Natural inhibitors against potential targets of cyclooxygenase, lipoxygenase and leukotrienes.

BACKGROUND The cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX) enzymes catalyze the production of pain mediators like prostaglandins (PGs) and leukotrienes (LTs) respectively from arachidonic acid. INTRODUCTION The COX and LOX enzyme modulators are responsible for the major PGs and LTs mediated complications like asthma, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, neuropathy and cardiovascular syndromes (CVS). Many synthetic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) used in the treatment have serious side effects like nausea, vomiting, hyperacidity, gastrointestinal ulcers, CVS, etc. Methods: The natural inhibitors of pain mediators have great acceptance worldwide due to fewer side effects on long-term uses. The present review is an extensive study of the advantages of plant-based vs synthetic inhibitors. RESULTS These natural COX and LOX inhibitors control inflammatory response without causing side-effect-related complicacy. CONCLUSION Therefore, the natural COX and LOX inhibitors may be used as alternative medicines for the management of pain and inflammation due to their less toxicity and resistivity.