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Biomolecules
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Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses
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Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses

A special issue of Biomolecules (ISSN 2218-273X). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural and Bio-inspired Molecules".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (24 April 2023) | Viewed by 11412

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Heping Cao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Southern Regional Research Center, US Department of Agriculture, New Orleans, LA 70124, USA
Interests: biochemistry and molecular biology of human nutrition and natural products with a focus on plant polyphenols from green tea, cinnamon, and cottonseed; biochemical genetics and metabolic pathways- carbohydrate, lipid, and RNA metabolism; protein/enzyme expression, purification, structure, function, enzymology, and proteomics; signal transduction pathways- insulin, tristetraprolin, and brassinosteroid
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Inflammation and associated immune diseases have placed a heavy burden on the health care system. Drug treatment for reducing inflammation and related diseases has not been satisfactory. Complementary and alternative approaches need to be evaluated.

Plant extracts have historically been used as alternative medicines for the prevention, alleviation, and cure of various diseases. The mechanisms of how bioactive plant extracts work are poorly understood, due, in part, to the lack of knowledge of the structures of bioactive components in most extracts.

Plant polyphenols are major bioactive compounds in plant extracts. They are produced from the plant flavonoid biosynthetic pathway and used naturally for plant defenses against predators. Plant polyphenols are present in most diets and are beneficial to human health. They regulate mammalian gene expression in numerous studies. The anti-inflammatory activities of plant polyphenols are proposed to play an important role in the mediation of various health conditions by these alternative therapies; however, these anti-inflammatory mechanisms are not completely understood.

This Special Issue aims to highlight plant polyphenols in the immune and inflammatory response. Topics include plant polyphenol extraction, identification, bioactivity, structure-function relationship, molecular mechanisms at DNA, RNA, protein, and metabolic levels. We welcome comprehensive reviews and original research papers.

Dr. Heping Cao
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomolecules is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant polyphenol
  • bioactivity
  • immunity
  • inflammation; molecular mechanism
  • structure-function relationship

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 187 KiB  
Editorial
Editorial for the Special Issue on Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses
by Heping Cao
Biomolecules 2023, 13(5), 814; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13050814 - 11 May 2023
Viewed by 985
Abstract
Inflammation and associated immune diseases have placed a heavy burden on health care systems [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)

