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Review
. 2021 Jan 14:11:599959.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.599959. eCollection 2020.

Phytosterols: From Preclinical Evidence to Potential Clinical Applications

Bahare Salehi  1 , Cristina Quispe  2 , Javad Sharifi-Rad  3   4 , Natália Cruz-Martins  5   6   7 , Manisha Nigam  8 , Abhay Prakash Mishra  9 , Dmitryi Alexeevich Konovalov  10 , Valeriya Orobinskaya  11 , Ibrahim M Abu-Reidah  12 , Wissam Zam  13 , Farukh Sharopov  14 , Tommaso Venneri  15 , Raffaele Capasso  16 , Wirginia Kukula-Koch  17 , Anna Wawruszak  18 , Wojciech Koch  19
Affiliations
Review

Phytosterols: From Preclinical Evidence to Potential Clinical Applications

Bahare Salehi et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Phytosterols (PSs) are plant-originated steroids. Over 250 PSs have been isolated, and each plant species contains a characteristic phytosterol composition. A wide number of studies have reported remarkable pharmacological effects of PSs, acting as chemopreventive, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antiatherosclerotic agents. However, PS bioavailability is a key issue, as it can be influenced by several factors (type, source, processing, preparation, delivery method, food matrix, dose, time of administration into the body, and genetic factors), and the existence of a close relationship between their chemical structures (e.g., saturation degree and side-chain length) and low absorption rates has been stated. In this sense, the present review intends to provide in-depth data on PS therapeutic potential for human health, also emphasizing their preclinical effects and bioavailability-related issues.

Keywords: campesterol; coronary heart disease; low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; phytosterols; β-sitosterol.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The steroid skeleton.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The structure of the most occurring plant-originated sterols in human diet.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Mechanism of action of phytosterols in reducing cardiovascular diseases.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Anticancer effects of phytosterols.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Immunomodulatory effects of phytosterols.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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