REVIEW A quest for staunch effects of flavonoids: Utopian protection against hepatic ailments Anju Dhiman a, * , Arun Nanda a , Sayeed Ahmad b a Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak 124001, Haryana, India b Bioactive Natural Product Laboratory, Department of Pharmacognosy & Phytochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi 110062, India Received 2 September 2011; accepted 15 May 2012 KEYWORDS Antioxidant; Flavonoids; Hepatoprotection; Phenolic compounds Abstract The role of flavonoids as the major red, blue and purple pigments in plants has gained these secondary products a great deal of attention over the years. Flavonoids are polyphenols and occur as aglycones, glycosides and methylated derivatives. Flavonoids are the main compo- nents of a healthy diet containing fruits and vegetables and are concentrated especially in tea, apples and onions. Till date, more than 6000 flavonoids have been discovered, out of which 500 are found in free state. They are abundant in polygonaceae, rutaceae, leguminosae, umbelliferae and compos- itae. Flavonoids are powerful antioxidants. In addition to their role in nutrition, flavonoids possess many types of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, hepatoprotec- tive, vasorelaxant, antiviral and anticarcinogenic effects. The present review is focused on flavo- noids derived from natural products that have shown a wise way to get a true and potentially rich source of drug candidates against liver ailments. The present review initially highlights the cur- rent status of flavonoids and their pharmaceutical significance, role of flavonoids in hepatoprotec- tion, therapeutic options available in herbal medicines and in later section, summarizes flavonoids as lead molecules, which have shown significant hepatoprotective activities. ª 2012 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Address: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, India. Tel.: +91 1262 393232; mobile: +91 9896436152. E-mail address: ad_mdu@rediffmail.com (A. Dhiman). Peer review under responsibility of King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2012) xxx, xxx–xxx King Saud University Arabian Journal of Chemistry www.ksu.edu.sa www.sciencedirect.com 1878-5352 ª 2012 King Saud University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2012.05.001 Please cite this article in press as: Dhiman, A. et al., A quest for staunch effects of flavonoids: Utopian protection against hepatic ailments. Arabian Journal of Chemistry (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2012.05.001