research topic, the research of Su et al. discloses the herbs used for dysmenorrhea in Taiwan via a field investigation among traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies. Those pharmacies are popular among women in Taiwan. This research team found that Angelica sinensis (Oliv.) Diels and Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort are two important herbs in the prescriptions of Taiwanese pharmacies. Among the etiologies of dysmenorrhea, endometriosis is a common and intractable disease that causes secondary dysmenorrhea (Mehedintu et al., 2014). Several herbs are shown to inhibit the pathogenesis of endometriosis, such as inflammation, proliferation, and angiogenesis (Meresman et al., 2021). Endometriosis patients who take the herbs are also shown to have a lower surgery rate than those who do not take herbs (Su et al., 2014). Zheng et al. provide possible mechanisms of a traditional Chinese medicine formula, the ELeng Capsule. By transcriptomics combined with network analysis, Zheng et al. conclude that the potential mechanisms to treat endometriosis of the Eleng Capsule might include apoptosis and regulating angiogenesis, cytoskeleton, and epithelialmesenchymal transition.

Hepatic Stellate Cell‐Targeting Micelle Nanomedicine for Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Liver Fibrosis

“…[21,22] Studies have revealed that silibinin, with biological effects including anti-oxidation, anti-fibrosis, and anti-inflammation, holds promise for treating various liver ailments, particularly liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. [23][24][25] Furthermore, sorafenib, an inhibitor targeting platelet-derived growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor, effectively hampers both the proliferation and activation of HSCs. [26,27] Therefore, combining the therapeutic properties of silibinin and sorafenib presents a highly feasible approach to reversing the effects of liver fibrosis; However, the efficacy of silibinin and sorafenib is limited due to poor water solubility, low bioavailability, and short circulation half-life.…”