Gentiana lutea L. And

Ponticelli, Maria, Lela, Ludovica, Moles, Mariapia, Mangieri, Claudia, Bisaccia, Donatella, Faraone, Immacolata, Falabella, Roberto & Milella, Luigi, 2023, The healing bitterness of Gentiana lutea L., phytochemistry and biological activities: A systematic review, Phytochemistry (113518) 206, pp. 1-27 : 7

3.2. Gentiana lutea L. And antioxidant activity

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are typical cellular metabolism products with critical physiological roles in cell signaling; however, an alteration of the balance between ROS production and ROS elimination causes damage to cellular structures (DNA, lipids, and proteins), leading to a condition known as oxidative stress ( Da Pozzo et al., 2018). This situation is related to several pathological conditions such as neurological disorders, cardiovascular disease, ischemia/reperfusion, etc. ROS are also responsible for food deterioration leading to the necessity for using synthetic antioxidants. The more used in the food industry are butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and tert-butylhydeoquinone (TBHQ), which, however, should be related to the increased incidence of carcinogenic illness ( Schieber and Chandel, 2014). For this reason, there is a continuous search for undescribed natural molecules with antioxidant action useable for preventing or treating human disease and preserving foods from lipid peroxidation and rapid deterioration ( Faraone et al., 2019). Specifically, G. lutea seems to be a promising source of antioxidant molecules; this section treats the knowledge about the scavenging activity of this natural source.