Guggul (Commiphora mukul Hook.)
NOME COMUNE
Commiphora mukul (Guggul)
NOME SCIENTIFICO
Commiphora wightii (Hook. ex Stocks)
FAMIGLIA
Burseraceae
HABITAT
Commiphora mukul è una pianta spinosa che cresce in terreni poveri dell’India, Bangladesh e Pakistan, ma può essere trovato dal Nord Africa all’Asia centrale. Predilige i climi aridi e semi-aridi. Attraverso l’incisione della corteccia nella parte bassa della pianta si ricava una resina, chiamata gomma gugul. [1]
PARTE USATA
Gommoresina
PREPARAZIONI FARMACEUTICHE CONSIGLIATE
Estratto secco titolato in Guggulsteroni Z ed E min. 2,5%
COMPOSIZIONE CHIMICA
La frazione resinosa contiene lignani diarilfuranici come la sesamina e altri composti simili, diterpeni macrociclici detti cembrani, esteri dell’acido ferulico e carburi saturi poliidrossilati in C18, C 19 e C 20 detti guggultretoli e steroidi derivati dal colestano e dal pregnano. I composti principali sono i guggulsteroni E e Z, , che sono isomeri geometrici del pregnan-4,17(20)-diene-3,16-one. Essi sono accompagnati dai guggulsteroli. Nella frazione gommosa si ritrova un polisaccaride con molecola molto ramificata, costituito da D-galattosio, da L-arabinosio e dall’etere metilico in 4 dell’acido D-glicuronico.
Esiste anche una frazione volatile, costituita soprattutto da monoterpeni e in particolare da mircene, ma anche da alfa pinene, beta pinene, sabinene, alfa tuiene, limonene, 3-carene e beta elemene. [2]
PROPRIETA’ SALUTISTICHE
Azione su colesterolo e trigliceridi
Utilizzato per secoli nei principali sistemi di Medicina Tradizionale, in particolar modo nell’Ayurveda[5,32,33], secondo letteratura scientifica il guggulipide possiede capacità ipolipemizzanti e soprattutto ipocolesterolemizzanti, contribuendo a ridurre il colesterolo totale e il colesterolo LDL, aumentando la ratio colesterolo HDL/colesterolo totale [5,6,9,12,13,14,15,16,19,20].
Questa azione è dovuta in parte ad un aumento del numero dei recettori per le LDL posti sulla superficie degli epatociti e quindi ad un aumento del legame colesterolo/recettore [7], in parte ad uno stimolo sulla funzionalità della tiroide [11,49,50], i cui ormoni hanno notoriamente un effetto ipocolesterolemizzante e in parte anche ad un aumento dell’attività dell’enzima dopamina-beta-idrossilasi.
Dati recenti indicano che i guggulsteroni sono antagonisti del recettore X farnesoide, un recettore ormonale nucleare che è attivato dagli acidi biliari, e che provoca un aumento del colesterolo [9,35,36,37,51,52].
Dalla fine degli anni ’80 un crescente interesse scientifico per Guggul ha prodotto numerosi studi clinici per approfondirne i razionali di utilizzo nell’iperlipidemia, nell’ipercolesterolemia anche correlata a situazioni di obesità. Questi studi sono concordi nell’evidenziare che dopo assunzione per alcune settimane di estratto di guggul, si può osservare un’attività ipolipemizzante, con una riduzione media dei valori di colesterolo totale, colesterolo LDL e trigliceridi di circa il 13.5% [12,13,15,19]. Esami di laboratorio dimostrano anche che Guggul è in grado di prevenire l’ossidazione lipidica e di ridurre i fenomeni infiammatori, a carico delle cellule dei vasi sanguigni, che concorrono all’insorgenza delle malattie cardio-vascolari [5,7,22]. Secondo questi studi guggul dimostrerebbe la capacità di ridurre i livelli lipidici circolanti, determinando indirettamente un effetto cardioprotettivo [5].
