Review on Saussurea laniceps, a potent medicinal plant known as “snow lotus”: botany, phytochemistry and bioactivities

Abstract

Saussurea laniceps (Compositae), commonly known as "cotton-headed snow lotus", is the most effective "snow lotus" used in both Tibetan and Chinese folk medicine. It performs outstandingly in treating rheumatoid arthritis, which mainly is credited for its anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive efficacy, as explained by modern pharmacological studies. Extracts of the herb, including umbelliferone and scopoletin, exert such effects in various in vivo and in vitro studies. Besides the two chemicals above, more than 100 organic compounds have been found in S. laniceps, and 58 of them are presented here in molecular structure, including cynaropicrin, mokko lactone, apigenin, acacetin, and luteolin, all contributing to different bioactivities, such as analgesic, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-microbial and anticancer effects. We provide a natural product library of S. laniceps, giving inspirations for structure modification and bioactivity-oriented screening, enabling sustainable use of this valuable plant. The ethnomedical applications and pharmacological discoveries are compared and crosslinked, revealing modern evidence for traditional usages. Despite that S. laniceps is a representative "snow lotus" herb, its material medica records and clinical applications are complicated; there is considerable confusion with the different snow lotuses in the academic community and on the market. This review also aims at clearing such confusion, and improving quality assessment and control of the herb. To better utilize the valuable plant, further comparison among the chemical constitutions, pharmacological activities and therapeutic mechanisms of different snow lotuses are needed.

Comparative evaluation of chemical profiles of three representative 'snow lotus' herbs by UPLC‐DAD‐QTOF‐MS combined with principal component and hierarchical cluster analyses

“…[14,35] Sub-cluster II consists of three phenylpropanoids, chlorogenic acid (peak 3), syringin (peak 5) and 1,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (peak 13), content levels of which, in decreasing sequence, are SL, SI and SM. Analytes were separated into four groups, based on their respective abundance levels in every sample, interestingly corresponding to their chemical structures.…”

“…[7] Some snow lotus healthcare products are even adulterated with other herbs, causing an inevitable concern to public health. [14][15][16] The more we looked into the three medicinal sources, the more we were convinced of the need for an in-depth investigation of the chemical constituents of such raw herbal products as the basis for extending their medical applications [17][18][19] as well as preventing falsification of the products on the market. [8][9][10] Some studies have authenticated different botanical origins of snow lotus medicines by observing macroscopic and microscopic features; [7,11,12] others have preliminarily analyzed chemical components and compared their pharmacological effects.…”

Anti-tumor Activity of Saussurea laniceps against Pancreas Adenocarcinoma

“…1,3 Resent researches showed that this herb has anti-inflammatory and analgesic, antimetastasis and anti-cancer activities in vitro. [5][6] We have been carried out in vivo study to screen anti-tumor activity using a hollow fiber assay for developing lead compounds of the pancreatic cancer drug, because pancreatic cancer is quite advanced, complete surgical removal is not possible and there is no optimum chemotherapy.…”

Trace Elements May Be Responsible for Medicinal Effects of Saussurea Laniceps, Saussurea Involucrate, Lycium Barbarum and Lycium Ruthenicum

“…Commission, 2010; Yi et al, 2010, Chik et al, 2015Chen et al, 2016). Saussurea involucrata and Saussurea laniceps are two species of -snow lotus‖.…”