Research on cichoric acid is increasing year by year. But the main research areas focus on exploring its biological activity and pharmacological effects. This paper analyzes the research status and trends of cichoric acid at home and abroad.
1. Stability study
The cichoric acid monomer is easily degraded or isomerized, which limits its application and development. Different factors affecting the stability of cichoric acid have been reported in the literature, but no clear countermeasures have been given. The stability protection measures of cichoric acid in the process of extraction, separation, processing and preparation still need to be further studied.
2. Research on cichoric acid among different plants
At present, the cichoric acid used in the research is mainly derived from the monomers extracted from Echinacea or Chicory. Some other literatures have studied
Chemical synthesis and structural modification of cichoric acid. However, the comparative study of cichoric acid in different species of natural plants has not been reported, such as the comparison of cichoric acid content, the distribution of different isomers, and the biosynthetic pathway in plants.
3. Structure-activity relationship research
At present, the related researches on cichoric acid generally only focus on a certain configuration or no clear configuration, and there are few studies on the activity comparison of different configurations of cichoric acid. The reason is mainly limited to the few ways of obtaining cichoric acid, and the configuration of cichoric acid in different plants is not clear, which limits the comparative study of the structure-activity relationship between different isomers of cichoric acid.
4. Study on the mechanism of biological activity
New biological activities of cichoric acid are constantly being discovered, but most reports are preliminary proof of effect. For example, the regulation of cichoric acid on virus replication, immunity and inflammation in mice, but the research on molecular mechanisms such as the targets and pathways of action of viruses or the body still needs more detailed and in-depth exploration.
5. Structural modification studies
A number of literatures have carried out the transformation of the structure of cichoric acid and the synthesis of analogs based on the inhibition of HIV-1 integrase activity by cichoric acid. It is expected to explore the relationship of different structures with bioselectivity and toxicity, or to improve the undesirable properties of cichoric acid. The author has not seen any domestic reports on the structural modification of cichoric acid, which can be explored as a new research direction.