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Review
. 2020 Jan 10;25(2):287.
doi: 10.3390/molecules25020287.

Iridoids: Research Advances in Their Phytochemistry, Biological Activities, and Pharmacokinetics

Congcong Wang  1 , Xue Gong  1 , Agula Bo  1 , Lei Zhang  2 , Mingxu Zhang  1 , Erhuan Zang  1 , Chunhong Zhang  1   3 , Minhui Li  1   4
Affiliations
Review

Iridoids: Research Advances in Their Phytochemistry, Biological Activities, and Pharmacokinetics

Congcong Wang et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Iridoids are a class of active compounds that widely exist in the plant kingdom. In recent years, with advances in phytochemical research, many compounds with novel structure and outstanding activity have been identified. Iridoid compounds have been confirmed to mainly exist as the prototype and aglycone and Ι and II metabolites, by biological transformation. These metabolites have been shown to have neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, hypoglycemic, and hypolipidemic activities. This review summarizes the new structures and activities of iridoids identified locally and globally, and explains their pharmacokinetics from the aspects of absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion according to the differences in their structures, thus providing a theoretical basis for further rational development and utilization of iridoids and their metabolites.

Keywords: biological activities; iridoids; pharmacokinetics; phytochemistry.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three basic skeletons of iridoids.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of iridoid glycosides.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of iridoid glycosides.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structures of secoiridoids.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structures of bis-iridoids.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical structures of non-glycosidic iridoids.
Figure 6
Figure 6
The pharmacological activity mechanism of iridoids. The blue arrow up indicates a positive or upregulated effect, while the red down arrow indicates a negative or downregulated effect. Orange circles represent some activity constituents, green ones represent the common pharmacological activities of iridoids, while represented enzymes and signaling pathways are illustrated by polygons. Abbreviations here represent the same meaning as in the body text.
Figure 7
Figure 7
The metabolic processes of geniposide.
Figure 8
Figure 8
The metabolic processes of gentiopicrin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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