Title:Antioxidant Effects of Chalcones during the Inflammatory Response: An Overall Review
Volume: 28
Issue: 37
Author(s): Thaise Martins, Bruno M. Fonseca and Irene Rebelo*
Affiliation:
- UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Biochemistry, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Porto,Portugal
Keywords:
Chalcones, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, reactive oxygen species, reactive nitrogen
species, inflammation.
Abstract: Reactive oxygen/nitrogen species (ROS/RNS) are produced physiologically by
several mechanisms, especially during the inflammatory response. However, their overproduction
can lead to the evolution of conditions known as oxidative/nitrosative stress,
resulting in the establishment of chronic inflammatory diseases. Chalcones are considered
as a class of flavonoids having the molecular pattern 1,3-diaryl-2-propen-1-one. In the last
few years, the antioxidant property of chalcones has been extensively studied, mainly due
to their ability to inhibit the production or scavenging ROS/RNS. The antioxidant activity
of chalcones, focusing on the production of ROS/RNS during the inflammatory response,
is demonstrated and discussed in the present review. This literature revision was based on
the modulatory effects of chalcones against different enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase
(SOD), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase, catalase
(CAT), myeloperoxidase (MPO) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and, in the
scavenging of ROS/RNS. Whenever possible, the structure-activity relationship (SAR)
was established. Through the analysis accomplished in this review, it can be observed that
the presence of substituents, e.g. hydroxyl, methoxyl, prenyl, and halogen atoms in the
chalcones scaffold, often occurs and can improve their modulatory activities, namely, in
the production of ROS/RNS during the inflammatory response.