Research

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16 pages, 3471 KiB  
Article
Plant Polyphenol Gossypol Induced Cell Death and Its Association with Gene Expression in Mouse Macrophages
by Heping Cao and Kandan Sethumadhavan
Biomolecules 2023, 13(4), 624; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom13040624 - 30 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1426
Abstract
Gossypol is a complex plant polyphenol reported to be cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory, but little is known about its effect on gene expression in macrophages. The objective of this study was to explore gossypol’s toxicity and its effect on gene expression involved in the [...] Read more.
Gossypol is a complex plant polyphenol reported to be cytotoxic and anti-inflammatory, but little is known about its effect on gene expression in macrophages. The objective of this study was to explore gossypol’s toxicity and its effect on gene expression involved in the inflammatory response, glucose transport and insulin signaling pathways in mouse macrophages. Mouse RAW264.7 macrophages were treated with multiple concentrations of gossypol for 2–24 h. Gossypol toxicity was estimated by MTT assay and soluble protein content. qPCR analyzed the expression of anti-inflammatory tristetraprolin family (TTP/ZFP36), proinflammatory cytokine, glucose transporter (GLUT) and insulin signaling genes. Cell viability was greatly reduced by gossypol, accompanied with a dramatic reduction in soluble protein content in the cells. Gossypol treatment resulted in an increase in TTP mRNA level by 6–20-fold and increased ZFP36L1, ZFP36L2 and ZFP36L3 mRNA levels by 26–69-fold. Gossypol increased proinflammatory cytokine TNF, COX2, GM-CSF, INFγ and IL12b mRNA levels up to 39–458-fold. Gossypol treatment upregulated mRNA levels of GLUT1, GLUT3 and GLUT4 genes as well as INSR, AKT1, PIK3R1 and LEPR, but not APP genes. This study demonstrated that gossypol induced macrophage death and reduced soluble protein content, which was accompanied with the massive stimulation of anti-inflammatory TTP family and proinflammatory cytokine gene expression, as well as the elevation of gene expression involved in glucose transport and the insulin signaling pathway in mouse macrophages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)
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18 pages, 4708 KiB  
Article
Influence of Diets Enriched with Flavonoids (Cocoa and Hesperidin) on the Systemic Immunity of Intensively Trained and Exhausted Rats
by Patricia Ruiz-Iglesias, Malén Massot-Cladera, Francisco J. Pérez-Cano and Margarida Castell
Biomolecules 2022, 12(12), 1893; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12121893 - 17 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1547
Abstract
The aim of this study was to establish the influence of flavonoid-enriched diets on the immune alterations induced by an intensive training and a final exhaustion test in rats. A flavanol-enriched diet (with 10% cocoa, C10 diet) and a flavanol and flavanone-enriched diet [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to establish the influence of flavonoid-enriched diets on the immune alterations induced by an intensive training and a final exhaustion test in rats. A flavanol-enriched diet (with 10% cocoa, C10 diet) and a flavanol and flavanone-enriched diet (C10 plus 0.5% hesperidin, CH diet) were used. Lewis rats were fed either a standard diet, C10 diet or CH diet while they were submitted to an intensive running training on a treadmill. After 6 weeks, samples were obtained 24 h after performing a regular training (T groups) and after carrying out a final exhaustion test (TE groups). The C10 diet attenuated the increase in plasma cortisol induced by exhaustion, while both the C10 and the CH diets prevented the alterations in the spleen Th cell proportion. The experimental diets also induced an increase in serum immunoglobulin concentration and an enhancement of spleen natural killer cytotoxicity, which may be beneficial in situations with a weakened immunity. Most of the effects observed in the CH groups seem to be due to the cocoa content. Overall, a dietary intervention with flavonoids enhances immune function, partially attenuating the alterations in systemic immunity induced by intensive training or exhausting exercise. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)
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Review

