A quest for staunch effects of flavonoids: Utopian protection against hepatic ailments

Abstract

The role of flavonoids as the major red, blue and purple pigments in plants has gained these secondary products a great deal of attention over the years. Flavonoids are polyphenols and occur as aglycones, glycosides and methylated derivatives. Flavonoids are the main components of a healthy diet containing fruits and vegetables and are concentrated especially in tea, apples and onions. Till date, more than 6000 flavonoids have been discovered, out of which 500 are found in free state. They are abundant in polygonaceae, rutaceae, leguminosae, umbelliferae and compositae. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants. In addition to their role in nutrition, flavonoids possess many types of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, hepatoprotective, vasorelaxant, antiviral and anticarcinogenic effects. The present review is focused on flavonoids derived from natural products that have shown a wise way to get a true and potentially rich source of drug candidates against liver ailments. The present review initially highlights the current status of flavonoids and their pharmaceutical significance, role of flavonoids in hepatoprotection, therapeutic options available in herbal medicines and in later section, summarizes flavonoids as lead molecules, which have shown significant hepatoprotective activities.

Keywords

• Antioxidant
• Flavonoids
• Hepatoprotection
• Phenolic compounds