Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is one of the most common complications of diabetes, and its prevalence is still growing rapidly. However, the efficient therapies for this kidney disease are still limited. The pathogenesis of DKD involves glucotoxicity, lipotoxicity, inflammation, oxidative stress, and renal fibrosis. Glucotoxicity and lipotoxicity can cause oxidative stress, which can lead to inflammation and aggravate renal fibrosis. In this review, we have focused on in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the mechanistic pathways by which natural compounds exert their effects against the progression of DKD. The accumulated and collected data revealed that some natural compounds could regulate inflammation, oxidative stress, renal fibrosis, and activate autophagy, thereby protecting the kidney. The main pathways targeted by these reviewed compounds include the Nrf2 signaling pathway, NF-κB signaling pathway, TGF-β signaling pathway, NLRP3 inflammasome, autophagy, glycolipid metabolism and ER stress. This review presented an updated overview of the potential benefits of these natural compounds for the prevention and treatment of DKD progression, aimed to provide new potential therapeutic lead compounds and references for the innovative drug development and clinical treatment of DKD.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease in the world, and its incidence continues to increase each year. Yet, there is still no definitive drug that can stop its development. This review focuses mainly on lipotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, and intestinal flora dysbiosis to understand NAFLD’s pathogenesis. In this review, we used NCBI’s PubMed database for retrieval, integrating in vivo and in vitro experiments to reveal the therapeutic effects of natural compounds on NAFLD. We also reviewed the mechanisms by which the results of these experiments suggest that these compounds can protect the liver from damage by modulating inflammation, reducing oxidative stress, decreasing insulin resistance and lipid accumulation in the liver, and interacting with the intestinal microflora. The natural compounds discussed in these papers target a variety of pathways, such as the AMPK pathway and the TGF-β pathway, and have significant therapeutic effects. This review aims to provide new possible therapeutic lead compounds and references for the development of novel medications and the clinical treatment of NAFLD. It offers fresh perspectives on the development of natural compounds in preventing and treating NAFLD.

Buyang Huanwu Decoction (BHD) has lipid-lowering and antioxidant effects. In this study, HPLC was used to establish the fingerprint of extracts from different polar parts of BHD. Through the L02 cell lipid deposition model induced by oleic acid, extracts from different polar parts of BHD were administered for treatment. Oil red O staining, TG detection, and MDA detection were used to determine lipid deposition and antioxidant activity. The component-effect relationship is established by using grey relational analysis and PLSR analysis. The results showed that the extracts from different polar parts of BHD could reduce the levels of TG and MDA. The grey relational analysis showed that the peaks that contributed greatly to the reduction of TG and MDA were peaks 3, 16, 14, 10, 1, 15, 2, and 11, respectively. Peaks 1, 4, 9, 10, 14, 16, and 17 could reduce TG and MDA through PLSR analysis. According to the results of grey relational analysis and PLSR analysis, peaks 1, 10, 14, and 16 may have good lipid-lowering and antioxidant effects. This study provides a certain preliminary basis for follow-up research on lipid-lowering drugs.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a condition caused by alcohol abuse. Although its incidence is rapidly increasing, effective treatments for this disease remain limited. The pathogenesis of ALD involves multiple aspects, such as direct damage from alcohol, oxidative stress, inflammation, lipid metabolism disorders, and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Under the combined action of multiple damaging factors, liver inflammation worsens and leads to liver fibrosis. In this review, we focused on in vitro and in vivo experiments to investigate the mechanistic pathways by which natural products exert effects against the progression of ALD. The accumulated and collected data indicate that some natural products may regulate oxidative stress, inflammation, autophagy, lipid metabolism, and the intestinal barrier, thereby protecting the liver. This review presents an updated overview of the potential benefits of these natural products for the prevention and treatment of ALD, identifying potential new therapeutic lead compounds and providing a reference for innovative drug development and clinical treatment for ALD.