| 摘要 |
An invention that adduces cogent evidence to establish that oxygenated dibenzo-a-pyrones (DBPs and their conjugates), the major bioactives of shilajit (Ayurvedic vitalizer), have their origin, at least partly, in EPA and DHA. Earlier research has shown that, in mammals, C-20 PUFAs are metabolized by oxygenases and other enzymes to produce short-lived prostaglandins, leukotrienes and thromboxanes that bind to specific G-protein-coupled receptors and signal cellular responses, e.g., inflammation, vasodilation, blood pressure, pain etc. But never before it was suggested/shown that C<SUB>20:5n-3</SUB> PUFAs, e.g., EPA (and DHA), are transformed into stable aromatic metabolites, DBPs, which elicit a large array of bioactivities in the producer organisms and also control the synthesis and metabolism of arachidonate-derived prostaglandins. The major beneficial effects attributed to EPA and DHA are now found to be largely contributed by DBPs and their aminoacyl conjugates and the dibenzo-a-pyrone-chromoproteins (DCPs). Because of the highly unstable nature of EPA and DHA, when administered, they are metabolized into a large array of uncontrolled products, several of which are systemically undesirable. By contrast, DBPs, because of their stability, perform the biological response modifier (BRM) functions in a directed and sustained way. Many of the biological effects of DBPs described in this invention, were earlier attributed to EPA and DHA, - the precursors of DBPs.
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