Health benefits of anthocyanins and molecular mechanisms: Update from recent decade

Abstract

Anthocyanins are one of the most widespread families of natural pigments in the plant kingdom. Their health beneficial effects have been documented in many in vivo and in vitro studies. This review summarizes the most recent literature regarding the health benefits of anthocyanins and their molecular mechanisms. It appears that several signaling pathways, including mitogen-activated protein kinase, nuclear factor κB, AMP-activated protein kinase, and Wnt/β-catenin, as well as some crucial cellular processes, such as cell cycle, apoptosis, autophagy, and biochemical metabolism, are involved in these beneficial effects and may provide potential therapeutic targets and strategies for the improvement of a wide range of diseases in future. In addition, specific anthocyanin metabolites contributing to the observed in vivo biological activities, structure-activity relationships as well as additive and synergistic efficacy of anthocyanins are also discussed.

Pelargonidin improves memory deficit in amyloid β25-35 rat model of Alzheimer’s disease by inhibition of glial activation, cholinesterase, and oxidative stress

“…Meanwhile, Pickford et al have shown decreased autophagy in addition to accelerated Ab aggregation in the brain of mice model of AD [57]. Although no evidence exists on the effect of Pel on autophagy, but anthocyanins could target autophagy process and in this way exert beneficial effect, as reviewed by Li et al [58]. Regarding Pel bioavailability, after its ingestion in rats, it is easily absorbed and is present in plasma and the main structurally related Pel metabolite in plasma is pelargonidin glucuronide and brain tissue contains detectable levels of the aglycone [59].…”

Antioxidant Capacity of Anthocyanin Pigments

“…The increasing evidence of potential therapeutic effects that present anthocyanin compounds has boosted the interest in the knowledge of their biochemistry and biological effects during the last two decades [95,[110][111][112]. Biological properties of anthocyanins depend on their bioavailability.…”

“…As it has been mentioned throughout the chapter, anthocyanins are potentially used in food and pharmaceutical industries since their practical applications as natural colourants [13,49,58,76,79,327] as well as their potential health benefits to humans [13,56,90,110,114]. Nevertheless, the incorporation of anthocyanins into food and medical products is a challenging task due to their low stability and susceptibility to degradation [292] towards environmental conditions during processing and storage.…”

Antiproliferative and Apoptotic Potential of Cyanidin-Based Anthocyanins on Melanoma Cells

“…Therefore, it appears that the presence of acylated acids or increased number of sugar moieties reduces the anti-cancer activity of anthocyanins. The structure-function relationships of anthocyanins were recently reviewed [23]. Non-acylated anthocyanins isolated from different blueberry and Cornus kousa fruits showed great inhibition against B16-F10 (melanoma), MCF-7 (beast), SF-268 (CNS), NCI-H460 (lung), HCT-116 (colon), and AGS (gastric) human tumor cells tumor cell lines [19,24].…”