Pharmacological and analytical aspects of alkannin/shikonin and their derivatives: An update from 2008 to 2022

Abstract

Alkannin/shikonin (A/S) and their derivatives are naturally occurring naphthoquinones majorly found in Boraginaceae family plants. They are integral constituents of traditional Chinese medicine Zicao (roots of Lithospermum erythrorhizon). In last two decades significant increase in pharmacological investigations on alkannin/shikonin and their derivatives has been reported that resulted in discovery of their novel mechanisms in various diseases and disorders. This review throws light on recently conducted pharmacological investigations on alkannin/shikonin and their derivatives and their outputs. Various analytical aspects are also discussed and brief summary of patent applications on inventions containing alkannin/shikonin and its derivatives is also provided.

Keywords: alkannin; naphthoquinones; patents; shikonin.

Fig. 1

Chemical structures of alkannin and shikonin.

Fig. 2

Structural representation of alkannin, shikonin and their derivatives.

Fig. 3

Trend analysis of reports indexed in “PubMed” database with keywords “Alkannin” and “Shikonin” from 1951 to 2021.

Fig. 4

Impact of shikonin and derivatives on different phases of wound healing.

Fig. 5

Mechanistic action of shikonin and its derivatives on various microbial strains viz. Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Streptococcus pneumoniae where ROS is reactive oxygen species and MMP is mitochondrial membrane potential.

Fig. 6

Mechanistic anticancer pathways of shikonin and β-hydroxy valeryl shikonin.

Fig. 7

Mechanistic activity of shikonin and acetyl shikonin for treatment of asthma, arthrosclerosis, diabetes and inflammation. LDL, low density lipoprotein; DAG, diacylglycerol; ROS, reactive oxygen species; TSLP, thymic stromal lymphopoietin; IL, interleukins; GCM, global compact on migration.