Biological Activities of Yarrow Species (Achillea spp.)

Abstract

The genus Achillea consists of about 140 perennial herbs native to the Northern hemisphere. Traditional indications of their use include digestive problems, liver and gall-bladder conditions, menstrual irregularities, cramps, fever, wound healing. The Commission E approves its internal use for loss of appetite and dyspeptic ailments (gastric catarrh, spastic discomfort), externally it is used in form of sitz bath or as a compress against skin inflammation, slow healing wounds, bacterial or fungal infections. In the last decades, pharmacological studies became intensive, although human clinical investigations are still rare. Recent findings have confirmed several traditional uses. The largest number of data accumulated for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. There are positive results on the analgesic, anti-ulcer, choleretic, hepatoprotective and wound healing activities. First results on other interesting therapeutical areas - antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antitumor, antispermatogenic activities -need confirmation. Yarrow can be used also as an insect repellent. Contact dermatitis as adverse effect may be connected to sesquiterpenes. The diversity and complexity of the effective compounds of yarrow species explains the broad spectrum of their activity. According to the literature the pharmacological effects are mainly due to the essential oil, proazulenes and other sesquiterpene lactones, dicaffeoylquinic acids and flavonoids. Synergistic actions of these and other compounds are also supposed. Achillea species have different chemical and therapeutical values. Despite of numerous data, correct evaluation of the results is difficult because of missing generally accepted taxonomical nomenclature. The used chemical-analytical methods and bio-assays are utmost diverse, making the comparison complicated. Further research on the activity is needed using exactly defined plant material, standardized methods and chemical analysis.

Chemical composition of the essential oils and extracts of Achillea species and their biological activities: A review

“…Most of the therupatic properties of these plants were identified by Greek plant protectors. The considerable healing power found for different Achillea species can be attributed to the high occurrence of proazulenes in their chemical profiles (Benedek et al, 2008;Nemeth and Bernath, 2008). Concerning the most important species of this genus, A. millefolium L., the name millefolium represents 1000 leaves showing its folious branches (Zargari, 1996).…”

“…Moreover, these species have been recognized as powerful analgesic (Garcia et al, 1997;Abdel-Rahman et al, 2015), antipyretic (Garcia et al, 1997), spasmolytic (Delapuerta and Herrera, 1995;Benedek et al, 2007), digestive (Nemeth and Bernath, 2008), cytoprotective (Giorgi et al, 2009), anti-inflammatory (Kupeli et al, 2007;Zaidi et al, 2012), antineuroinflammatory (Elmann et al, 2011), antinociceptive (Karabay-Yavasoglu et al, 2007), anthelmintic (Tariq et al, 2008), antispasmodic (Karamenderes and Apaydin, 2003), anti-ulcer (Kundakovic et al, 2000), and antihypertensive and antihyperlipidemic agents. Furthermore, they have been pointed out as potent remedies to address some human disorders including haemorrhoid (Jaric et al, 2007) and gastrointestinal (Bibi et al, 2015;Martkoplishvili and Kvavadze, 2015) disturbances.…”

“…Sesquiterpenes and other constituents: 4E, 10E-9β-Hydroxy-3-(2-methylbutyroyloxy)-germacra-4,10(1)-diene-12,6α-olide, 4E,10E-3-(2-methylbutyroyloxy)-germacra-4,10(1)-diene-12,6α-olide, 1β,6α -dihydroxy10βmethyl-5αH,7αH-eudesm-4-one,1β,6α-dihydroxyeudesm-4(15)-ene, 1β-hydroxyα-xyperone, 2E,4E-N-isobutyl-2,4-decadienamide, 2E,4E-undeca-2,4-diene-8,10-diynoic acid isobutyamide, 2E,4E,8Z-Nisobutyl-2,4,8-decatrienamide, 2E,4E-undeca-2,4-diene-8,10-diynoic acid piperidide, 2E,4E-1-piperidin-1-yldeca-2,4-dien-1-one, 4-(1-hydroxy-1-methyl-ethyl)-cyclohex-1-enecarbaldehyde, β-sitosterol, stigmast-5-ene-3β,7a-diol, 7β-methoxy-stigmast-5-ene-3β-ol, saringosterol, stigmast-4-en-6βol-3-one, 3β,5α,8α-trihydroxycampest-6,22-diene, daucosterol, sitoindoside I, cycloart-5-ene-3β,25-diol, sesamin, 6-acetyl-3,60-diferuloylsucrose, and 1,2-dilinolenyl-3-O-β-Dgalactopyranosyl-sn-glycerol (Yang et al, 2005) Different species Sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, alkaloids, lignans, triterpenes, alkamides, and polyacetylenes (Si et al, 2006;Nemeth and Bernath, 2008) (Başer et al, 1986;Turkoglu et al, 2010;Cakilcioglu et al, 2011) A. alpine L.…”

“…The compositions of the EOs are greatly influenced by diverse parameters involving time and season of harvesting of the plants, type of the plant organs and the corresponding family, geographical and climatic conditions, physiological age, developmental stage, nutritional status of the plants, post-harvest drying, plant storages, genetic diversity, extraction methods, elemental structure of the sampling area, physicochemical variables related to the respective soils and also stress during the growth or maturity (Tabanca et al, 2011;Raut and Karuppayil, 2014;Mohammadhosseini, 2015b, a;Nekoei and Mohammadhosseini, 2016). Some comprehensive reviews covering some important aspects, e.g., the status, preparation methods, biological activities, potential use and processing of the EOs (Radulovic et al, 2007;Bakkali et al, 2008;Nemeth and Bernath, 2008;Adorjan and Buchbauer, 2010;Rubiolo et al, 2010;Lang and Buchbauer, 2012;Shaaban et al, 2012;Tranchida et al, 2012;Oliveira et al, 2014;Raut and Karuppayil, 2014;Sivakumar and Bautista-Banos, 2014;Tongnuanchan and Benjakul, 2014;Xiao et al, 2014;Calo et al, 2015;Herman and Herman, 2015;Zeng et al, 2015;Sarmento-Neto et al, 2016) are available to date.…”

Antimicrobial, Antiviral Activity and GC-MS Analysis of Essential Oil Extracted from Achillea fragrantissima Plant Growing In Sinai Peninsula, Egypt

“…Medicinal plants still constitute one of the major source of drugs in modern as well as traditional medicine throughout the world [1,2]. Since a long period of time, plants have been a valuable source of natural products for maintaining animals and human health [2,3].…”