Various metabolic diseases pose a significant health burden in many regions of the world. In recent years, the global changes in nutrition or shift in dietary consumption and unhealthy diets have resulted in an increased risk of metabolic diseases. The three most common of these syndromes are obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, followed by hyperuricemia and inflammatory arthritis (gout).
Hyperuricemia is characterized by an elevated level of uric acid in the human body and is closely linked with gout. Approximately one-third of serum uric acid is produced endogenously and the rest during purine metabolism. In humans, about 70% of urate is excreted via the kidney and the remainder via the gastrointestinal tract. In some mammals, the uricase further converts uric acid into allantoin, which is more efficiently excreted by the kidney and eliminated from the body through urine. However, humans often lack the uricase enzyme and therefore abnormal uric acid levels may accumulate in the blood. Elevated uric acid levels could lead to the deposition of uric acid crystals and acute persistent inflammatory reactions in the joints.
At present, pharmacological strategies to treat hyperuricemia and gout focus on controlling the uric acid synthesis (i.e. febuxostat) or promote uric acid excretion (i.e., benzbromarone and probenecid). Although these agents are effective, they show adverse side effects such as skin allergies, fever, renal dysfunction and aseptic meningitis. Hence, alternative therapies which can intervene in the development of hyperuricemia and gout are urgently needed. Herbal medicines and metabolites derived from them are an important resource of potential new anti-hyperuricemia and anti-gout agents potentially with limited or no adverse effects. Recent studies have discovered that specific flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenoids and polyphenols act as anti-hyperuricemia agents. Their mechanism of action is linked to inhibiting the activity of xanthine oxidase and regulating uric acid transporters.
This Research Topic is dedicated to projects on the pharmacological actions and mechanisms of herbal medicines (crude extracts and special extracts), and isolated metabolites in the prevention and treatment of hyperuricemia, gout and other metabolic disorders (i.e. diabetes, kidney diseases, and cardiovascular diseases). In this topic, we welcome the following subtopics, but are not limited to:
- In vitro and in vivo evaluation of anti-hyperuricemia and anti-gout effects of herbal medicines and their bioactive metabolites
- Evaluation of anti-inflammatory effects of natural products if these are linked to metabolomic conditions
- Extraction and analysis of herbal medicines and herbal medical products with anti- hyperuricemia effects
- Clinical and toxicological research on the anti-hyperuricemia and anti-gout mechanism of such preparations
All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here). Specifically, please note the need to describe the preparations used in detail.
