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Review
. 2022 Aug 21;27(16):5327.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27165327.

Mechanistic Insights into the Pharmacological Significance of Silymarin

Karan Wadhwa  1 , Rakesh Pahwa  2 , Manish Kumar  3 , Shobhit Kumar  4 , Prabodh Chander Sharma  5 , Govind Singh  1 , Ravinder Verma  6 , Vineet Mittal  1 , Inderbir Singh  7 , Deepak Kaushik  1 , Philippe Jeandet  8
Affiliations
Review

Mechanistic Insights into the Pharmacological Significance of Silymarin

Karan Wadhwa et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

Medicinal plants are considered the reservoir of diverse therapeutic agents and have been traditionally employed worldwide to heal various ailments for several decades. Silymarin is a plant-derived mixture of polyphenolic flavonoids originating from the fruits and akenes of Silybum marianum and contains three flavonolignans, silibinins (silybins), silychristin and silydianin, along with taxifolin. Silybins are the major constituents in silymarin with almost 70-80% abundance and are accountable for most of the observed therapeutic activity. Silymarin has also been acknowledged from the ancient period and is utilized in European and Asian systems of traditional medicine for treating various liver disorders. The contemporary literature reveals that silymarin is employed significantly as a neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-viral, anti-hypertensive, immunomodulator, anti-inflammatory, photoprotective and detoxification agent by targeting various cellular and molecular pathways, including MAPK, mTOR, β-catenin and Akt, different receptors and growth factors, as well as inhibiting numerous enzymes and the gene expression of several apoptotic proteins and inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, the current review aims to recapitulate and update the existing knowledge regarding the pharmacological potential of silymarin as evidenced by vast cellular, animal, and clinical studies, with a particular emphasis on its mechanisms of action.

Keywords: anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; pharmacological interventions; pro-apoptotic; silybin; silymarin.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of the phytoconstituents present in silymarin.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Various molecular targets for silymarin.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Various hepatoprotective modes of action of silymarin.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Various anti-diabetic mechanisms of silymarin.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Anti-cancer mechanisms of silymarin.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Various mechanisms responsible for the neuroprotective effects of silymarin.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Functional triad of silymarin and its associated pharmacological properties.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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