The pharmacology and mechanism of action of Monascus purpureus Went: a scoping review

Sitong Liu¹Yaxin Xu¹Jinhan Xie¹Jing Hu¹Yuetong Wang¹Junhua Zhang^1,2Myeong Soo Lee³Haiyin Hu^2*Lin Ang^3*Zhaochen Ji^1,2*

• ¹Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
• ²Haihe Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
• ³KM Science Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Objective: To review the recent studies on the pharmacology and mechanism of action of Monascus purpureus Went, analyze its medicinal value, and explore the future research directions. Method: A scoping review was conducted by searching CNKI, Wanfang database, VIP database, SinoMed, and PubMed, from inception until September 2024. The basic information of the included studies such as study types, disease types, main components, outcomes, and efficacy, were reviewed and summarized. Methodological quality was assessed by using the SYRCLE risk of bias assessment tool for animal studies and the Cochrane Risk of Bias assessment tool for clinical trials. Results: We identified 251 studies from five databases. Among them, 153 were experimental studies, 70 were reviews, and 28 were clinical trials. Among the experimental studies, molecular studies accounted for the most, totaling 80 (52%). Among the reviews, research progress accounted for the most, totaling 41 (59%). Clinical trials studied the effects of Monascus purpureus Went and its related Chinese patent medicine and preparation, with 17 (61%) using Monascus purpureus Went-related Chinese patent medicine and preparation as an intervention and 11 (39%) using Traditional Chinese Medicine Monascus purpureus Went as an intervention. In terms of methodological quality, both animal studies and clinical trials related to Monascus purpureus Went were deficient in randomized allocation sequence generation, allocation concealment, and blinding methods.We summarized the existing studies about the active ingredients and the effects of Monascus purpureus Went, finding that it is necessary to improve the generation of random allocation sequences and the application of the blinding method in Monascus purpureus Went-related animal studies and clinical trials. When similar studies are conducted in the future, the specific method of random assignment should be more clearly described and the application of blinding method should be used to improve the objectivity and accuracy of the studies, so as to provide reference for the selection of subsequent study directions and establish supporting evidence.