TABLE 2.
Pharmacological effects and mechanisms of silymarin.
| Pharmacological effects | Extracts/Compounds | Types | Animal/cell | Dosage | Effects | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| alcoholic liver disease | Silymarin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 60 mg/kg | Reducing alcohol-induced hepatic steatosis by upregulating the LKB1/AMPK/ACC signaling pathway | Feng et al. (2019) |
| Silybin | In vivo | SD rat | 100 mg/kg | Inhibition of mitochondrial division reduces apoptosis rate | Song (2023) | |
| Silybin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 100 mg/kg | Blocking alcohol-induced oxidative stress and lipid peroxidation | Wang (2023) | |
| nonalcoholic fatty liver disease | Silybin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 50 or 100 mg/kg/day | Attenuating ER stress to regulate P450s activity | Wu et al. (2023a) |
| silibinin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 5 mg/kg | abolished oxidative stress, and inhibited PARP activation thus restoring the NAD⁺ pool | Salomone et al. (2017) | |
| Silybin | In vivo | BALB/c mice | 100 mg/kg/day | Combat obesity caused by the whole body | Ma et al. (2024) | |
| Silibinin | In vivo | SD rat | 100 mg/kg | Improved liver oxidative stress and inflammation | Zhang et al. (2013a) | |
| Silybin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 40 or 80 mg/kg/day | Inhibits inflammation and reduces the expression of CYP3A | Zhang et al. (2021) | |
| Silybin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 50 or 100 mg/kg/day | Regulating lipid disorders | Sun et al. (2020) | |
| viral hepatitis | Silymarin | In vitro | Huh7 cell | 100–300 μmol/L | Stimulates Jak-Stat pathway and induces IFN antiviral response | Polyak et al. (2007) |
| Silymarin | In vitro | Huh7.5.1 cell | 40、80 or 120 μmol/L | Inhibition of MTP activity, apoB secretion and production of infectious virus particles | Wagoner et al. (2010) | |
| Silymarin | In vitro | PBMC cell | 20 or 40 μmol/L | Inhibition of T cell proliferation and proinflammatory cytokine secretion | Morishima et al. (2010) | |
| Liver injury induced by carbon tetrachloride | Silymarin | In vivo | Wistar rat | 50 mg/kg/day | Reduce liver inflammation, improve liver cell synthesis function | Guo and Yang (2008) |
| Silymarin | In vivo | C57BL/6J mice | 0.2 mmol/kg | Significantly reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in the liver | Xu et al. (2022) | |
| Silymarin | In vivo | SD rat | 200 mg/kg | Significantly inhibited transaminase activity and liver fibrosis | Khalil et al. (2021) | |
| Hepatic fibrosis | Silymarin | In vivo | Albino rat | 300 mg/kg | Exert the stability and antioxidant activity of the membrane | Mukhtar et al. (2021) |
| Silymarin | In vivo | Wistar rat | 50 mg/kg/d | Dmn-induced liver fibrosis can be partially blocked and reversed | Zhao et al. (2006) | |
| Liver cirrhosis | Silybin | In vivo | SD rat | 25、50 or 100 mg/kg | The expression of nuclear Nrf2 was significantly upregulated | Li et al. (2022a) |
| Liver cancer | Silybin | In vitro | HepG2 cell | 68 μmol/L | Downregulated miR92a and inhibited AKT activity in a Pten-dependent manner | Zappavigna et al. (2019) |
| Silybin | In vitro | HepG2 cell | 5 mg/kg | Inhibition of Ki-67 expression, HGF/cMet, Wnt/β-catenin and PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathways, and enhancement of antioxidant defense mechanisms | Yassin et al. (2022) | |
| Silymarin | In vitro | Huh-7 cell | 0–4.5 μg/mL | The apoptosis rate of hepatocellular carcinoma cells was increased, and the cycle of hepatocellular carcinoma cells was blocked in G1 phase | Rahnama et al. (2023) | |
| Gastric cancer | Silybin | In vitro | BGC-823 cell | 25 or 50 μmol | G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis were induced | Zhang et al. (2018b) |
| Silymarin | In vitro | AGS cell | 100 mg/kg | Inhibition of p-ERK and activation of p-p38 and p-JNK to reduce tumor growth | Kim et al. (2019) | |
| Silybin | In vitro | AGS cell | 32 μg/mL-1024 μg/mL | Inhibition of NO production associated with TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 cytokines | Bittencourt et al. (2020) | |
