Background: As the use of herbal therapies alongside conventional medications continues to rise, understanding the complexities of these interactions becomes essential for ensuring patient safety and optimizing therapeutic outcomes. Main body: Herbal remedies, sometimes referred to as phytotherapy or herbalism, use plants and plant extracts for medicinal purposes. Various plant parts, such as leaves, roots, flowers, and seeds, are used in herbal medicines to cure illnesses and enhance health. They can be applied topically or taken as tinctures, extracts, teas, or capsules. Although using herbal treatments can have therapeutic benefits, it is important to be aware of any possible interactions. When two or more herbal products are taken together, there may be interactions between them that change their effects, intensify their side effects, or reduce their efficacy. Before using herbal medicines, it is crucial to speak with your doctor because they may have side effects and interfere with prescription drugs. The possible effects that herbs may have on prescription drugs when taken combined are referred to as herb–drug interactions. Conclusion: These interactions may result in unexpected health outcomes, an increase in adverse effects, or modifications in the effectiveness of the medication. Herbs can also affect absorption and metabolism of food. Different countries have different laws governing herbal products. They may be subject to more strict regulations in some countries, while in others they are regarded as dietary supplement.

The bidirectional communication between liver and skeletal muscle represents a critical yet underexplored axis in human physiology. Dysfunction in either organ can accelerate pathology in the other, amplifying disease progression. Understanding this interconnected system is essential for developing targeted and effective therapeutic strategies. This comprehensive review elucidates the complex pathophysiological mechanisms underlying liver–muscle crosstalk and identifies novel therapeutic targets for simultaneous intervention in both organs. We analyzed peer-reviewed literature focusing on molecular pathways, biomarkers, and therapeutic interventions targeting the liver–muscle axis, including cardiac muscle interactions. Key parameters examined included inflammatory mediators (TNF-α, IL-6), metabolic regulators (mTOR, AMPK), hepatokines, myokines, cardiokines, and emerging biomarkers such as zonulin. The liver–muscle axis operates through multiple interconnected pathways: (1) inflammatory cascades where TNF-α inhibits muscle mTOR signaling while promoting hepatic stellate cell activation; (2) metabolic disruption through insulin resistance and AMPK pathway dysfunction affecting both organs simultaneously; (3) gut–liver–muscle crosstalk mediated by microbiome-derived metabolites and intestinal permeability markers like zonulin; (4) hepatokine–myokine signaling networks that coordinate metabolic homeostasis; and (5) liver–heart crosstalk involving cardiomyocyte–hepatocyte interactions through FGF21, IL-6/STAT3 signaling, and inflammatory pathways that distinguish cardiac muscle from skeletal muscle responses. Studying the liver–muscle axis helps in understanding metabolic diseases, transforming them from isolated organ pathologies to interconnected systemic disorders. This framework opens new avenues for precision medicine approaches, biomarker development, and therapeutic innovation that simultaneously optimize liver, skeletal muscle, and cardiac health.

Hair loss is a distressing problem that affects the self-image and quality of life of many people. The increasing demand for alternative treatments has led to growing interest in using herbal medicine for hair loss management. This literature review is divided into two main parts: a narrative overview and a systematic synthesis, evaluating the efficacy of herbal remedies, gathering findings from recent clinical studies, and traditional practices. The narrative section explores the pathophysiology of hair loss, contributing factors, and conventional pharmacological treatments, including their limitations and adverse effects. The second part presents a systematic review of sixteen randomized controlled trials evaluating the clinical efficacy and safety of herbal remedies for hair loss. Natural products such as rosemary, green tea, ginseng, Aloe vera , olive, and saw palmetto have shown promising efficacy in promoting hair growth, improving hair density, reducing hair shedding, and enhancing patient satisfaction through mechanisms involving anti-inflammatory, hormonal, and enhanced scalp circulation. However, study design limitations and outcome variability necessitate further rigorous, standardized research. This review aims to offer an integrative, evidence-informed perspective on the therapeutic potential of herbal medicine for hair loss in clinical evidence.

Background: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a potent anthracycline chemotherapy agent widely employed to treat various malignancies, such as cancers and this study sought to determine how allicin (ALC) and or L-carnitine (LC) affect DOX-induced cardiotoxicity in rats.Methods: In this study, the possible alleviative role of ALC (20 mg/kg/day orally (PO)) or LC (100 mg/kg/day PO) or the combined treatment of both ALC and LC (with the previously mentioned dosages) was evaluated against the cardiotoxic effect of a widely used chemotherapeutic agent, DOX (20 mg DOX /kg intraperitoneal injection (IP) as a single dose) in rats in 30 days experiment. Results: The results revealed that ALC and LC significantly suppressed the DOX-induced increment in serum levels of cardiac damage biomarkers, such as lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), creatine kinase (CK) and creatine kinase-megabyte (CK-MB). Moreover, DOX-associated oxidative stress, including the elevation in malondialdehyde (MDA) level and reduced activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the level of reduced glutathione (GSH) was corrected in ALC and or LC treated groups. Furthermore, DOX-induced cardiomyopathy showed significant pathological changes, including myocyte degeneration, vacuolization, interstitial edema, and focal necrosis. Nevertheless, the histopathological lesions were corrected in the treated groups mostly in the combined treatment with ALC plus LC. Compared to ALC and LC, ALC plus LC was more effective at restoring the cardiac injury biomarkers, inhibiting cardiac oxidative damage and preserving the cardiac architecture. Conclusions: Conclusively, the study results evidenced the beneficial role of the combined treatment with ALC plus LC in mitigating DOX-induced cardiotoxicity.

Imidacloprid (IMI) is a commonly used new-generation pesticide that has numerous harmful effects on non-targeted organisms, including animals. This study analysed both the adverse effects on the pancreas following oral consumption of imidacloprid neonicotinoids (45 mg/kg daily for 30 days) and the potential protective effects of lycopene (LYC) administration (10 mg/kg/day for 30 days) with IMI exposure in male Sprague–Dawley rats. The apoptotic, pyroptotic, inflammatory, oxidative stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress biomarkers were evaluated, along with the histopathological alterations. Upon IMI administration, noticeable changes were observed in pancreatic histopathology. Additionally, elevated oxidative/endoplasmic reticulum-associated stress biomarkers, inflammatory, pyroptotic, and apoptotic biomarkers were also observed following IMI administration. LYC effectively reversed these alterations by reducing oxidative stress markers (e.g., MDA) and enhancing antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT). It downregulated ER stress markers (IRE1α, XBP1, CHOP), decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β), and suppressed pyroptotic (NLRP3, caspase-1) along with apoptotic markers (Bax, cleaved caspase-3). It also improved the histopathological and ultrastructure alterations brought on by IMI toxicity.