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Lignans as Pharmacological Agents in Disorders Related to Oxidative Stress and Inflammation: Chemical Synthesis Approaches and Biological Activities

Plant lignans are active components of many herbs, which makes them the research objects for therapeutic agents development for practical use. They provide diverse naturally-occurring pharmacophores, which allows them to interact with various enzymes, receptors, ion channels and signaling molecules.

A large amount of accumulated data indicates that lignans of different structural groups are apt to demonstrate both anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, in many cases, simultaneously. A team of scientists from the Laboratory of neuroreceptors and neuroregulators and the Laboratory of bioinformatics approaches in combinatorial chemistry and biology IBCh RAS published a review that summarizes the comprehensive knowledge about lignan use as a bioactive agent in disorders associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, pharmacological effects in vitro and in vivo, molecular mechanisms underlying these effects, and chemical synthesis approaches. For the most part at the molecular level, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effect of the lignans is manifested via inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway and the potency of the Nrf2 signaling pathway, which is illustrated in the figure 1.
The work is published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Figure 1.

july 5, 2022