Anti-adipogenic cyathane diterpenoids from Onychium japonicum.
Yang ZY, Fan WN, Song XQ, Fan YY
Medicinal Plants
A fern growing across East Asian hillsides — long used by Zhuang healers — turns out to make compounds that rival pharmaceutical anti-obesity agents, a reminder that traditional plant knowledge keeps pointing chemistry toward discoveries it wouldn't find alone.
Scientists studied a fern called Japanese claw fern, which traditional healers in southern China have used for generations. They found 15 natural chemicals inside it that can stop fat cells from forming and growing — basically blocking the process that leads to obesity. Six of those chemicals worked about as well as two well-known natural remedies (berberine and resveratrol) that researchers already use as benchmarks.
Key Findings
15 cyathane-type compounds were isolated; 10 were entirely new to science, named onyjaponiods A–J.
All 15 compounds reduced fat cell development in lab tests, with 6 performing comparably to the positive controls berberine and resveratrol.
This is the first study to document anti-obesity activity in this entire class of plant compounds (cyathane diterpenoids).
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers isolated 15 natural compounds from a fern used in traditional Zhuang medicine and found all of them can suppress fat cell formation, with six matching the effectiveness of established anti-obesity compounds. Ten of these compounds had never been described before.
Abstract Preview
Onychium japonicum, a Zhuang ethnic medicine, has demonstrated promising anti-obesity potential in preliminary pharmacological studies. Phytochemical investigation of the whole plant led to the iso...
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