Potential applications of ferulic acid from natural sources

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Abstract

Ferulic acid (FA), a ubiquitous natural phenolic phytochemical present in seeds, leaves, bothin its free form and covalently conjugated to the plant cell wall polysaccharides, glycoproteins,polyamines, lignin and hydroxy fatty acids. FA plays a vital role in providing the rigidity to the cell wall and formation of other important organic compounds like coniferyl alcohol, vanillin, sinapic, diferulic acid and curcumin. FA exhibits wide variety of biological activities such as antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antiallergic, hepatoprotective, anticarcinogenic, antithrombotic, increase sperm viability, antiviral and vasodilatory actions, metal chelation, modulation of enzyme activity, activation of transcriptional factors, gene expression and signal transduction.

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Ferulic Acid: Therapeutic Potential Through Its Antioxidant Property

Marimuthu Srinivasan, Adluri Sudheer, Venugopal P. Menon (2007)

There has been considerable public and scientific interest in the use of phytochemicals derived from dietary components to combat human diseases. They are naturally occurring substances found in plants. Ferulic acid (FA) is a phytochemical commonly found in fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet corn and rice bran. It arises from metabolism of phenylalanine and tyrosine by Shikimate pathway in plants. It exhibits a wide range of therapeutic effects against various diseases like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative. A wide spectrum of beneficial activity for human health has been advocated for this phenolic compound, at least in part, because of its strong antioxidant activity. FA, a phenolic compound is a strong membrane antioxidant and known to positively affect human health. FA is an effective scavenger of free radicals and it has been approved in certain countries as food additive to prevent lipid peroxidation. It effectively scavenges superoxide anion radical and inhibits the lipid peroxidation. It possesses antioxidant property by virtue of its phenolic hydroxyl group in its structure. The hydroxy and phenoxy groups of FA donate electrons to quench the free radicals. The phenolic radical in turn forms a quinone methide intermediate, which is excreted via the bile. The past few decades have been devoted to intense research on antioxidant property of FA. So, the present review deals with the mechanism of antioxidant property of FA and its possible role in therapeutic usage against various diseases.

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STRUCTURE AND BIOGENESIS OF THE CELL WALLS OF GRASSES.

Nicholas Carpita (1996)

The chemical structures of the primary cell walls of the grasses and their progenitors differ from those of all other flowering plant species. They vary in the complex glycans that interlace and cross-link the cellulose microfibrils to form a strong framework, in the nature of the gel matrix surrounding this framework, and in the types of aromatic substances and structural proteins that covalently cross-link the primary and secondary walls and lock cells into shape. This review focuses on the chemistry of the unique polysaccharides, aromatic substances, and proteins of the grasses and how these structural elements are synthesized and assembled into dynamic and functional cell walls. Despite wide differences in wall composition, the developmental physiology of grasses is similar to that of all flowering plants. Grass cells respond similarly to environmental cues and growth regulators, exhibit the same alterations in physical properties of the wall to allow cell growth, and possess similar patterns of wall biogenesis during the development of specific cell and tissue types. Possible unifying mechanisms of growth are suggested to explain how grasses perform the same wall functions as other plants but with different constituents and architecture.