Effects of Silymarin on Diabetes Mellitus Complications: A Review

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic disorder that is caused by a deficit in the production of (type 1) or response to (type 2) insulin. Diabetes mellitus is characterized by a state of chronic hyperglycemia and such symptoms as weight loss, thirst, polyuria, and blurred vision. These disturbances represent one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality nowadays, despite available treatments, such as insulin, insulin secretagogues, insulin sensitizers, and oral hypoglycemic agents. However, many efforts have been made to discover new drugs for diabetes treatment, including medicinal plant extracts. Silymarin is a powder extract of the seeds from Silybum marianum, a plant from the Asteraceae family. The major active ingredients include four isomers: silybin, isosilybin, silychristin, and silydianin. Silymarin is indicated for the treatment of hepatic disorders, such as cirrhosis, chronic hepatitis, and gallstones. Moreover, several studies of other pathologies, including diabetes, sepsis, osteoporosis, arthritis, hypercholesterolemia, cancer, viral infections, and Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, have tested the effects of silymarin and reported promising results. This article reviews data from clinical, in vivo, and in vitro studies on the use of silymarin, with a focus on the complications of diabetes, including nephropathy, neuropathy, healing delays, oxidative stress, hepatotoxicity, and cardiomyopathy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Silymarin for Treatment of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis–A New Kid on the Block?

“…In previous studies, SM has shown beneficial effects on the metabolic syndrome and T2DM. 25 However, there was no significant improvement in T2DM in patients on SM compared with patients on placebo in this study. This might be explained by the missing information on weight loss as well as changes in the type and dosage of other medications during the study period.…”

Silybum marianum (milk thistle) and its main constituent, silymarin, as a potential therapeutic plant in metabolic syndrome: A review

“…Furthermore, some studies mentioned that silymarin as a supportive protected hepatosis therapy in Amanita phalloide poisoning (Bahmani et al, ), hepatosis caused by oxidative stress such as alcoholic and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, steatohepatitis, drug, and chemically induced liver toxicity (Fehér & Lengyel, ). Some clinical and animal studies demonstrated silymarin effectiveness in different diseases such as sepsis, osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, diabetes, and mental disorders (Stolf, Cardoso, & Acco, ). It has also remarkable effects in scavenging reactive oxygen species and can reduce drugs toxicity (Fehér & Lengyel, ).…”

The role of miR-190a-5p contributes to diabetic neuropathic pain via targeting SLC17A6

“… 1 – 3 It is involved in any part of whole-body peripheral nervous system, including sensory nerve, motor nerve, and autonomic nerve, characterized by physical pain, hypoesthesia, hot and cold numbness, and spontaneous pain, and seriously affects the life quality of these patients. 2 , 4 , 5 Nowadays, diabetic neuropathy is considered to be a very painful condition and urgent treatment is required. 6 , 7 Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms underlying diabetic neuropathic pain (DNP) and provide a new strategy to treat this disorder.…”