Targeting Inflammatory And Oxidative Stress Pathways Using Nature's Bioactive Compounds

Richa Goel^1*, Harsh Krishna², Kritika², K. Nagarajan³, Manish Tomar², Prince Saini⁴, Divyanshu Singhal², Abhinav Tyagi²

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ABSTRACT

Background: Body has many defences of mechanisms in which one of the crucial mechanisms is Inflammation that helps to maintain tissue homeostasis and benefits in inducing health and wellness of body. But when inflammation occurs for prolonged time, it generates a chronic inflammation which itself contributes in developing many pathophysiological diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, neurodegeneration, cardiovascular disease etc. Allopathic therapies like NSAIDs, corticosteroids are meant to treat these diseases, but continuous use of these medications flourishes several toxicities including renal dysfunction, immune system suppression and gastrointestinal toxicities. Free radicals' generation occurs due to oxidative stress which is caused by various factors such as pollution, poor diet, and UV radiation. Prolonged oxidative stress may lead to various diseases like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative, respiratory, autoimmune and kidney disorders. Although the body has an antioxidant defence system to combat oxidative stress, but it may fail under chronic conditions. In such cases antioxidants-both natural and synthetic are required.

Objective: As of today's scenario, medicinal plants came into the sight of significant scientific based interest which is safer and is holistic alternative medicine. This review is based on the comprehensive knowledge acknowledging anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential of medicinal plants and different phytoconstituents namely flavonoids, polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, and organosulfur compounds which acts through multiple molecular targets.

Mechanisms: Key inflammatory mediators like NF-kB, LOX, COX, iNOS and cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α exhibit strong antioxidant activity. They also exhibit strong radical-scavenging, metal-chelating, and lipid peroxidation inhibiting activities and modulates redox sensitive signalling pathways such as Keap1–Nrf2–ARE which enhances endogenous antioxidant enzyme expression. In vitro assays like DPPH, ABTS, FRAP, and ORAC evaluates radical scavenging and reducing power, while in vivo studies use markers like MDA, SOD, CAT, and GSH to reflect oxidative stress and antioxidant defense in biological systems.

Examples and Synergy: Few examples of herbal medicines include Withania somnifera, Curcuma longa, Camellia sinensis, Zingiber officinale, Boswellia serrata etc. which illustrate clinical and preclinical studies evidently. Furthermore, polyherbal formulations have synergistic effects by exhibiting activity through multiple pathways and promoting bioavailability.

Conclusion: This review emphasizes on the potential of natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatory medicinal plants in promoting health and preventing oxidative stress induced diseases. Besides, there is always a need for standardization, extensive mechanistic research and large-scale clinical validation that will help in establishing their quality, efficacy, safety for the use of alternative medicine in various disease conditions.

KEYWORDS: Anti-inflammatory, phytoconstituents, polyherbal formulations, Antioxidant, Oxidative stress, Antioxidant assay.

How to cite this article: Goel R, Krishna H, Kritika, Nagarajan K, Tomar M, Saini P, Singhal D, Tyagi A. Targeting Inflammatory and oxidative stress pathways using nature's bioactive compounds. Int J Drug Deliv Technol. 2026;16(12s): 980-1010. DOI: 10.25258/ijddt.16.12s.112

Source of support: Nil.

Conflict of interest: None