The present paper provides the first systematic assessment of the capacity of ferulic acid to induce hormetic dose responses in biological systems. Ferulic acid induced hormetic effects in a broad range of animal models, affecting numerous biological endpoints, with particular focus on neuroprotective effects. Emerging evidence in multiple biomedical systems indicates that the hormetic effects of ferulic acid depend upon the activation of the transcription factor Nrf2. Ferulic acid was also shown to have an important role in ecological settings, being routinely released into the environment by numerous plant species, acting as an allelopathic agent affecting the growth of neighboring species via hormetic dose responses. These findings demonstrate the potential ecological and biomedical importance of ferulic acid effects and that these effects are commonly expressed via the hormetic dose response, suggesting complex multisystem evolutionary regulatory strategies.

本论文首次系统地评估了阿魏酸在生物系统中诱导兴奋剂量反应的能力。阿魏酸在广泛的动物模型中诱导兴奋作用，影响许多生物学终点，特别关注神经保护作用。多个生物医学系统中的新证据表明，阿魏酸的兴奋作用取决于转录因子 Nrf2 的激活。阿魏酸也被证明在生态环境中具有重要作用，它经常被许多植物物种释放到环境中，作为一种化感剂，通过激素剂量反应影响邻近物种的生长。