Role of Flavonoids in Oxidative Stress

Flavonoids are a group of naturally occuring compounds which are widely distributed in nature. Epidemiological evidence suggests an inverse relationship between dietary intake of flavonoids and cardiovascular risk. The biological activities of flavonoids are related to their antioxidative effects. But a number of studies have found both anti and prooxidant effects for many of these compounds. This review article presents the synthetic pathways of flavonoids and discusses the structure-activity relationships between, xanthine oxidase inhibitive activities and their chemical structures, between the antioxidant and prooxidant activities and the chemical structure. Then we will show the antioxidant properties of new flavonoids in a few models. In these compounds one or two di-tert-butylhydroxyphenyl (DBHP) groups replace the catechol moiety at the position 2 of the benzopyrane heterocycle. New structures are compared with quercetin and BHT in an LDL-oxidation system, in protecting cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells against mO-LDL cytotoxicity and on myocardial functional recovery during reperfusion after 30 min global ischemia in isolated rat hearts.