Chemical characterization, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Greek Thymus vulgaris extracts and their possible synergism with Egyptian Chlorella vulgaris

Oxidative stress is the imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and their clearance by the antioxidants. The antioxidant system contains enzymes (superoxide dismutase “SOD”, glutathione peroxidase “GPX”, glu-tathione reductase “GR” and catalase), molecules (reduced glutathione “GSH”) and nutrients (Sánchez, Calpena, & Clares, 2015; Cheng, Lu, & Yen, 2017). Oxidative stress accompanies most of the inflammatory diseases, which can be initiated by many factors, such as; bacterial infection, environmental pollution, and chemical injury. This will result in the induction of the inflammatory mediators, such as nuclear factor-kappa (NF-к) B, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-(COX)-2 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α. Both oxidative stress and inflammation are responsible for the pathogenesis and development ofvarious chronic diseases, such as cancer, hepatic diseases and auto-immune diseases (Sánchez et al., 2015). Corticosteroids, such as dex-amethasone (Dex) are used extensively as powerful anti-inflammatory drugs but they cause serious adverse effects after administration for long-term. Therefore, discovering new potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory natural products is of great importance. Recently, many algae and higher plants have been shown to be useful in the treatment of many diseases that associated with oxidative stress and inflammation.

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