Melatonin in Medicinal and Food Plants: Occurrence, Bioavailability, and Health Potential for Humans
-
- Bahare Salehi
- Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Bam University of Medical Sciences, Bam 44340847, Iran
-
- Farukh Sharopov
- Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Avicenna Tajik State Medical University, 73400 Dushanbe, Tajikistan
-
- Patrick Fokou
- Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé 1, Yaoundé Po. Box 812, Cameroon
-
- Agnieszka Kobylinska
- Laboratory of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, 90-237 Lodz, Poland
-
- Lilian Jonge
- Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
-
- Kathryn Tadio
- Department of Nutrition and Food Studies, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
-
- Javad Sharifi-Rad
- Zabol Medicinal Plants Research Center, Zabol University of Medical Sciences, Zabol 61615-585, Iran
-
- Malgorzata Posmyk
- Laboratory of Plant Ecophysiology, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, 90-237 Lodz, Poland
-
- Miquel Martorell
- Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Concepcion, Concepcion 4070386, Chile
-
- Natália Martins
- Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal
-
- Marcello Iriti
- Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Milan State University, 20133 Milan, Italy
説明
<jats:p>Melatonin is a widespread molecule among living organisms involved in multiple biological, hormonal, and physiological processes at cellular, tissue, and organic levels. It is well-known for its ability to cross the blood–brain barrier, and renowned antioxidant effects, acting as a free radical scavenger, up-regulating antioxidant enzymes, reducing mitochondrial electron leakage, and interfering with proinflammatory signaling pathways. Detected in various medicinal and food plants, its concentration is widely variable. Plant generative organs (e.g., flowers, fruits), and especially seeds, have been proposed as having the highest melatonin concentrations, markedly higher than those found in vertebrate tissues. In addition, seeds are also rich in other substances (lipids, sugars, and proteins), constituting the energetic reserve for a potentially growing seedling and beneficial for the human diet. Thus, given that dietary melatonin is absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and transported into the bloodstream, the ingestion of medicinal and plant foods by mammals as a source of melatonin may be conceived as a key step in serum melatonin modulation and, consequently, health promotion.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
-
- Cells
-
Cells 8 (7), 681-, 2019-07-05
MDPI AG