Research progress on pharmacological effects against liver and eye diseases of flavonoids present in Chrysanthum indicum L., Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat., Buddleja officinalis Maxim. and Sophora japonica L.

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Chrysanthemum indicum L., Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat., Buddleja officinalis Maxim., and Sophora japonica L. have the effects of "Clearing the liver" and "Improving vision". Flavonoids are their main active ingredients, but there are few reports on their simultaneous liver and eye protective effects.

Aim Of The Study: Overview of the role of flavonoids of the four medicinal flowers (FFMF) in the prevention and treatment of liver and eye diseases.

Materials And Methods: The Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI, Google Scholar, and WanFang databases were searched for FFMF. Using "hepatitis", "liver fibrosis", "liver cancer", "dry eye syndrome", "cataracts", "glaucoma", "age-related macular degeneration", and "diabetic retinopathy" as the keywords, we summarized the main pathological mechanisms of these diseases and the role of FFMF in their prevention and treatment.

Results: We found that the four medicinal flowers contained a total of 125 flavonoids. They can maintain liver and eye homeostasis by regulating pathological mechanisms such as oxidative stress, inflammation, endoplasmic reticulum stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, glucose and lipid metabolism disorders, and programmed cell death, exerting the effect of "clearing the liver and improving vision".

Conclusion: FFMF have a series of beneficial properties such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and antifibrotic activity, and the regulation of angiogenesis, glycolipid metabolism and programmed cell death, which may explain the efficacy of the four traditional Chinese medicines for "Clearing the liver" and "Improving vision".