Terpinen-4-ol, A volatile terpene molecule, extensively electrifies the biological systems against the oxidative stress-linked pathogenesis

Abstract

Terpenes and their derivatives in essential oil have been raising an upstream interest due to their unwavering health-promoting effects and safety profiles, although the individual essential oil components are inadequately assessed for their biological potential. Terpinen-4-ol, a bioactive natural terpene-derivative unambiguously distributed in most essential oil sources, is displaying a very remarkable role as a phytometabolite. This review, therefore, deciphered the health-promoting effects of Terpinen-4-ol in oxidative stress-linked diseases including neurodegenerative disorders, cancers, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and inflammatory disorders. Using Google as a search engine, this systematic review unraveled 217 relevant articles out of 857 search results from Web of Science, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Terpinen-4-ol is reported to increase superoxide dismutase, decrease glutathione-S-transferase and acetylcholine esterase, inhibit NF-κB and NLRP3 inflammasome activation pathway, downregulate the α-amylase activity and increase insulin sensitivity, and substantially inhibit the generation of inflammatory mediators such as IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10. Despite several beneficial actions of Terpinen-4-ol, it has hardly been expedited to use as pharmaceutical therapeutic target for unveiled biological activities. In that context, this review has focused on the role of Terpinen-4-ol in attenuating oxidative stress and stress-linked pathophysiological conditions unraveling a research gap on it to manifest its best pharmaceutical and therapeutic uses.