Rheumatoid Arthritis is an autoimmune, chronic inflammatory disorder that
affects the synovial tissues of the joints. Whilst the standard treatment regimen
involves non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, disease-modifying antirheumatic
agents and glucocorticoids attenuate the symptoms. However, the long-standing use of
all these drugs causes adverse effects, which leads to the research on medicinal plants.
History shows that many medicinal plants are an integral part of various traditional
medicine systems, thus facilitating an alternative form of therapy in various parts of the
world. Since ancient civilization, many of the medicinal plants that used as popular
remedies are available abundantly in Asia. In this chapter, we are presenting the
information on various medicinal plants found in Asia that are reported to be having
anti-arthritic activity. Scientific studies revealed that herbs exert beneficial effects in
treating arthritis by numerous cellular mechanisms, including downregulation of proinflammatory cytokines like TNF-α, IL-6, and NF-κB, oxidative stress suppression,
suppression of cartilage degradation with degradative metalloproteinases, and
increasing antioxidant performance. A variety of phytoconstituents from diverse
chemical categories such as flavonoids, lignans, coumarins, terpenes, glycosides,
phytoestrogens, sesquiterpene lactones, anthraquinones, alkaloids, and thymoquinone
are extracted from these medicinal plants. Additionally, in this chapter, the
pharmacological actions of these plants were also discussed.
Keywords: Analgesic, Antiarthritic, Autoimmune disease, Cytokines, Herbs, Inflammation, Medicinal plants, Phytoconstituents, Rheumatoid arthritis, Traditional medicines.
