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Review
. 2025 Jul 17:16:1599756.
doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1599756. eCollection 2025.

Sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives: potential natural compounds for the treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy

Quan Zhang  1   2 , Jiahong Zhang  1   2 , Yujie Ouyang  1   2 , Hongyan Liu  1   2 , Chunguang Xie  2   3   4 , Xiaoxu Fu  2   3   4
Affiliations
Review

Sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives: potential natural compounds for the treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy

Quan Zhang et al. Front Pharmacol. .

Abstract

Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is one of the most common complications of diabetes, characterized by high morbidity and disability rates, and can lead to heart failure. However, specific therapeutic agents for DCM are currently lacking. Natural compounds derived from traditional Chinese medicine have demonstrated potential in alleviating DCM through multiple mechanisms. Sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives represent a promising class of natural compounds for the treatment of DCM. These compounds have been shown to improve DCM by combating oxidative stress, inhibiting inflammatory responses, regulating epigenetic modifications, modulating autophagy and apoptosis, maintaining mitochondrial homeostasis, alleviating endoplasmic reticulum stress, reducing advanced glycation end products (AGEs) level, and ameliorating cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis. This article provides a brief overview of the pharmacological effects of sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives and systematically reviews their mechanisms in improving DCM. The aim is to promote the effective utilization of herbal medicine and provide insights and references for the development of novel therapeutics for DCM.

Keywords: diabetic cardiomyopathy; flavonoids; molecular mechanisms; natural compounds; sea buckthorn.

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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 summary of the efficacy of sea buckthorn.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Chemical structural formulae of sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
The mechanism of action of sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives in the treatment of DCM: Inhibition of oxidative stress, suppression of inflammatory responses, and regulation of epigenetic modifications.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
The mechanisms of action of sea buckthorn flavonoids and their derivatives in the treatment of DCM: Regulation of autophagy and apoptosis, maintenance of mitochondrial functional homeostasis, attenuation of endoplasmic reticulum stress, reduction of AGEs levels, and amelioration of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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