| Kidney cancer | Silybin | In vivo | Wistar rat | 5 mg/kg | The apoptotic proteins p53 and caspase-3 were downregulated and the anti-apoptotic mediator Bcl-2 was upregulated | Yassin et al. (2021) |
| Silybin | In vitro | 769-P cell | 40、60 or 80 μmol | Wnt/β-catenin signaling was inhibited in an autophagy dependent manner | Fan et al. (2020) | |
| Silybin | In vitro | 769-P cell | 0–200 μmol | Apoptosis was induced by regulating the mTOR-GLI1-BCL2 pathway | Ma et al. (2015) | |
| Bladder cancer | Silybin | In vitro | T24 cell | 50、100 or 200 μmol | Interfere with the interaction between Apaf-1 and Hsp70 to increase pro caspase-9 | Wei et al. (2024) |
| Silybin | In vitro | T24 cell | 50 μmol | Metastasis is induced by inhibition of EMT | Li et al. (2018) | |
| Silybin | In vitro | T24 cell | 10 μmol | Downregulated actin cytoskeleton and PI3K/Akt pathway | Imai-Sumida et al. (2017) | |
| Cervical cancer | Silybin | In vivo | BALB/c mice | 300 mg/kg | Activation of kinetic protein-associated protein 1 (Drp1) induces G2/M cell cycle arrest | You et al. (2020) |
| Silybin | In vitro | HDF cell | 100 μmol or 200 μmol | The expression of type I and type III collagen in HDFs and KFs was significantly reduced | Choi et al. (2023) | |
| Prostate cancer | Silybin | In vitro | C4-2 cell | 0–200 μmol | The invasion, migration and EMT of CRPC cells were inhibited | Dan et al. (2022) |
| Silybin | In vitro | PC-3 cell | 3–120 μg/mL | The blocked cells remained in G1 and G2/M phases | Gioti et al. (2019) | |
| Skin cancer | Silymarin | In vivo | BALB/c mice | 100 mg/kg | Reduce chromosome damage and delay the occurrence of tumor | Karem et al. (2021) |
| Silymarin | In vitro | A2058 cell | 15–125 μg/mL | Significantly reduced IL-6 production in cells | Gjörloff Wingren et al. (2023) | |
| Breast cancer | Silybin | In vitro | MDA-MB-231 cell | 40、80 or 160 μmol | The expression of Rac1 mRNA was significantly inhibited | Lashgarian et al. (2020) |
| Silymarin | In vitro | MCF-7 cell | 25 or 50 mg/kg | Breast cancer cell proliferation was inhibited by regulating MAPK signaling pathway | Kim et al. (2021) | |
| Colon Cancer | Silybin | In vitro | DLD-1 cell | 12.5 μmol | Significantly inhibited the growth of tumor cells | Sayyed et al. (2022) |
| Silybin | In vitro | CaCo-2 cell | 5–80 μmol | Increased apoptosis and significantly decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory interleukin and TGF-β genes | Faixová et al. (2023) | |
| Inhibition of nitric oxide production | Silymarin | In vitro | mesangial cell | 50 μg/mL | The expression of iNOS gene was inhibited in cells | Youn et al. (2017) |
| Anti-inflammatory | Silybin | In vivo | C57 mice | 100 mg or 200 mg/kg | Activate the Nrf2 pathway to promote antioxidant action | Wei et al. (2022) |
| Silybin | In vivo | Wistar rat | 150 mg/kg | The expression levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were significantly downregulated | Li et al. (2023) | |
| Silymarin | In vivo | mice | 3.125–25 μg/mL | IL-6 and CRP were significantly downregulated | Hanafy and El-Kemary (2022) | |
| Neuroprotective effects | Silybin | In vivo | SD rat | 25、50 or 100 mg/kg | Inhibition of ER-mediated PI3K/Akt and MAPK pathways | Wang et al. (2002) |
| Treatment of insulin resistance | Silibinin | In vivo | SD rat | 100 mg/kg/day | Alleviating steatosis and insulin resistance in vivo and in vitro by modulating the IRS-1/PI3K/Akt pathway | Zhang et al. (2013a) |
| silymarin | In vivo | C57BL/6 mice | 40 mg/100 g | Ameliorated insulin resistance, dyslipidaemia and inflammation, and reconstituted the bile acid pool in liver of diet-induced obesity | Gu et al. (2016) | |
| Treatment of Diabetes | Silibinin | In vivo | SPZF rat | 100 or 300 mg/kg | The quality and function of L cells were improved through the ER-mediated antioxidant pathway | Wang et al. (2022) |
| Silymarin | In vivo | Fischer rat | 50 or 100 mg/kg | Reduced liver and pancreas protein damage and creatinine levels | Miranda et al. (2020) |