Although Rosmarinus officinalis L. (rosemary) is widely consumed as a prominent source of natural antioxidants, its specific bioactive constituents and precise molecular targets against oxidative stress remain elusive. This study aimed to identify the core functional ingredients of rosemary and elucidate their underlying protective mechanisms. Through an integrated screening strategy combining untargeted metabolomics, spectrum-effect analysis, and a component knock-out method, rosmarinic acid (RA) was identified as the pivotal dietary antioxidant. The efficacy of RA was validated in hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂)-challenged HepG2 cells and 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-challenged zebrafish models, where RA effectively mitigated oxidative damage by suppressing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and apoptosis. Mechanistically, RA upregulated peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) expression and activated downstream nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/NAD(P)H quinone dehydrogenase 1 (NQO1) pathway. Concurrently, RA attenuated MAPK1 and STAT1 phosphorylation and inhibited cleaved-Caspase-3 activation. Crucially, molecular docking (binding affinity: -9.038 kcal/mol) and Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) confirmed the direct physical binding of RA to PPARγ. In conclusion, RA is the core bioactive compound in rosemary that exerts potent cytoprotective effects by directly targeting PPARγ to activate the antioxidant Nrf2/NQO1 axis. These findings provide a robust scientific basis for utilizing rosemary and RA as functional food ingredients to combat oxidative stress-related pathologies.

Cornus officinalis (Co) is a medicinal and edible plant that is rich in active ingredients including polysaccharides, iridoids, and triterpenoids, with hypoglycemic, lipid-lowering, neuroprotective, and renoprotective functions. Hence, it has great potential for development in the food and medicine fields. This article summarizes the extraction and detection methods, health benefits and application of active ingredients in Co, revealing that the active ingredients have high nutritional value and can be developed into food flavor additives, antioxidants and immunomodulators. This review provides a scientific basis for the research and development of Co products.

Soybean, Glycine max, is an annual herbaceous plant of the family Leguminosae, which contains not only high-quality proteins and oils but also a large number of bioactive secondary metabolites, such as isoflavones and saponins. Soybean secondary metabolites have been widely recognized for their unique structures and multiple biological activities. In this article, an overview of recent progress on the major soybean secondary metabolites and their biological activities is presented based on Web of Science and PubMed. Twelve soybean isoflavones have been identified, which exerts health benefits such as preventing cardiovascular diseases, anti-osteoporosis, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammation, anti-tumor, anti-stroke, and hypoglycemic, neuroprotective and hepatoprotective functions through regulating mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), phosphoinositide 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt), and nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). Totally 30 soybean saponins have been identified and demonstrated to possess anti-inflammation, antioxidant, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, anti-tumor functions and preventive effects against cardiovascular disease. Their mechanisms of action involve the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88)/NF-κB, MAPK, Janus kinase (JAK) and Nrf2 signaling pathways. These soybean secondary metabolites, due to their different structures, have different bioactivities. The major bioactivity of soybean isoflavones is phytoestrogenic activity, while soybean saponins mainly exert anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory activities. This review aims to provide the basis for the in-depth mining of soybean secondary metabolites and lay the foundation for further development of soybean resources.

Insulin resistance, a prominent characteristic of type 2 diabetes, has been extensively studied. In our investigation, we examined the effect of Eudesmin on insulin resistance in 3T3-L1 adipocytes and HepG2 cells. Additionally, we analyzed the alterations in mRNA expression in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells through transcriptomic techniques. Subsequently, we assessed the changes in mRNA expression in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells following Eudesmin treatment. Our analysis revealed 13 differentially expressed genes that were commonly observed. Notably, FER1L6 exhibited the most significant changes, with a marked upregulation in mRNA expression in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells. Consequently, we conducted functional experiments to validate the role of fer-1 like family member 6 (FER1L6). Specifically, through gene knockdown experiments, we observed a significant enhancement in glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT4) expression and an improvement in insulin resistance status in cell models. Therefore, FER1L6 emerges as a promising therapeutic target for insulin resistance.

Lignans in Patrinia have attracted the attention of researchers due to their diverse structure and remarkable activity. We searched the PubMed database for articles published from 2003 to 2023 using appropriate search terms: Patrinia, Lignans, Biological activity, and Chemical structures. In this paper, the active lignans and their action mechanisms were summarized over the past 20 years. The results showed that 56 lignans have been isolated and identified from Patrinia, including furofurans, dibenzyltyrolactones, tetrahydrofurans, arylnaphthalenes, benzofurans and biphenyl derivatives. 45 lignans had anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, cytotoxicity, enzyme inhibitor, anti-Alzheimer’s disease, neuroprotection, anti-bacterial, hepatoprotection and anti-diabetic activities. The anti-inflammatory mechanism involves AMPK, MAPK, NF-κB and JAK-STAT signaling pathways, and the antitumor mechanism involves Raf/MEK/ERK, Akt/JNK and AKT signaling pathways. Lignans in Patrinia are promising to be utilized in food and medicine.

This study was designed to elucidate the immunoregulation of Ganoderma lucidum. HPLC fingerprint and spectrum-effect relationship of G. lucidum were established to predict the active compounds and BP neural network model was established to predict the efficacy. Then the target compounds were identified by high resolution mass spectrometry. The results indicated that there are both enhanced immunity and immunosuppressive components in G. lucidum. BP neural network was trained with the common peak area and immune efficacy index of G. lucidum fingerprint as samples, and a combined evaluation system of G. lucidum fingerprint efficacy was established. The correlation coefficient R of BP network model was 0.986 43, and the error of pharmacodynamic prediction results was in the ideal range. Eight compounds were identified by high resolution mass spectrometry. The compounds related to immune activity in G. lucidum were determined in this study.

Compounds with regulating glucose metabolism and improving insulin resistance (IR) activity are abundant in nature and can be obtained from several sources. They have high potential to be used to treat diabetes mellitus. These compounds isolated from natural plants can be classified seven categories: terpenoids, alkaloids, quinones, flavonoids, phenols, phenyl propanoids, steroids, and other types of compounds. They exert biological effects by different ways and mechanisms. This review illustrated the potential natural products as a rich resource in regulation of glucose metabolism and IR, as well as their mechanisms.

Ligustri lucidi Fructus is a traditional Chinese medicine and possesses various bioactivities, including hypoglycemic effect. Ligustrum lucidum Ait flowers are poorly investigated. Thus, we hypothesized that L. lucidum flowers also could have hypoglycemic effect. Chemical composition and glucose uptake effect of L. lucidum flowers on 3T3-L1 adipocytes were investigated. In this study, the components of L. lucidum flowers were investigated by various chromatographic and spectroscopic methods and the effects of L. lucidum flowers on the induction of glucose uptake were investigated by 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Seven compounds were isolated and identified from L. lucidum flowers, including ursolic acid (1), kaempferol-7-O-α-L-rhamnoside (2, KR), β-sitosterol (3), β-daucosterol (4), kaempferitrin (5, KF), 10-hydroxy oleuropein (6, HO), and kaempferol-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside-7-α-L-rhamnopyranoside (7, KGR). The results of glucose uptake showed that total extract (TE), KR, KF and HO from L. lucidum flowers significantly enhanced glucose uptake. This study demonstrated that compounds 2, 5-7 were isolated for the first time from this plant and compounds 2 and 7 were isolated for the first time in genus Ligustrum, L. lucidum flowers, KR, KF and HO may possess potential hypoglycemic effect.