Flax Terpenoid Pathway as a Source of Health Promoting Compounds

Abstract

Flax is an important crop plant grown mainly for its fiber and seeds, which are also rich in omega-3 fatty acids and valuable antioxidants derived from the terpenoid pathways including carotenoids, tocochromanols and sterols. Many of those components found in flax have been recently shown to positively influence human health. Although terpenes vary greatly in their chemical structure, mainly two mechanisms of their biological activity can be considered: direct antioxidation, and a recently explored one, connected to specific receptor and cell signaling pathway activation. Recent studies show that many of the health promoting agents derived from flax act through both of the mentioned mechanisms, resulting in synergistic physiological effects. The work summarizes the two mechanisms, focusing mainly on the one involving cell signaling, as a promising target for medicine and pharmacotherapy.

Emulsions Made of Oils from Seeds of GM Flax Protect V79 Cells against Oxidative Stress

“…Oil obtained from flax ( Linum usitatissimum L.) seeds is one of such natural preparations which could be used for prevention of oxidative cell damage. Flax oil contains high quantities of biologically active compounds such as unsaturated fatty acids (mostly α -linolenic acid and linoleic acid) and several components from isoprenoid pathway, such as squalene [ 7 ], phytosterols (mostly campesterol, stigmasterol, and β -sitosterol) [ 8 , 9 ], carotenoids (lutein), and tocochromanols (tocopherols and plastochromanol-8) [ 10 – 12 ] and squalene, with anti-inflammatory properties. An exceptional group of oil constituents is polyphenols, which are the strongest free radical scavengers; they act directly or in a series of coupled reactions with antioxidant enzymes.…”

Cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of zingiberene on different neuron cell lines in vitro

“…These include fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, lichens, flavonoids and terpenoids (Chaudhary et al 2009;Iranshahi et al 2009;Ben Sghaier et al 2011;Ranković et al 2011). Terpenoids are one of the most important substances of this which are naturally occurring in plants that are thought to have positive effects on human and animal health (Hamułka et al 2012;Styrczewska et al 2012). Sesquiterpenes, which are one of the most common terpenes, are a class of natural products with a diverse range of attractive industrial properties (Scalcinati et al 2012).…”

SR-BI as a target of natural products and its significance in cancer

“…Terpenoids are a group of about 40 000 compounds with diverse structures, all sharing the characteristic of being synthesized from isoprenoid building blocks. According to the number of these isoprene units, Terpenoids of 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 carbon atoms are classified as hemi-, mono-, sesqui-, di-, tri-and tetra-terpenes, respectively [254]. For instance, the sesquiterpenes isolated from various species of marine sponges exhibited various biological activities.…”