Comprehensive review evaluates Polygonati rhizoma's impact on diabetes and associated complications, suggesting therapeutic potential.
Despite advances in glucose-lowering therapies, the global burden of diabetes mellitus and its complications continues to grow. As a chronic and multifactorial disease, diabetes warrants adjunctive interventions targeting insulin resistance, oxidative stress, inflammation, and tissue fibrosis. Polygonati rhizoma (Huangjing)—the dried rhizome of Polygonatum species such as P. sibiricum, P. kingianum, and P. cyrtonema—has been widely used in East Asian medicine for metabolic and degenerative diseases. This review critically evaluates the evidence on Polygonati rhizoma in diabetes and its complications, focusing on bioactive constituents, mechanisms, efficacy in experimental studies, safety, and therapeutic potential. The pathogenesis of diabetes and its complications shares common pathways including chronic inflammation and hyperglycemia. Literature analysis indicates that Polygonati rhizoma contains distinctive compounds—notably polysaccharides and saponins—that exert complementary anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic effects. These components act synergistically to delay or inhibit disease progression, positioning Polygonati rhizoma as a multi-targeted therapeutic agent. This review summarizes the unique compounds and multi-mechanistic actions of Polygonati rhizoma, and discusses its potential applications in diabetes-related complications, with particular attention to its possible effects on diabetic neuropathy and nephropathy—areas that warrant further investigation.
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Chen et al. (2026) studied this question.
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