木脂素——一类重要的天然植物雌激素

木脂素是一类具有弱雌激素和抗雌激素特性的重要植物雌激素。木脂素具有多种生物活性,包括抗氧化、抗病毒和抗肿瘤等。木脂素对激素依赖型疾病,特别是乳腺癌、前列腺癌和良性前列腺增生有预防作用。然而,对诸如从食物中获得的木脂素在体内的代谢物是否具有基因毒性、木脂素的具体抗癌机制和木脂素在体内起作用的剂量等许多重要科学问题仍不清楚。作者综述了木脂素的分类、分布、代谢过程、药理活性和测定方法,并对木脂素的未来研究方向进行了展望。

Lignan: an important natural estrogen from plants

Lignan is an important phytoestrogen with weakly estrogenic and anti-estrogenic properties,and possesses diverse bioactivities,including antioxidation,antitumor and antivirus etc.In particular,it may prevent hormone-dependent diseases,such as breast cancer,prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia.However,many important scientific problems have not been constrain- ed,whether do the metabelites of lignans from foods have their potential genic toxicity?What are the anticanccr mechanisms of lignans? What is the dosage of lignans to achieve the desired biological effect?In this paper,the references on lignans have systematically been reviewed in the following aspects:classification,distribution,metabolism,pharmacological activities and analytical methods,and a prospective of future studies on lignans is also elucidated.