Figure 5.

Flavonoids play key roles in inhibiting the occurrence and development of inflammation through the MAPK/P65 pathway by reducing inflammatory cytokine levels. In total, some factors activate MAPK upstream kinase and IKK complex (a, β, γ), MAPKKK activates downstream cascade MEK and Erk, JNK and P38 step by step. On the other hand, the IKK complex phosphorylates IκB proteins and frees NF-κB/Rel complexes to translocate to the cell nucleus. The activated MAPK downstream kinases and NF-κB p65/p50/52 would increase the expression of pro-inflammatory TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 and augment anti-inflammatory IL-10. Flavonoids would regulate kinases involved in these two signaling pathways and inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokines to ameliorate inflammatory symptoms in peptic ulcer.