Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jul 28, 2017; 23(28): 5097-5114
Published online Jul 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i28.5097
Therapeutic potential of flavonoids in inflammatory bowel disease: A comprehensive review
Ali Salaritabar, Behrad Darvishi, Farzaneh Hadjiakhoondi, Azadeh Manayi, Antoni Sureda, Seyed Fazel Nabavi, Leo R Fitzpatrick, Seyed Mohammad Nabavi, Anupam Bishayee
Ali Salaritabar, Behrad Darvishi, Department of Integrative Oncology, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran 15179-64311, Iran
Ali Salaritabar, Behrad Darvishi, Department of Recombinant Protein, Breast Cancer Research Center, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR, Tehran 15179-64311, Iran
Farzaneh Hadjiakhoondi, Azadeh Manayi, Medicinal Plants Research Center, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14176-14411, Iran
Antoni Sureda, Research Group on Community Nutrition and Oxidative Stress and CIBEROBN - Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, University of Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca, E-07122 Balearic Islands, Spain
Seyed Fazel Nabavi, Seyed Mohammad Nabavi, Applied Biotechnology Research Center, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran 14359-16471, Iran
Leo R Fitzpatrick, Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, California Northstate University College of Pharmacy, Elk Grove, CA 95757, United States
Anupam Bishayee, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Larkin University, Miami, FL 33169, United States
Author contributions: Manayi A, Nabavi SF, Nabavi SM and Bishayee A designed the review; Salaritabar A, Darvishi B, Hadjiakhoondi F, Manayi A and Sureda A performed the literature search and wrote the paper; Fitzpatrick LR, Nabavi SM and Bishayee A improved and revised the final version.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Anupam Bishayee, PhD, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, Larkin University, Miami, FL 33169, United States. abishayee@ularkin.org
Telephone: +1-305-7607511
Received: February 16, 2017
Peer-review started: February 19, 2017
First decision: March 3, 2017
Revised: May 12, 2017
Accepted: July 4, 2017
Article in press: July 4, 2017
Published online: July 28, 2017
Abstract

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.

Keywords: Antioxidant, Inflammation, Gastrointestinal tract, Flavonoids, Polyphenols

Core tip: Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) involve inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and primarily comprise Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis. Currently, there is no cure for most of the IBDs. Emerging evidence suggests that flavonoids have many biological and pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antiviral, anticancer, and neuroprotective activities through different mechanisms of action. The present review critically analyzes the current experimental evidence on the therapeutic potential of flavonoids in IBD.