The Caucasian flora: a still-to-be-discovered rich source of antioxidants

Abstract

Cellular redox homeostasis is a state of balance between the formation of Usually Reactive Oxygen and / or Nitrogen Species (ROS/RNS), endogenous antioxidant defence systems, and exogenous dietary antioxidants. The disturbance of redox homeostasis, by the overproduction of endogenous ROS/RNS, may increase the risk of development of so-called civilisation diseases. The solution seems to be either the increased production of endogenous or consumption of exogenous antioxidants. Plant-borne antioxidants act via different chemical and molecular mechanisms, such as decreasing the level of oxidative damage in cells directly by reacting with ROS/RNS or indirectly – by inhibition of the activity and expression of free radical generating enzymes or by enhancing the activity or expression of intracellular antioxidant defence enzymes. Despite the fact that the Caucasian flora is rich of health promoting edible/medicinal plants, recent studies concerning the biological activity of these plants are very scarce. This review is summarising the state-of-art on the health-promoting potential of plants representing the Caucasian flora, whose antioxidant capacity have been investigated in various in vitro models.

Keywords:

• Antioxidants
• Caucasian flora
• oxidative stress
• reactive oxygen species
• redox homeostasis
• signalling molecules

Acknowledgments

This article is based upon work from COST Action NutRedOx-CA16112 supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology). Special thanks go to many colleagues from the Academiacs International network (www.academiacs.eu) for their helpful discussions and advice.

Author contributions

All authors contributed equally in writing the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors do not declare any conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

Authors acknowledge the financial support provided by Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany; Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia; Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland; Shota Rustaveli State University, Batumi, Georgia, and the “Landesforschungsfoerderungsprogramm” of the State of Saarland (under grant No. WT/2—LFFP16/01).