Pharmacological effects and involved mechanisms of muscone

Abstract Ethnopharmacological relevance Musk, the dried secretion from the preputial follicles of the mature male musk deer (MoschusberezovskiiFlerov, M.sifanicusPrzewalski or M.MoschiferusLinnaeus) has been used extensively in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years and possesses various pharmacological activities, such as neurological disorders, chronic inflammation ischemia-reperfusion injury, cancer and so on. Aims of the review The article summarizes the pharmacological and biological researches in cerebrovascular disease, cardiovascular disease, neurological effects, cancer and others and associated mechanisms of action of muscone up to date, the main active ingredient of musk. And we will help to bring some of the scientific literature on the effects of muscone to the attention of interested scientists who may then further contribute to our understanding of this fascinating molecule. Materials and methods Information on musk and muscone were obtained from the books about traditional Chinese medicine, reports, pharmacopoeia in China and electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science, CNKI, WanFang DATA, Google Scholar, Wiley, Springer, Elsevier, etc) from 1980 to 2019. Results Muscone as the main physiologically active molecule of musk, possesses low cytotoxicity and multiple potential health benefits, such as antitumor, anti-dementia, anti-cerebral ischemia, beneficial effects on ischemic heart disease, inhibition of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, promoting stem cells homing, and anti-early pregnancy effects, Which are contributed to the effects of promoting cell proliferation and angiogenesis, alleviating apoptosis and inflammation, ameliorating the loss of cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential collapse, Ca2+ disorder, LDH, ROS generation, and activating the immunoreaction. Conclusion Although plenty of researches have elucidated the mechanisms of muscone extensive pharmaceutical effects, there still are some controversial points, and the application of muscone has achieved satisfactory efficacy for the treatment of a kind of cancers in clinical practice, which the mechanisms of antitumor just few researches to clarify. Therefore, further in-depth phenotypic and mechanistic studies are essential for the illumination of pharmacological effects of muscone.