Flavonoids and Other Phenolic Compounds from Medicinal Plants for Pharmaceutical and Medical Aspects: An Overview

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Abstract

Phenolic compounds as well as flavonoids are well-known as antioxidant and many other important bioactive agents that have long been interested due to their benefits for human health, curing and preventing many diseases. This review attempts to demonstrate an overview of flavonoids and other phenolic compounds as the interesting alternative sources for pharmaceutical and medicinal applications. The examples of these phytochemicals from several medicinal plants are also illustrated, and their potential applications in pharmaceutical and medical aspects, especially for health promoting e.g., antioxidant effects, antibacterial effect, anti-cancer effect, cardioprotective effects, immune system promoting and anti-inflammatory effects, skin protective effect from UV radiation and so forth are highlighted.

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Most cited references 89

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Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: a review of the epidemiological evidence.

G Block, B. Patterson, A Subar (1992)

Approximately 200 studies that examined the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and cancers of the lung, colon, breast, cervix, esophagus, oral cavity, stomach, bladder, pancreas, and ovary are reviewed. A statistically significant protective effect of fruit and vegetable consumption was found in 128 of 156 dietary studies in which results were expressed in terms of relative risk. For most cancer sites, persons with low fruit and vegetable intake (at least the lower one-fourth of the population) experience about twice the risk of cancer compared with those with high intake, even after control for potentially confounding factors. For lung cancer, significant protection was found in 24 of 25 studies after control for smoking in most instances. Fruits, in particular, were significantly protective in cancers of the esophagus, oral cavity, and larynx, for which 28 of 29 studies were significant. Strong evidence of a protective effect of fruit and vegetable consumption was seen in cancers of the pancreas and stomach (26 of 30 studies), as well as in colorectal and bladder cancers (23 of 38 studies). For cancers of the cervix, ovary, and endometrium, a significant protective effect was shown in 11 of 13 studies, and for breast cancer a protective effect was found to be strong and consistent in a meta analysis. It would appear that major public health benefits could be achieved by substantially increasing consumption of these foods.

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Modes of Action of Herbal Medicines and Plant Secondary Metabolites

Michael Wink (2015)

Plants produce a wide diversity of secondary metabolites (SM) which serve them as defense compounds against herbivores, and other plants and microbes, but also as signal compounds. In general, SM exhibit a wide array of biological and pharmacological properties. Because of this, some plants or products isolated from them have been and are still used to treat infections, health disorders or diseases. This review provides evidence that many SM have a broad spectrum of bioactivities. They often interact with the main targets in cells, such as proteins, biomembranes or nucleic acids. Whereas some SM appear to have been optimized on a few molecular targets, such as alkaloids on receptors of neurotransmitters, others (such as phenolics and terpenoids) are less specific and attack a multitude of proteins by building hydrogen, hydrophobic and ionic bonds, thus modulating their 3D structures and in consequence their bioactivities. The main modes of action are described for the major groups of common plant secondary metabolites. The multitarget activities of many SM can explain the medical application of complex extracts from medicinal plants for more health disorders which involve several targets. Herbal medicine is not a placebo medicine but a rational medicine, and for several of them clinical trials have shown efficacy.

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Structure-activity relationship and classification of flavonoids as inhibitors of xanthine oxidase and superoxide scavengers.

Johannes van Goudoever, R K Cimanga, L. Ying … (1997)

The structure-activity relationship of flavonoids as inhibitors of xanthine oxidase and as scavengers of the superoxide radical, produced by the action of the enzyme xanthine oxidase, was investigated. The hydroxyl groups at C-5 and C-7 and the double bond between C-2 and C-3 were essential for a high inhibitory activity on xanthine oxidase. Flavones showed slightly higher inhibitory activity than flavonols. All flavonoid derivatives except isorhamnetin (30) were less active than the original compounds. For a high superoxide scavenging activity on the other hand, a hydroxyl group at C-3' in ring B and at C-3 were essential. According to their effect on xanthine oxidase and as superoxide scavengers, the flavonoids could be classified into six groups: superoxide scavengers without inhibitory activity on xanthine oxidase (category A), xanthine oxidase inhibitors without any additional superoxide scavenging activity (category B), xanthine oxidase inhibitors with an additional superoxide scavenging activity (category C), xanthine oxidase inhibitors with an additional pro-oxidant effect on the production of superoxide (category D), flavonoids with a marginal effect on xanthine oxidase but with a prooxidant effect on the production of superoxide (category E), and finally, flavonoids with no effect on xanthine oxidase or superoxide (category F).

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Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Medicines (Basel)

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Medicines (Basel)

Journal ID (publisher-id): medicines

Title: Medicines

Publisher: MDPI

ISSN (Electronic): 2305-6320

Publication date (Electronic): 25 August 2018

Publication date Collection: September 2018

Volume: 5

Issue: 3

Electronic Location Identifier: 93

Affiliations

[1 ]Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400, Thailand; areeya.tho@ 123456hotmail.com (A.T.); smart.lady.angel@ 123456gmail.com (A.P.); Por.aujana@ 123456gmail.com (A.Y.)

[2 ]Department of Botany, Tsukuba Botanical Garden, National Museum of Nature and Science, 4-1-1 Amakubo, Tsukuba 305-0005, Japan

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[* ]Correspondence: duangjai.tun@ 123456mahidol.ac.th ; Tel.: +66-264-486-96

Article

Publisher ID: medicines-05-00093

DOI: 10.3390/medicines5030093

PMC ID: 6165118

PubMed ID: 30149600

SO-VID: 87436912-ab17-44f1-a8a0-e12c6a78fc87

License:

Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Flavonoids and Other Phenolic Compounds from Medicinal Plants for Pharmaceutical and Medical Aspects: An Overview

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Redox Experimental Medicine

Most cited references 89

Fruit, vegetables, and cancer prevention: a review of the epidemiological evidence.

Modes of Action of Herbal Medicines and Plant Secondary Metabolites

Structure-activity relationship and classification of flavonoids as inhibitors of xanthine oxidase and superoxide scavengers.

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