ABSTRACT
This chapter emphasizes enzyme inhibitory activities of natural plants and their compounds, specifically hyaluronidase and the gelatinase (matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9) inhibitor medicinal plants and their contents. Particularly, different herbal plants have hyaluronidase enzyme inhibitor potentials. Evaluation of such plants in Rosaceae, Asteraceae, Lamiaceae, and Zingiberaceae families has shown that the extracts, tannins, and polyphenols were identified/isolated as enzyme inhibitors. Gelatinases, inhibitions of MMP-2 and MMP-9, are the most common in Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, and Rosaceae families. Mostly, saponin and flavonoid derivatives have important role in the inhibition of MMPs activities.
