A review on traditional usage, phytochemical composition and biological activity of Pedicularis L / Монголын эм зүй, эм судлал

ABSTRACT

Introduction@#Plant species of Pedicularis L., one of the largest genera of the Scrophulariaceae family, is found in cold regions of Asia, Europe, and America. In ancient Chinese, Tibetan, and Indian medicinal literature, it is noted that due to the detoxification potential of Pedicularis L., it has been used for reducing and curing of edema, fever, inflammation and poisoning. In the recent studies, species of Pedicularis L. have been determined to possess anti-oxidative, antitumor, antibacterial, antifatigue and, analgesic activities, as well as muscle relaxant, hepatoprotective effects. From this genus, more than 230 constituents, mostly belonging to the phenylpropanoids, iridoids, lignans and their glycosides have been isolated and identified.@*Material and method@#In this review, we reviewed 80 papers on the genus Pedicularis L. which were published in scientific journals from 1963 to 2018, using databases such as Springer Link, Google Scholar, Pub Med, Elsevier, Research Gate. In addition, literatures on Mongolian medicinal plants and herbal medicines have been used, where the taxonomy, morphology of Pedicularis L. and their usage was described.@*Conclusions@#As this survey, less than 10 percent of the 600 species of Pedicularis L. has been studied for their phytochemical constituents and biological activities. More than 230 compounds including phenylpropanoids, iridoids, lignans, flavonoids, alkaloids and other classes of constituents have been isolated and their molecular structures were identified. Among them, 67 compounds or 30 percent were natural new compounds. Anti-oxidative, antibacterial, antitumor and, muscle relaxant activities of the Pedicularis L. related to the quantities and structural peculiarities of phenylpropanoid glycosides, iridoid glycosides, and flavonoids. Especially, phenylpropanoid glycosides are more interesting as they demonstrate wide range and much higher biological activity compared to other classes of compounds. Therefore, future research will focus on chemistry and biological activity of this class of compounds.