AZIONE PREVALENTE
Ipolipidemizzante, ipocolesterolemizzante
Altre azioni
Antinfiammatoria, antiossidante
INDICAZIONI PRINCIPALI
Trattamento coadiuvante dell’ipercolesterolemia moderata anche correlata a stati di sovrappeso ed obesità
EFFETTI COLLATERALI
In alcuni pazienti può provocare nausea, eruttazioni e singhiozzo. A dosi elevate, come per l’assunzione di elevati dosaggi, in genere, di gommoresine, può causare diarrea, che regredisce prontamente con la sospensione del trattamento.
CONTROINDICAZIONI
Non è consigliabile in gravidanza e durante l’allattamento
INTERAZIONI CON FARMACI
Questa droga potrebbe ridurre l’assorbimento intestinale del propranololo e del diltiazem [28,58,59]
DATI TOSSICOLOGICI
Dati non disponibili
Bibliografia
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6. Gupta A, Kapoor NK and Nityanand S: Mechanism of hypolipidemic action of standardized extract. Indian J Pharmacol 14: 1982.
7. Singh V, Kaul S, Chander R and Kapoor NK: Simultaneous low density lipoprotein receptor activity in liver membrane of guggulsterone treated rats. Pharmacology Research 22: 37-44, 1990.
8. Chander R, Khanna AK and Kapoor NK: Lipid-lowering activity of guggulsterone from Commiphora mukul in hyperlipidemic rats. Phytother Res 10: 508-511, 1996.
9. Cui J, Huang L, Zhao A, Lew JL, Yu J, Sahoo S, Meinke PT, Royo I, Pelaez F and Wright SD: Guggulsterone is a farnesoid X receptor antagonist in coactivator association assays but acts to enhance transcription of bile salt export pump. J Biol Chem 278: 10214-10220, 2003.
10. Urizar NL et al.A natural product that lowers cholesterol as an antagonist ligand for FXR. Science. 2002 May 31;296(5573):1703-6.
11. Tripathi YB, Malhotra OP and Tripathi SN: Thyroid-stimulating action of Z-guggulsterone obtained from Commiphora mukul. Planta Med 50: 78-80, 1984.
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13. Kuppurajan K, Rajagopalan SS, Rao TK and Sitaraman R: Effect of guggul (Commiphora mukul–Engl.) on serum lipids in obese, hypercholesterolemic and hyperlipemic cases. J Assoc Physicians India 26: 367-373, 1978.
14. Ghorai M, Mandal SC, Pal M, Pal SP and Saha BP: A comparative study on hypocholesterolaemic effect of allicin, whole germinated seeds of bengal gram and guggulipid of gum guggul. Phytother Res 14: 200-202, 2000.
15. Kotiyal JP, Bisht DB and Singh DS: Double cross-over trial of gum guggul (Commiphora mukul) fraction A in hypercholesterolemia. J Res India Med Yoga Hom 14: 11-16, 1979.
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19. Nohr LA, Rasmussen LB, Straand J. Resin from the mukul myrrh tree, guggul, can it be used for treating hypercholesterolemia? A randomized, controlled study. Complement Ther Med. 2009 Jan;17(1):16-22. Epub 2008 Aug 15.
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21. Wang X, Greilberger J, Ledinski G, Kager G, Paigen B and Jurgens G: The hypolipidemic natural product Commiphora mukul and its component guggulsterone inhibit oxidative modification of LDL. Atherosclerosis 172: 239-246, 2004.
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42. Ghorai M, Mandal SC, Pal M, Pal SP, Saha BP. A comparative study on hypocholesterolaemic effect of allicin, whole germinated seeds of bengal gram and guggulipid of gum gugglu. Phytother Res.2000;14:200-202.PubMed
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44. Verma SK, Bordia A. Effect of Commiphora mukul (gum guggulu) in patients of hyperlipidemia with special reference to HDL-cholesterol. Indian J Med Res.1988;87:356-360.PubMed
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