:
Berberine, as a representative isoquinoline alkaloid, exhibits significant hypolipidemic activity
in both animal models and clinical trials. Recently, a large number of studies on the lipid-lowering
mechanism of berberine and studies for improving its hypolipidemic activity have been reported, but for
the most part, they have been either incomplete or not comprehensive. In addition, there have been a few
specific reviews on the lipid-reducing effect of berberine. In this paper, the physicochemical properties,
the lipid-lowering mechanism, and studies of the modification of berberine all are discussed to promote
the development of berberine as a lipid-lowering agent. Subsequently, this paper provides some insights
into the deficiencies of berberine in the study of lipid-lowering drug, and based on the situation, some
proposals are put forward.