The inflammatory process plays a central role in the development and progression of numerous pathological situations, such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disorders. IBDs involve inflammation of the gastrointestinal area and mainly comprise Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Both pathological situations usually involve recurring or bloody diarrhea, pain, fatigue and weight loss. There is at present no pharmacological cure for CD or UC. However, surgery may be curative for UC patients. The prescribed treatment aims to ameliorate the symptoms and prevent and/or delay new painful episodes. Flavonoid compounds are a large family of hydroxylated polyphenolic molecules abundant in plants, including vegetables and fruits which are the major dietary sources of these compounds for humans, together with wine and tea. Flavonoids are becoming very popular because they have many health-promoting and disease-preventive effects. Most interest has been directed towards the antioxidant activity of flavonoids, evidencing a remarkable free-radical scavenging capacity. However, accumulating evidence suggests that flavonoids have many other biological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anticancer, and neuroprotective activities through different mechanisms of action. The present review analyzes the available data about the different types of flavonoids and their potential effectiveness as adjuvant therapy of IBDs.

• Antioxidant
• Inflammation
• Gastrointestinal tract
• Flavonoids
• Polyphenols

• Animals
• Anti-Inflammatory Agents/therapeutic use
• Clinical Trials as Topic
• Colitis, Ulcerative/drug therapy
• Colitis, Ulcerative/pathology
• Colon/drug effects
• Colon/pathology
• Crohn Disease/drug therapy
• Crohn Disease/pathology
• Disease Models, Animal
• Flavonoids/pharmacology
• Flavonoids/therapeutic use
• Intestinal Mucosa/drug effects
• Intestinal Mucosa/pathology
• Treatment Outcome

• Acarbose
• Baicalein
• Oroxylum indicum
• Postprandial blood glucose
• Synergism
• α-Glucosidase

Semen Oroxyli, derived from the seed of Oroxylum indicum L., is a commonly used Traditional Chinese Medicine with beneficial effects against several respiratory disorders. Antioxidative flavonoids may be partly responsible for its medicinal functions. The aim of this study was to rapidly determine the antioxidants in Semen Oroxyli based on a HPLC-DPPH method. Four major flavonoids, baicalein-7-O-gentiobioside, baicalein-7-O-glucoside, baicalein, and baicalin, were identified as the active components against DPPH free radicals, which is in accord with the results of our former traditional activity-guided phytochemical study. The oxidative products of the four antioxidant flavonoids were studied in the DPPH spiking HPLC assay, it was suggested that the three active flavonoid glycosides were converted into 5,6-dihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone, which implied that an additional hydroxyl at C-6 in 5,7-dihydroxyflavones plays an important role in the DPPH assay.