I have a lot of faith in Berberine, but somebody (you know who you are [Thanks!]) shared this article with me. It is interesting: Toxicological Effects of Berberine and Sanguinarine 2018ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
This is an interesting blurb: "The in vitro (5 and 30 mg/kg, i.p. for 21days) and in vivo (10 and 30 μM up to 48 h) studies with berberine against 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) induced neuro-toxicity in rats and PC-12 cells, respectively, have demonstrated inhibition of dopamine biosynthesis, accompanied by reduced levels of norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine (DA) (Kwon et al., 2010)."
This is from the Abstract: "This review article illustrates the toxicological effects of berberine and sanguinarine as well as mechanistic part of berberine and sanguinarine mediated toxicity in different living systems. This manuscript has included the lethal doses (LD50) of berberine and sanguinarine in different animals via different routs of exposure. Also, the effects of these alkaloids on the activities of some key enzymes, cell lines and organ development etc. have been summarized."
And this is the complete conclusion: "Berberine and sanguinarine are traditionally used alkaloids with multispectrum pharmacodynamic properties. On the basis of extensive literature survey, berberine, and sanguinarine have been reported to cause toxicity in different living system. In molecular structure of berberine and sanguinarine, both contains a positive moiety which interacts with a number of nucleophilic and anionic moieties of many biomolecules that distort their structure and further resulted in to altered function of biomolecules. Instead of antitumor activity of berberine, it has potential to treat diabetes mellitus. They have been implicated in the occurrence of dropsy. The toxicity of pure compound is greater than the toxicity of plant extract or plant extract fractions. The sub-acute concentrations of berberine lead to altered liver function, gastric troubles, hepato and hematotoxicity, hemorrhagic inflammatory consequences, damage to immune cells and induced apoptosis. The in vivo and in vitro studies have reported that sanguinarine may induce apoptosis and adversely influence the embryonic development (both in the pre-implantation and post-implantation conditions) of mouse. Sanguinarine toxicity is also reflected in terms of increased SGPT and SGOT activities and reduced microsomal cytochrome P-450 and benzphetamine N-demethylase activities. On the other hand, the cytotoxic properties of both of these alkaloids reveal the use of these alkaloids in treatment of cancer. Berberine treatment may improve insulin resistance, promote insulin secretion, inhibit gluconeogenesis in liver, stimulate glycolysis in peripheral tissue cells, modulate gut microbiota, reduce intestinal absorption of glucose, and perturb lipid metabolism. However, more work is required to assess their anticancer potential under different environmental and clinical conditions to ascertain this possibility."
I am not stopping Berberine (800 mg in the AM and 400 mg in the PM). I forget why I believe in Berberine. I will dig deeper.
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On the plus side I have this article on the iron chelation power of Berberine. Some people think an iron overload in the cells is a cause of PD, but the trial using deferiprone actually made PD patients worse.
Berberine Is a Promising Alkaloid to Attenuate Iron Toxicity Efficiently in Iron-Overloaded Mice 2022journals.sagepub.com/doi/fu...
"The results of this study show that the natural compound berberine demonstrates a superior ability to reduce excess iron and chelate it in tissues, including liver, kidney and lung. By reducing oxidative stress, it can also improve the activity of the antioxidant enzymes catalase and superoxide dismutase. This remarkable ability of berberine is comparable to and often superior to that of deferoxamine as a common chelator. Berberine was equally capable of reducing malondialdehyde and lipid peroxidation resulting from an iron overdose. Therefore, we recommend further in vivo studies on berberine as an iron chelator and an antioxidant compound in diseases associated with iron-overload."
And I have this article on Berberine modulating the gut microbiota: Berberine Regulates Treg/Th17 Balance to Treat Ulcerative Colitis Through Modulating the Gut Microbiota in the Colon 2018 frontiersin.org/articles/10...
Abstract: "Berberine (BBR), an alkaloid isolated from Rhizoma Coptidis, Cortex Phellode, and Berberis, has been widely used in the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC). However, the mechanism of BBR on UC is unknown. In this study, we investigated the activities of T regulatory cell (Treg) and T helper 17 cell (Th17) in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced UC mouse model after BBR administration. We also investigated the changes of gut microbiota composition using 16S rRNA analysis. We also examined whether BBR could regulate the Treg/Th17 balance by modifying gut microbiota. The mechanism was further confirmed by depleting gut microbiota through a combination of antibiotic treatment and fecal transplantations. Results showed that BBR treatment could improve the Treg/Th17 balance in the DSS-induced UC model. BBR also reduced diversity of the gut microbiota and interfered with the relative abundance of Desulfovibrio, Eubacterium, and Bacteroides. Moreover, BBR treatment did not influence the Treg/Th17 balance after the depletion of gut microbiota. Our results also revealed that fecal transplantation from BBR-treated mice could relieve UC and regulate the Treg/Th17 balance. In conclusion, our study provides evidence that BBR prevents UC by modifying gut microbiota and regulating the balance of Treg/Th17."
If you search the posts in HU you will find many speculating about Desulfovibrio possibly causing PD.
