Natural Products, Traditional Uses and Pharmacological Activities of the Genus Biebersteinia (Biebersteiniaceae)

Abstract

Medicinal plants have been known as a rich source of natural products (NPs). Due to their diverse chemical structures and remarkable pharmacological activities, NPs are regarded as important repertoires for drug discovery and development. Biebersteinia plant species belong to the Biebersteiniaceae family, and have been used in folk medicines in China and Iran for ages. However, the chemical properties, bioactivities and modes of action of the NPs produced by medicinal Biebersteinia species are poorly understood despite the fact that there are only four known Biebersteinia species worldwide. Here, we reviewed the chemical classifications and diversity of the various NPs found in the four known Biebersteinia species. We found that the major chemical categories in these plants include flavonoids, alkaloids, phenylpropanoids, terpenoids, essential oils and fatty acids. We also discussed the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antibacterial, antioxidant, antihypertensive and hypoglycemic effects of the four Biebersteinia species. We believe that the present review will facilitate the exploration of traditional uses and pharmacological properties of Biebersteinia species, extraction of the NPs and elucidation of their molecular mechanisms, as well as the development of novel drugs based on the reported properties and mode-of-action.

Multiple Effects of Resveratrol on Osteosarcoma Cell Lines

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Insights into Comparative Genomics, Codon Usage Bias, and Phylogenetic Relationship of Species from Biebersteiniaceae and Nitrariaceae Based on Complete Chloroplast Genomes

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Phytochemical and antibacterial analyses of Onychium japonicum (Thunb.) Kunze

“…The clinical use of natural products has gotten much attention in recent years due to their better clinical outcomes and fewer adverse effects (Yuan et al, 2016). Medicinal plants (NPs) are regarded as the best source for drug discovery due to their enrichment in a variety of chemicals (Zhang et al, 2020) like alkaloids, terpenes, glucosinolates, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and metabolites (Agyare et al, 2019). Aspirin, a blood thinner drug extracted from Filipendula ulmaria (Anand et al, 2019), Digitalis purpurea L .…”