Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology ofZiziphus jujubaMills

Abstract

Ziziphus jujuba Mills, 'annab' in Iran, 'ber' in India or 'pomme sourette' in France, is a species whose fruit (known warmly as 'the fruits of life' in China) has been consumed for centuries for its nutritional value. The food industry used it as a food additive and flavoring. The dry seeds, the crude leaves and the stem bark are still used in ethnopharmacology to treat digestive disorders and gastric ulcers as antitussive, laxative and hypotensive drugs; even now, it is used in China to treat children who suffer from typhoid fever, furuncle and ecthyma. In Taiwan, the dry seeds for the variety spinosa (Suan Zao Ren) are the second most commonly prescribed and used phytomedicine for insomnia. Its popularity and production have increased worldwide in recent years, especially in Europe. The European Pharmacopoeia Commission has been unable to elaborate upon the EP monograph on Ziziphi spinosae semen as was planned. The EMA has not made its recommendations yet. Is it still a gap in the scientific knowledge? Or is difficult for traditional Chinese medicinal herbs to fulfill the style and quality parameters that are required? Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suanzaoren Formulae for Insomnia: Updated Clinical Evidence and Possible Mechanisms

“…The SZR typically contains complex mixtures of phytochemicals, including sanjoinine A, Jujuboside A (JuA), spinosin and other flavonoids (Yang et al, 2013 ). Sanjoinine A, one of the aporphine alkaloid from SZR, was demonstrated to enhance sleep behaviors and augment pentobarbital-induced sleeping behaviors through GABAergic system (Han et al, 2009 ; Rodríguez and Rodríguez, 2017 ). Furthermore, Sanjoinine A increases chloride influx and GABA synthesis via glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD 65/67) activation in cultured cerebellar granule cells, inducing prolonged sleeping time (Zhang et al, 2003 ).…”

“…var. spinosa (Bunge) Hu ex H. F. Chou (Huang et al, 2016 ; Rodríguez and Rodríguez, 2017 ), is one of the most popular CHMs and has a long history of use in Chinese medicine (Yan, 2010 ; Yeh et al, 2011 ; Ni et al, 2015 ; Rodríguez and Rodríguez, 2017 ; Shergis et al, 2017 ; Singh and Zhao, 2017 ). SZR was first recorded in the Shennong Bencao Jing ( Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica ), the earliest medicine monograph of China written 2500 years ago (Gu, 2007 ).…”

The testicular protective effects of standardised hydroalcoholic extract ofZiziphus jujuba Millagainst adriamycin‐induced toxicity

“…Our study data show that ADR causes oxidative stress by the reduction of antioxidant agents such as SOD and catalase activities and upsurge of MDA level in the testis of rats and induces severe testicular toxicity, same as other previous studies about ADR (Çeribaşı et al., 2012). Free radical scavenging ability and antioxidant activity of ZJ have made its protective effects (Rodriguez Villanueva & Rodriguez Villanueva, 2017). ZJ has a potent antioxidant effect, possibly by increasing the activation of crucial antioxidant enzymes on the other hand by decreasing the production of ROS (Gao et al., 2013).…”

Pharmacological Activities of Phytomedicines: A Challenge Horizon for Rational Knowledge

“…For these reasons, the herbal medicinal preparation derived from several herbal plants that contains a large number of secondary phytochemical compounds has been seen as feasible for chronic therapies. The rationale behind combinations is frequently questioned, and it remains challenging to assess the individual contribution of each of the combination partners to the overall activity of the preparation [25,26]. The new trends suggest an integrative approach, called "the shotgun approach", in which a wide variety of compounds act together on multiple targets to produce a final action through a balance resulting from minor changes.…”