Comparison between the Biological Active Compounds in Plants with Adaptogenic Properties (Rhaponticum carthamoides, Lepidium meyenii, Eleutherococcus senticosus and Panax ginseng)

Background: In the 1960s, research into plant adaptogens began. Plants with adaptogenic properties have rich phytochemical compositions and have been used by humanity since ancient times. However, it is not still clear whether the adaptogenic properties are because of specific compounds or because of the whole plant extracts. The aim of this review is to compare the bioactive compounds in the different parts of these plants. Methods: The search strategy was based on studies related to the isolation of bioactive compounds from Rhaponticum carthamoides, Lepidium meyenii, Eleutherococcus senticosus, and Panax ginseng. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. Results: This review includes data from 259 articles. The phytochemicals isolated from Rhaponticum carthamoides, Lepidium meyenii, Eleutherococcus senticosus, and Panax ginseng were described and classified in several categories. Conclusions: Plant species have always played an important role in drug discovery because their effectiveness is based on the hundreds of years of experience with folk medicine in different nations. In our view, there is great potential in the near future for some of the phytochemicals found in these plants species to become pharmaceutical agents.

Plant Adaptogens—History and Future Perspectives

Adaptogens are synthetic compounds (bromantane, levamisole, aphobazole, bemethyl, etc.) or plant extracts that have the ability to enhance the body’s stability against physical loads without increasing oxygen consumption. Extracts from Panax ginseng, Eleutherococcus senticosus, Rhaponticum carthamoides, Rhodiola rosea, and Schisandra chinensis are considered to be naturally occurring adaptogens and, in particular, plant adaptogens. The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of plant adaptogens in the past and now, as well as to outline the prospects of their future applications. The use of natural adaptogens by humans has a rich history—they are used in recovery from illness, physical weakness, memory impairment, and other conditions. About 50 years ago, plant adaptogens were first used in professional sports due to their high potential to increase the body’s resistance to stress and to improve physical endurance. Although now many people take plant adaptogens, the clinical trials on human are limited. The data from the meta-analysis showed that plant adaptogens could provide a number of benefits in the treatment of chronic fatigue, cognitive impairment, and immune protection. In the future, there is great potential to register medicinal products that contain plant adaptogens for therapeutic purposes.

Adaptogens: modern realities and prospects for the search of new effective and safe medicines (review of literature and authors’ research)

In present medical practice adaptogens and antihypoxants are a promising, but still insufficiently studied group of medicines. The largest evidence base among plant adaptogens was developed for ginseng, aralia, eleutherococcus, lemongrass, rhodiola, leuzea, sterculia. Antihypoxants, like trimetazidine, meldonium, succinic and -aminobutyric acid medications are included in the clinical guidelines. They have the most pronounced antihypoxic effects in a variety of diseases and pathological conditions, accompanied by impaired energy metabolism in the tissues. But their effect is not always high due to the variety of etiological factors causing hypoxia. Tetrahydropyrido[2,1-b][1,3,5]thiadiazine derivatives characterized by various pharmacodynamic effects with low toxicity which opens up prospects for a detailed further study. In animal experiments, the most pronounced adaptogenic and antidepressant effects is exerted by compounds TD-0348 and TD-0479, superior in strength to the antihypoxants used in modern clinical practice, the classic plant adaptogen ginseng.

The comparative evaluation of plant adaptogenes’ hepatoprotective properties on the experimental model of rat liver chronic alcohol dama ge in vivo

This work is devoted to the study of the effectiveness of biochemical liver damage markers and lipid peroxidation correction by plant adaptogens (Sideritis scardica, Hibiscus sabdariffa, Rhododendron adamsii Rehder) in laboratory rats with experimental chronic alcohol intoxication. It was shown that the using of all drugs studied contributes to the normalization of liver damage indicators (alkaline phosphatase and alanine aminotransferase activity, the content of free and bound bilirubin in the blood serum) and lipid peroxidation markers (the content of reduced SH-groups and TBA-active products, catalase and superoxide dismutase activity in the liver homogenate). It was demonstrated that the most pronounced antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects in this model, comparable to the action of classical hepatoprotectors «Hepsil-Rn» and «Essentiale Forte», had decoctions of Sideritis scardica and Rhododendron adamsii Rehder which may be due to the high content of flavonoids and unsaturated fatty acids in their composition.