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28 pages, 3496 KiB  
Review
The Ethnopharmacological Uses, Metabolite Diversity, and Bioactivity of Rhaponticum uniflorum (Leuzea uniflora): A Comprehensive Review
by Daniil N. Olennikov
Biomolecules 2022, 12(11), 1720; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12111720 - 20 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1925
Abstract
Rhaponticum uniflorum (L.) DC. (syn. Leuzea uniflora (L.) Holub) is a plant species of the Compositae (Asteraceae) family that is widely used in Asian traditional medicines in China, Siberia, and Mongolia as an anti-inflammatory and stimulant remedy. Currently, R. uniflorum is [...] Read more.
Rhaponticum uniflorum (L.) DC. (syn. Leuzea uniflora (L.) Holub) is a plant species of the Compositae (Asteraceae) family that is widely used in Asian traditional medicines in China, Siberia, and Mongolia as an anti-inflammatory and stimulant remedy. Currently, R. uniflorum is of scientific interest to chemists, biologists, and pharmacologists, and this review includes information from the scientific literature from 1991 to 2022. The study of the chemodiversity of R. uniflorum revealed the presence of 225 compounds, including sesquiterpenes, ecdysteroids, triterpenes, sterols, thiophenes, hydroxycinnamates, flavonoids, lignans, nucleosides and vitamins, alkanes, fatty acids, and carbohydrates. The most studied groups of substances are phenolics (76 compounds) and triterpenoids (69 compounds). Information on the methods of chromatographic analysis of selected compounds, as well as on the quantitative content of some components in various organs of R. uniflorum, is summarized in this work. It has been shown that the extracts and some compounds of R. uniflorum have a wide range of biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antitumor, immunostimulatory, anxiolytic, stress-protective, actoprotective, antihypoxic, anabolic, hepatoprotective, inhibition of PPARγ receptors, anti-atherosclerotic, and hypolipidemic. Published research on the metabolites and bioactivity of R. uniflorum does not include clinical studies of extracts and pure compounds; therefore, an accurate study of this traditional medicinal plant is needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)
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17 pages, 1539 KiB  
Review
Renoprotective Effects of Luteolin: Therapeutic Potential for COVID-19-Associated Acute Kidney Injuries
by Lúcio Ricardo Leite Diniz, Hatem A. Elshabrawy, Marilia Trindade S. Souza, Allana Brunna Sucupira Duarte, Nikhil Madhav and Damião Pergentino de Sousa
Biomolecules 2022, 12(11), 1544; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12111544 - 23 Oct 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2376
Abstract
Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been increasingly reported in critically-ill COVID-19 patients. Moreover, there was significant positive correlation between COVID-19 deaths and renal disorders in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with underlying comorbidities who required renal replacement therapy. It has suggested that death in COVID-19 [...] Read more.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) has been increasingly reported in critically-ill COVID-19 patients. Moreover, there was significant positive correlation between COVID-19 deaths and renal disorders in hospitalized COVID-19 patients with underlying comorbidities who required renal replacement therapy. It has suggested that death in COVID-19 patients with AKI is 3-fold higher than in COVID-19 patients without AKI. The pathophysiology of COVID-19-associated AKI could be attributed to unspecific mechanisms, as well as COVID-19-specific mechanisms such as direct cellular injury, an imbalanced renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, pro-inflammatory cytokines elicited by the viral infection and thrombotic events. To date, there is no specific treatment for COVID-19 and its associated AKI. Luteolin is a natural compound with multiple pharmacological activities, including anticoronavirus, as well as renoprotective activities against kidney injury induced by sepsis, renal ischemia and diverse nephrotoxic agents. Therefore, in this review, we mechanistically discuss the anti-SARS-CoV-2 and renoprotective activities of luteolin, which highlight its therapeutic potential in COVID-19-AKI patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)
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22 pages, 1476 KiB  
Review
Therapeutic Potential of Leaves from Fridericia chica (Bonpl.) L. G. Lohmann: Botanical Aspects, Phytochemical and Biological, Anti-Inflammatory, Antioxidant and Healing Action
by Adriane Dâmares de Sousa Jorge Batalha, Damy Caroline de Melo Souza, Rosmery Duran Ubiera, Francisco Celio Maia Chaves, Wuelton Marcelo Monteiro, Felipe Moura Araújo da Silva, Hector Henrique Ferreira Koolen, Antônio Luiz Boechat and Marco Aurélio Sartim
Biomolecules 2022, 12(9), 1208; https://doi.org/10.3390/biom12091208 - 31 Aug 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2420
Abstract
Plants of the species Fridericia chica (Bonpl.) L. G. Lohmann (Bignoniaceae), which are widely distributed in Brazil and named crajiru in the state of Amazonas, are known in folk medicine as a traditional medicine in the form of a tea for the treatment [...] Read more.
Plants of the species Fridericia chica (Bonpl.) L. G. Lohmann (Bignoniaceae), which are widely distributed in Brazil and named crajiru in the state of Amazonas, are known in folk medicine as a traditional medicine in the form of a tea for the treatment of intestinal colic, diarrhea, and anemia, among other diseases. The chemical analysis of extracts of the leaves has identified phenolic compounds, a class of secondary metabolites that provide defense for plants and benefits to the health of humans. Several studies have shown the therapeutic efficacy of F. chica extracts, with antitumor, antiviral, wound healing, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities being among the therapeutic applications already proven. The healing action of F. chica leaf extract has been demonstrated in several experimental models, and shows the ability to favor the proliferation of fibroblasts, which is essential for tissue repair. The anti-inflammatory activity of F. chica has been clearly demonstrated by several authors, who suggest that it is related to the presence of 3-deoxyanthocyanidins, which is capable of inhibiting pro-inflammatory pathways such as the kappa B (NF-kB) nuclear transcription factor pathway. Another important effect attributed to this species is the antioxidant effect, attributed to phenolic compounds interrupting chain reactions caused by free radicals and donating hydrogen atoms or electrons. In conclusion, the species Fridericia chica has great therapeutic potential, which is detailed in this paper with the objective of encouraging new research and promoting the sum of efforts for the inclusion of herbal medicines in health systems around the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Polyphenols in the Immune and Inflammatory Responses)
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