Euphorbia-Derived Natural Products with Potential for Use in Health Maintenance

Abstract

Euphorbia genus (Euphorbiaceae family), which is the third largest genus of angiosperm plants comprising ca. 2000 recognized species, is used all over the world in traditional medicine, especially in the traditional Chinese medicine. Members of this taxa are promptly recognizable by their specialized inflorescences and latex. In this review, an overview of Euphorbia-derived natural products such as essential oils, extracts, and pure compounds, active in a broad range of biological activities, and with potential usages in health maintenance, is described. The chemical composition of essential oils from Euphorbia species revealed the presence of more than 80 phytochemicals, mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons, while Euphorbia extracts contain secondary metabolites such as sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, sterols, flavonoids, and other polyphenols. The extracts and secondary metabolites from Euphorbia plants may act as active principles of medicines for the treatment of many human ailments, mainly inflammation, cancer, and microbial infections. Besides, Euphorbia-derived products have great potential as a source of bioactive extracts and pure compounds, which can be used to promote longevity with more health.

A Review of the Ethnomedicinal Uses, Biological Activities, and Triterpenoids of Euphorbia Species

“…Their successes in traditional medicine usage have been attributed to a wide variety of chemical compositions of its members, such as essential oils, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons [ 4 ], as well as the macrocyclic diterpenoids [ 3 ]. As a result, these chemical constituents are now providing lead compounds for drug discovery because of their therapeutic applications, such as cytotoxic, antitumor, antiviral properties, multi-drug-resistance-reversing, and anti-inflammatory activities as well as their great structural diversity, resulting from various polycyclic and macrocyclic skeletons, including but not limited to jatrophane, ingenane, daphnane, tigliane, lathyrane [ 3 ].…”

“…In addition, several reviews on Euphorbia species have mainly reported their pharmacological activities [ 13 ], ethnomedicinal usage [ 14 ], and the structural diversity of isolated diterpenoids [ 3 , 15 ] as well as essential oils [ 4 ]. Hence, in order to promote more targeted future research of this species, consolidation of scientific reports/evidence of their ethnomedicinal uses, the chemical constituents, and the identification of possible knowledge gaps need to be addressed.…”

Chemodiversity and biological activity of essential oils from three species from the Euphorbia genus

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In addition, essential oils (EOs) from Euphorbia species have been documented to contain more than 80 phytochemicals with the presence of mostly sesquiterpenes hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes, while their extracts consist of secondary metabolites such as diterpenes, sesquiterpenes, sterols and flavonoids as well as other polyphenols. 13 Several bioactive constituents isolated from Euphorbia species have also been investigated for their antibacterial, antiradical and antitumor activities. [14][15][16][17][18] Indeed, EOs are in general greatly acknowledged to exhibit a wide range of therapeutic activities.…”

Performance of Some Thai Weed Extracts on Antioxidants and Atherosclerosis- Related Enzymes

“…Paguigan & Chichioco-Hernandez (2014) reported that E. hirta had the highest inhibitory activity (48.5%) and this plant may contain new 15-LO inhibitors. Moreover, Salehi et al (2019) presented the Euphorbia genus were found numerous phytochemicals, which showed medicinal properties on abundant human diseases such as anti-inflammation, anticancer and antimicrobial. Moreover, E. hirta is an important medicinal source and its active substances revealed wide-ranging pharmacological capacities viz.…”