On the other hand, BBT lowers Eubacterium, and it is already low in PWP: "We observed that some of the bacteria that have the capacity to produce SCFAs, such as Lachnospiraceae (Coprococcus, Blautia, Roseburia, Lachnospira, Fusicatenibacter, and Dorea), Ruminococcus, Faecalibacterium, Eubacterium, Bacteroides and Prevotella, 49 , 50 , 51 showed a decrease in the PD group microbiome compared to HC in most of the studies. Simultaneously, we found that some of the SCFAs‐producing bacteria, such as Ruminococcaceae, Veillonella, Butyrivibrio, Anaerotruncus, Oscillospira, Clostridium, Lactobacillus, Alistipes, Bifidobacterium, Escherichia, Desulfovibrio and Akkermansia, 49 , 50 , 51 were increased in PD patients." Gut bacterial profiles in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review 2022ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...
But back on the first hand, BBR lowers Bacteroides, which are high in PD patients: Colonic Bacterial Composition in Parkinson’s Disease sci-hub.ru/10.1002/mds.26307 "At the genus level, putative proinflammatory bacteria Akkermansia (Verrucomicrobia, class Verrucomicrobiae), Oscillospira (Firmicutes, class Clostridia), and Bacteroides (Bacteroidetes, class Bacteroidia) were significantly more abundant in PD fecal samples."
Knocking down Desulfovibrio and Bacteroides sounds like a win to this High School graduate. Please do your own research.
In my opinion Berberine is a poison. If I remember correctly, we used this type of substance against moulds, fungi and bacteria in the greenhouses but only on the internal structures, never on the plants. It worked pretty well, but was phytotoxic (harmful to plants). I would not take Berberine as I would not drink quaternary ammonium salts, but it can be done to disinfect tools or topical use occasionally. Do your research, there are other pro-life ways to get the same benefits as Berberine, if one is interested in surviving for a long time.
PS: I'm not the one you thank for the article, just a clarification.
Natural herbicidal alkaloid berberine regulates the expression of thalianol and marneral gene clusters in Arabidopsis thaliana onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...
Berberine is a bright yellow compound that can be found naturally in many different plants including goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), Barberry (Berberis vulgaris), and Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium).
Plants containing berberine have been used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years for their properties against various pathogens including fungi, bacteria, parasites and viruses.
This plant extract is often used for treating gastrointestinal infections, including fungal infections in the gut such as Candida. Plus berberine can help improve insulin sensitivity, lower blood sugar (some studies suggest it works just as well as Metformin), support heart heath, help reduce blood pressure and cholesterol, and much more.
I do find it can be too strong for some of my more sensitive patients and the dosing needs to be adjusted based on tolerance. In some people berberine may also cause nausea, upset stomach, diarrhea and potentially too low blood sugar.
As I told CaseyInsights you can find this class of western medical products on the detergent shelf, don't you believe it? buy an antimufffa *anti-mold* and read the contents (quaternary ammonium salts). Also my cat "Tigre" got scared when he heard them. LOok the photo background.
this is a poison, listen to me. The DL doesn't count for anything, it measures an acute condition, but these "organic" products are very sneaky because they accumulate easily in the tissues and then slowly return them to you over time. The lethal dose of rotenone or paraquat is not as high as nicotine but you wouldn't drink a little every day because it chelates something. (And here too…😱). It's a detergent and in that department you can find it at the supermarket.
"Taken in small doses, nicotine stimulates the release of dopamine, as well as other neurotransmitters such as serotonin, vasopressin and adrenaline. All this generates a sense of euphoria in the consumer. The lethal dose LD50 is 0.5 – 1 mg/kg for humans and 50 µg/kg for rats."
Pure nicotine has a low LETHAL DOSE ☠️☠️☠️ it is addictive but does not stack.
Botox does not seem to stay in tissues - cosmetic change wears off after a few months. So maybe no long term effects.
Botox is of use in cervical dystonia - a neurological disorder that causes severe neck and shoulder muscle contractions. So it does have neurological effects.
But to return to our primary consideration ‘plants containing berberine have been used in traditional Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years for their properties against various pathogens including fungi, bacteria, parasites and viruses.’
Given its ancient lineage, it must have shown some value in ancient cultures.
To sum up maybe long term use, very much like modern antibiotics, is ill advised. 🌺
I just read through half of this and must say it sounds like something an AI bot came up with. I have not yet searched for the actual published study but there is something odd about the writing. Just be aware.
Sanguinarian reads positively scary, like if you wanted to kill somebody give him that. Are you sure about that one?
And by the way that molecule is chuck full of methyl groups (CH3) on benzene rings. In the body, seems like a fair number of cytotoxins carry those strucures. Toxin in my experience, I suspect there may be a mechanism to deprive animal cells of enough oxygen (or sugar) (might be the same mechanism that kills your optic nerve if you drink a little bit of methanol). Very happy to be corrected by an actual biochemist.
As far as berberine, the following seems to be a fair review.
Thanks. Yes, Sanguinarian looks scary. I don't understand why the paper lumps Sanguinarian and Berberine in the same paper. It's like a report on the health risks of Arsenic and Apples
No, because chemically they are almost the same thing that is a quaternary ammonium salt: anti green mold, a topical detergent or topical antibacterial, not to be ingested. I have personally used them for years in greenhouses, they are a lipophilic poison that accumulates in the fatty tissues and thus remain in the body for years, then one day you go on a fast and you find them again circulating in the blood causing you tiredness and unusual confusion. Do your research.🤷♂️
Berberine is a quaternary ammonium salt of protoberberine group of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids. uses to dye wool, leather, and wood, also it is uses in histology for staining heparin in mast cells.
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got scared when he heard them. LOok the photo background.
Berberine for leaky gut and Parkinson's ?
Diabetes Type 2, PD and Berberine
