A recent overview on the biological and pharmacological activities of ferulic acid



Dear Editor,

Ferulic acid (FA) is an important phenolic acid that is commonly present in the leaves, fruits, and seeds of most plants. Certain types of grasses, including rice, wheat, and oats, are highly concentrated sources of FA. The name, ferulic, originates from the genus, Ferula, referring to giant fennel (Ferula communis). The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) name for FA is (E)-3-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxy-phenyl) prop-2-enoic acid (Srinivasan et al., 2007[40]; Bento-Silva et al., 2018[4]). In plants, FA is biosynthesized from caffeic acid by the enzyme caffeate O-methyltransferase. FA, along with dihydroferulic acid, acts as a component of lignocellulose, which crosslinks lignins and polysaccharides, thereby conferring rigidity to the cell walls (de Oliveira et al., 2015[11]).

FA has been recognized as an important chemical structure serving several biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antiallergic, antimicrobial, antithrombotic, anticarcinogenic, and hepatoprotective actions, directly or indirectly (Kumar and Pruthi, 2014[23]; Mancuso and Santangelo, 2014[25]). The FA enrichment in different food items could reduce oxidative damage and amyloid pathology, especially for Alzheimer disease (Nabavi et al., 2015[29]; Sgarbossa et al., 2015[37]). In this review, we summarize the recent findings on the biological and pharmacological activities of FA (Table 1(Tab. 1); References in Table 1: Asadpour et al., 2018[1]; Aswar and Patil, 2016[2]; Bami et al., 2017[3]; Canturk, 2018[5]; Chen et al., 2018[6]; Cheng et al., 2016[7]; Chowdhury et al., 2016[8]; Colonnello et al., 2018[9]; Das et al., 2016[10]; Eitsuka et al., 2016[12]; El-Ashmawy et al., 2018[13]; Fong et al., 2016[14]; Gerin et al., 2016[15]; Gong et al., 2017[16]; Gu et al., 2017[17]; Hahn et al., 2016[18]; Hassanzadeh et al., 2017[19]; Hassanzadeh et al., 2018[20]; Ibitoye and Ajiboye, 2018[21]; Jayamani et al., 2018[22]; Macías-Cruz et al., 2018[24]; Maruyama et al., 2018[26]; Mir et al., 2018[27]; Mu et al., 2018[28]; Nagai et al., 2017[30]; Park et al., 2018[31]; Perez-Ternero et al., 2017[32]; Qi et al., 2017[33]; Sadar et al., 2016[34]; Sagar et al., 2016[35]; Salazar-López et al., 2017[36]; Shao et al., 2018[38]; Sompong et al., 2017[39]; Sudhagar et al., 2018[41]; Szulc-Kielbik et al., 2017[42]; Wang et al., 2017[43]; Yang et al., 2016[44]; Yu et al., 2016[45]; Yuan et al., 2016[46]; Zeni et al., 2017[47]; Zhang et al., 2018[48]; Zhou et al., 2017[50]; Zhou et al., 2018[49]).

Table 1. Recent studies on the biological and pharmacological activities of ferulic acid.

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Golden Seed Project (213006051WTE11) funded by Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF), Rural Development Administration (RDA) and Korea Forest Service (KFS), Republic of Korea.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.