Prostaglandins and nitric oxide biosynthesis is involved in inflammation,and isoforms of inducible nitric

oxide synthase (iNOS) and of cyclooxygenase (COX-2) are responsible for the production of a great
amount of these mediators. There are several critical steps at which flavonoids can modulate the cascade
of molecular events leading to the overexpression of iNOS or COX-2. These include inhibition of, and 3
indirect modulation of iNOS by inhibition of the ciclooxygenase and/or lipooxygenase pathways, 27
Effects of flavonoids on the binding capacity of transcription
factors such as NF-kappaB or AP-1 may be regulated
through the inhibition of protein kinases involved
in signal transduction, such as protein kinase C
(PKC) and mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK)

Arachidonic acid is released from phospholipids membrane and further converted into
prostaglandins and thromboxanes in the presence of cycloxgenase and lipoxegenase (Rathee et
al., 2009). The polyphenols act on these enzymes pathaways and inhibit the inflammation. The
prostaglandins along with nitric oxide produce by inducible nitric oxide synthase are the
mediators involved in cascade of inflammation (Kwon et al., 2005). Polyphenols can also inhibit
inflammation by modulating the over expression of iNOS and cyclooxygenase. This includes
inhibition of phospholipase C or A2, protein kinase C, and Phosphodiesterases (Middleton et al.,
2000). The pathways involved in production of iNOS and cyclooxygenase results into activation
of transcription need for expression of nuclear factor kB (proinflammatory gene) (Jiang et al.,
2004). The activation of nuclear factor kB triggers the process of inflammation. The
polyphenolic compounds act on iNOS and cyclooxygenase and inhibit the activation of nuclear
factor kB (Leclerq et al., 2004; Lee et al., 2006).