Anti-inflammatory activity of alkaloids: a twenty-century review

Many substances which interfere with the inflammatory response have been isolated from plants. This review shows some alkaloids of vegetal origin which in the period of 1907 to 2000 were evaluated regarding a possible anti-inflammatory activity. The alkaloids were classified in sub-groups in accordance with their chemical structures and the pharmacological data were obtained from different experimental models. Of the 171 evaluated alkaloids, 137 presented anti-inflammatory activity, and among those, the isoquinoline type was the most studied. The Carrageenin-induced paw edema was the most used model for evaluating the anti-inflammatory activity. In this review, 174 references were cited.