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Review
. 2014:2014:159089.
doi: 10.1155/2014/159089. Epub 2014 May 27.

Zingiber officinale: A Potential Plant against Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abdullah Al-Nahain  1 , Rownak Jahan  2 , Mohammed Rahmatullah  1
Affiliations
Review

Zingiber officinale: A Potential Plant against Rheumatoid Arthritis

Abdullah Al-Nahain et al. Arthritis. 2014.

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease particularly affecting elderly people which leads to massive bone destruction with consequent inflammation, pain, and debility. Allopathic medicine can provide only symptomatic relief. However, Zingiber officinale is a plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae family, which has traditionally been used for treatment of RA in alternative medicines of many countries. Many of the phytochemical constituents of the rhizomes of this plant have therapeutic benefits including amelioration of RA. This review attempts to list those phytochemical constituents with their reported mechanisms of action. It is concluded that these phytochemicals can form the basis of discovery of new drugs, which not only can provide symptomatic relief but also may provide total relief from RA by stopping RA-induced bone destruction. As the development of RA is a complex process, further research should be continued towards elucidating the molecular details leading to RA and drugs that can stop or reverse these processes by phytoconstituents of ginger.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Figure illustrates the pathogenic pathways of rheumatoid arthritis (following [–38]). As discussed in the text, ginger and its constituents alleviate both bone destruction and inflammation.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of some phytochemicals of ginger having anti-inflammatory effect.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Chemical structure of 10-shogaol.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Chemical structure of 10-gingerol.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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