Frontiers in Pharmacology· 2017Q1· Review
Pharmacological Properties and Molecular Mechanisms of Thymol: Prospects for Its Therapeutic Potential and Pharmaceutical Development
- 586citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2017year
Short summary
Thymol, a natural compound from thyme, exhibits broad pharmacological effects including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antihyperlipidemic actions, supported by molecular mechanisms like cytokine inhibition and enhanced endogenous antioxidants.
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Key points
- Thymol demonstrates significant anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antihyperlipidemic properties.
- Molecular mechanisms include inhibiting cytokine recruitment, scavenging free radicals, and enhancing endogenous antioxidants.
- Antihyperlipidemic effects involve increasing HDL and decreasing LDL cholesterol.
- Thymol shows therapeutic potential across cardiovascular, neurological, metabolic, and malignant diseases.
- Challenges remain in its pharmaceutical development as a dietary supplement or pharmacological agent.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Thymol, chemically known as 2-isopropyl-5-methylphenol is a colorless crystalline monoterpene phenol. It is one of the most important dietary constituents in thyme species. For centuries, it has been used in traditional medicine and has been shown to possess various pharmacological properties including antioxidant, free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antispasmodic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic and antitumor activities. The present article presents a detailed review of the scientific literature which reveals the pharmacological properties of thymol and its multiple therapeutic actions against various cardiovascular, neurological, rheumatological, gastrointestinal, metabolic and malignant diseases at both biochemical and molecular levels. The noteworthy effects of thymol are largely attributed to its anti-inflammatory (via inhibiting recruitment of cytokines and chemokines), antioxidant (via scavenging of free radicals, enhancing the endogenous enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants and chelation of metal ions), antihyperlipidemic (via increasing the levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol and decreasing the levels of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and low density lipoprotein cholesterol in the circulation and membrane stabilization) (via maintaining ionic homeostasis) effects. This review presents an overview of the current in vitro and in vivo data supporting thymol’s therapeutic activity and the challenges concerning its use for prevention and its therapeutic value as a dietary supplement or as a pharmacological agent or as an adjuvant along with current therapeutic agents for the treatment of various diseases. It is one of the potential candidates of natural origin that has shown promising therapeutic potential, pharmacological properties and molecular mechanisms as well as pharmacokinetic properties for the pharmaceutical development of thymol.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 2017 · DOI ↗
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Field: Complementary and alternative medicine
Complementary and alternative medicineMedicine