Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort: a review of chemistry and pharmacology.
BACKGROUND
Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort (LC; Umbelliferae) is an effective medical plant, which has been extensively applied for many years to treat various diseases with other Chinese herbal medicines. Although a considerable amount of scientific research was reported on LC in the last decade, it is currently scattered across various publications. The present review comprises the chemical and pharmacological research on LC in the last decade.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this review is to bring together most of the scientific research available on LC and evaluate its effects and mechanisms.


METHODS
The information for 82 cases included in this review was compiled using major databases such as Medline, Elsevier, Springer, Pubmed, and Scholar.


RESULTS
The compounds contained in LC can be divided into five kinds, essential oil (EO), alkaloids, phenolic acids, phthalide lactones, and other constituents. A great deal of pharmacological research has been done, which mainly focuses on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular effects, antioxidation, neuroprotection, antifibrosis, antinociception, antiinflammation, and antineoplastic activity.


CONCLUSIONS
A large number of pharmacological and chemical studies during the last 10 years have demonstrated the vast medicinal potential of LC. It is still very clear that LC is a plant with widespread use now and also with extraordinary potential for the future. The documents strongly support the view that LC has beneficial therapeutic properties and indicates its potential as an effective adaptogenic herbal remedy.
Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, PR China.
Xia
X
Ran
Li
L
Ma
Cheng
C
Peng
Hong
H
Zhang
Lu-Ping
LP
Qin
D000818:Animals; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D030004:Ligusticum; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D015394:Molecular Structure; D010946:Plants, Medicinal; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship
D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; C101574:chuangxiong extract