Dioscin and diosgenin: Insights into their potential protective effects in cardiac diseases

Dioscin and diosgenin derived from plants of the genus Dioscoreaceae such as D. nipponica and D. panthaica Prain et Burk. Were utilized as the main active ingredients of traditional herbal medicinal products for coronary heart disease in the former Soviet Union and China since 1960s. A growing number of research showed that dioscin and diosgenin have a wide range of pharmacological activities in heart diseases.

To summarize the evidence of the effectiveness of dioscin and diosgenin in cardiac diseases, and to provide a basis and reference for future research into their clinical applications and drug development in the field of cardiac disease.

Literatures in this review were searched in PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science. All eligible studies are analyzed and summarized in this review.

The pharmacological activities and therapeutic potentials of dioscin and diosgenin in cardiac diseases are similar, can effectively improve hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, myocardial I/R injury and cardiotoxicity caused by doxorubicin. But the bioavailability of dioscin and diosgenin may be too low as a result of poor absorption and slow metabolism, which hinders their development and utilization.

Dioscin and diosgenin need further in-depth experimental research, clinical transformation and structural modification or research of new preparations before they can be expected to be developed into new therapeutic drugs in the field of cardiac disease.