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Abstract

Inflammation, a protective response, can be dangerous if left untreated. The current synthetic anti-inflammatory drugs available in the market are coupled with various side effects. Plant-derived products can serve as a better alternative being cheap, easily available and having very few side effects. A sizable number of plants having antiinflammatory activity have been studied. The crude extract of the plant is easy to obtain but it is not possible to indicate the component responsible for a particular property of the extract as it is a mixture of various components. Therein lays the importance of isolating the active principles from the crude extract and studying their mechanism of action. The present study aspires to provide an insight into the current trend of treatment of inflammation using herbal remedies by highlighting the different active principles obtained from different parts of plants, their concentrations used in specific test systems alongside underlining their molecular mode of action. INTRODUCTION: Inflammation is defined as the response shown by the body when it is invaded by an antigen or any type of damage (physical, chemical or traumatic) occurs 1. It is a naturally resolving process in which body fluid, proteins, and cells from the blood are transferred to the damaged tissues for their removal and resolution of the area. The inflammatory response is initiated by temporary vasoconstriction which is followed by acute vascular response due to increased blood flow leading to edema 2. The acute cellular response occurs over the next few hours and is characterized by infiltration of neutrophils into the damaged area.