How Phytocomponents May be Valuable Against Oxidative Stress in Brain Tissue?

Abstract

This short commentary is intended to briefly discuss the benefits of plant secondary metabolites against brain tissue injury promoted by oxidative stress. Henceforth, the physicochemical features and biological activities of phytocomponents were assessed based on literature reports, which showcased their thermodynamic feasibility to reduce reactive oxygen species. It was strongly hinted that secondary metabolites possessing antioxidant potential may be of use in the therapeutics against neurodegenerative disorders owing to free radical scavenging, what hinders further damage to brain tissue.

Thermodynamics and Kinetics ofCamellia sinensisExtracts and Constituents: An Untamed Antioxidant Potential

“…Taking Nernst equation for instance, one can clearly see how electric potential is a thermodynamic parameter, as showcased in Eqs. ( 8) and (9).…”

“…The main premise behind the antioxidant lore is that it counteracts the oxidative stress generated by biological systems [6,7]. In this sense, the regular intake of free radical scavengers would safeguard the proper attunement of homeostatic balance by diminishing oxidative stress [8,9].…”

“…To a certain extent, cells behave quite like thermal power plants, thereby "burning" certain nutrients to obtain energy for self-sustainability. This process is however imperfect, as oxidation byproducts may be highly reactive, therefore degrading functional biomolecules which come in contact with them [5,9,10]. These reactive byproducts are the often-demonized reactive oxygen species (ROS), which include oxygen-bearing free radicals and other reactive compounds [11,12].…”

“…Considering that all chemicals showcase intrinsic physicochemical features regarding their proneness to undergo redox reactions, the feasibility of antioxidant capacity can be linked to the thermodynamics of selected compounds in comparison to endogenous antioxidants of both chemical and enzymatic nature [8,11,[14][15][16]. Thus, the Gibbs free energy, enthalpy and entropy of alleged antioxidants can be compared to those of endogenous free radical scavengers and oxireductive enzymes in order to assess the thermodynamic feasibility of antioxidant capacity [9,17,18]. Table 2 showcases the main endogenous antioxidants reported in literature.…”