Title:The Roles of Natural Alkaloids and Polyphenols in Lipid Metabolism:
Therapeutic Implications and Potential Targets in Metabolic Diseases
Volume: 30
Issue: 32
Author(s): Zeqiang Ma, Shengnan Wang, Weiwei Miao, Zhiwang Zhang, Lin Yu, Siqi Liu, Zupeng Luo, Huanjie Liang, Jingsu Yu, Tengda Huang, Mingming Li, Jiayi Gao, Songtao Su, Yixing Li and Lei Zhou*
Affiliation:
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
Keywords:
Obesity, natural alkaloids, natural polyphenols, molecular mechanism, reverse docking, lipid metabolism.
Abstract: The prevalence of obesity and its associated diseases has increased dramatically,
and they are major threats to human health worldwide. A variety of approaches, such
as physical training and drug therapy, can be used to reduce weight and reverse associated
diseases; however, the efficacy and the prognosis are often unsatisfactory. It has been
reported that natural food-based small molecules can prevent obesity and its associated
diseases. Among them, alkaloids and polyphenols have been demonstrated to regulate
lipid metabolism by enhancing energy metabolism, promoting lipid phagocytosis, inhibiting
adipocyte proliferation and differentiation, and enhancing the intestinal microbial
community to alleviate obesity. This review summarizes the regulatory mechanisms and
metabolic pathways of these natural small molecules and reveals that the binding targets
of most of these molecules are still undefined, which limits the study of their regulatory
mechanisms and prevents their further application. In this review, we describe the use of
Discovery Studio for the reverse docking of related small molecules and provide new insights
for target protein prediction, scaffold hopping, and mechanistic studies in the future.
These studies will provide a theoretical basis for the modernization of anti-obesity
drugs and promote the discovery of novel drugs.
