Kaempferol as a Dietary Anti-Inflammatory Agent:
Current Therapeutic Standing
Waqas Alam 1, Haroon Khan 1,* , Muhammad Ajmal Shah 2, Omar Cauli 3 and Luciano Saso 4,*
1 Department of Pharmacy, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan 23200, Pakistan; waqasalamyousafzai@gmail.com
2 Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Government College University, Faisalabad 38000, Pakistan; ajmalshah@gcuf.edu.pk
3 Department of Nursing, University of Valencia, 46010 Valencia, Spain; omar.cauli@uv.es
4 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology “Vittorio Erspamer”, Sapienza University, P.le Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Rome, Italy
* Correspondence: hkdr2006@gmail.com(H.K.); luciano.saso@uniroma1.it (L.S.)
Abstract
Inflammation is a physiological response to different pathological, cellular or vascular damages due to physical, chemical or mechanical trauma. It is characterized by pain, redness, heat and swelling. Current natural drugs are carefully chosen as a novel therapeutic strategy for the management of inflammatory diseases. Different phytochemical constituents are present in natural products. These phytochemicals have high efficacy both in vivo and in vitro. Among them, flavonoids occur in many foods, vegetables and herbal medicines and are considered as the most active constituent, having the ability to attenuate inflammation. Kaempferol is a polyphenol that is richly found in fruits, vegetables and herbal medicines. It is also found in plant-derived beverages. Kaempferol is used in the management of various ailments but there is no available review article that can summarize all the natural sources and biological activities specifically focusing on the anti-inflammatory effect of kaempferol. Therefore, this article is aimed at providing a brief updated review of the literature regarding the anti-inflammatory effect of kaempferol and its possible molecular mechanisms of action. Furthermore, the review provides the available updated literature regarding the natural sources, chemistry, biosynthesis, oral absorption, metabolism, bioavailability and therapeutic effect of kaempferol.
Keywords
lavonoids; kaempferol; inflammation; therapeutic utility
