Molecular pharmacology of inflammation: Medicinal plants as anti-inflammatory agents
Abstract
Except for an essential step for the pathology of multiple diseases including atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, inflammation is an imperative therapeutic target for developing novel approaches for pharmacological interventions. Thus, molecular understanding of inflammation not only revealed the mechanisms of drug action and their biological targets but also has spawned innovative maneuvers to influence multifaceted biological systems, providing new prospects for drug designing and suggesting important new implications for existing clinical medicine. Meanwhile, modulation of inflammation with the use of medicinal plants proposed an alternate to conventional therapeutic strategies for numerous ailments, particularly when suppression of inflammation is expected. In modern literature, several species of medicinal plants have been shown substantial antiinflammatory and immunomodulatory actions including inhibitory effects on suppression of cellular and humoral immunity, lymphocyte activation, and propagation of apoptosis. Herein, we reviewed the molecular pharmacology of inflammation, chemical components and biological activities of medicinal plants such as, curcumin from Curcuma longa, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate from Camellia sinensis as well as their mechanism of action during inflammation at molecular level. An extensive review of the literature and electronic databases was conducted, encompassing PubMed, GoogleScholar, ScienceDirect, medlineplus, www.clinicaltrial.…
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Excessive or dysregulated inflammation is a major driver of tissue damage and the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, atherosclerosis, and cancer.
“Excessive or dysregulated inflammation is a major driver of tissue damage and the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, atherosclerosis, and cancer [9,30,31,32,33].”
From Picroside II as a Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agent (2026) · cites this paper as [9]
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Zeng, J., Bao, T., Yang, K., Zhu, X., Wang, S., Xiang, W., Ge, A., Zeng, L., & Ge, J. (2023) · Frontiers in Immunology · doi:10.3389/fimmu.2022.1047550 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Picroside II as a Potential Anti-Inflammatory Agent
Ren, Y., Liu, Z., Wei, L., Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Guo, Y., & Ma, Z. (2026) · Pharmaceutics · doi:10.3390/pharmaceutics18040499 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Excessive or dysregulated inflammation is a major driver of tissue damage and the pathogenesis of numerous diseases, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, atherosclerosis, and cancer [9,30–33].”
- Authors
- Tasneem, S., Liu, B., Li, B., Choudhary, M. I., & Wang, W.
- Affiliations
- Hunan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Wei
- Venue
- Pharmacological Research
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-01
- Volume
- 139
- Pages
- 126-140
- ISSN
- 1043-6618 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2899460209
- Cited by
- 358
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 22 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 74 · 2022: 71 · 2021: 45 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 16
- FWCI
- 5.32
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Pharmacological Research (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Hunan Province Universities 2011 collaborative Innovation Center of Protection and Utilization of Hu-xiang Chinese Medicine Resources
- Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Diagnostics in Chinese Medicine and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81673579)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81703819, 81673579, 81874369)
- Hunan Provincal Department of Science and Technology (2018SK2113)
- State Administration of TCM (ZYBZH-Y-HUN-23)
- Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2016JJ6118, 2018JJ3386)
- Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Hunan Province (201673)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Natural Compounds in Disease Treatment
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Medicinal Plant Research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Phytochemistry and Biological Activities
- Keywords
- inflammation, medicinal plants, anti-inflammatory agents, immunomodulation, curcumin, turmeric, epigallocatechin gallate, Camellia sinensis, molecular mechanisms of inflammation, signal transduction, transcription factors, reactive oxygen species, complement system, apoptosis, lymphocyte activation, drug design
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Humans, Inflammation, Phytotherapy, Plants, Medicinal
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