Xenohormesis:从进化与生态角度理解中药的生物效应

Xenohormesis解释了为何植物受环境胁迫后产生的次生代谢产物能提高取食动物的胁迫耐受性与生存机会,认为在自然选择压力下动物保留着感知这些胁迫信号分子的能力,从而激活进化保守性的细胞应激响应机制,提高逆境适应力.该文在介绍Xenohormesis效应概念与机制,分析总结植物与昆虫及人类的Xenohormesis效应关系的基础上,以人参为例阐述了中药Xenohormesis效应,认为借鉴Xenohormesis理论能从进化与生态角度理解中药生物效应的本质,对中药现代化研究具重要价值.

Xenohormesis: understanding biological effects of traditional Chinese medicine from an evolutionary and ecological perspective

Xenohormesis explains how bioactive secondary metabolites produced by environmentally stressed plants can confer stress resistance and survival benefits to animals that consume them. This principle holds that animals retain the ability to sense these stress-induced signaling molecules under nature selective pressure, which will activate the evolutionarily conserved cellular stress response and subsequently enhance their adaptation to adversity. In this review, we have introduced the concept and mechanisms of xenohormesis, analyzed and summarized the xenohormesis relationship between plants and insects or human beings. Based on these, we have elucidated the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) xenohormesis with ginseng as an example, proposed that we could understand the essence of TCM biological effects from an evolutionary and ecological perspective with the help of xenohormesis principle and also pointed out it has very important value in the modernization of TCM.