Traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of the genus Peucedanum: a review

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

The genus Peucedanum (Apiaceae) comprising more than 120 species is widely distributed in Europe, Asia and Africa. The ethnopharmacologial history of this genus indicated that some extracts of aerial and underground parts of several Peucedanum species have been used in folk medicine for treatment of various conditions, such as cough, cramps, pain, rheumatism, asthma and angina. This review focuses on ethnopharmacological uses of Peucedanum species, as well as the phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies on this genus. Through this review, I intend to highlight the known and potential effects of the Peucedanum species or their isolated compounds and show which traditional medicine uses have been supported by pharmacological investigations.

METHODS

Information on the Peucedanum species was collected from scientific journals, books, thesis and reports via a library and electronic search (using Google Scholar, Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science and ScienceDirect). This review covers the available literature from 1970 to the end of September 2013.

RESULTS

Although, there are about 120 species in this genus, so far many species have received no or little attention and most of pharmacological studies were performed on just about 20 species. Many phytochemical investigations on this genus confirmed that Peucedanum species are rich in essential oils and coumarins. The present review article shows that Peucedanum species have a wide spectrum of pharmacological activities and the most reported activities of Peucedanum plants come back to the presence of coumarins, flavonoids, phenolics and essential oils.

CONCLUSIONS

The present review confirms that some Peucedanum species have emerged as a good source of the traditional medicine for treatment of inflammation, microbial infections, cardiopulmonary diseases and provides new insights for further investigations on isolated compounds, especially on praeruptorins, to find novel therapeutics and aid drug discovery. However, for using Peucedanum species to prevent and treat various diseases, additional pharmacological studies to find the mechanism of action, safety and efficacy of them before starting clinical trials are required.

Composition of the Essential Oils from Peucedanum Cervaria and P. Alsaticum Growing Wild in the Urban Area of Vienna (Austria)

The composition of the essential oil from the different above ground plant parts of Peucedanum cervaria and P. alsaticum (Apiaceae) collected in the urban area of Vienna has been studied. P. cervaria fruits and inflorescences had 1.5 and 1.8% essential oil, respectively. All the oils of P. cervaria were dominated by monoterpenes, with the main components being β-pinene (7-58%), α-pinene (7-22%), sabinene (up to 22%), and β-phellandrene with limonene (6-21%). P. alsaticum fruits afforded 0.3-0.4% essential oil. These oils were made up mainly by α-pinene (11-40%), sabinene (16-34%) and β-phellandrene (12-31%). Stems and leaves produced only very small amounts of essential oil (< 0.05%). Besides monoterpenes, these oils contained also E-nerolidol (5-22%), spathulenol (up to 18%), dodecanal (up to 7.5%) and caryophyllene oxide (up to 7%).

Essential Oil Composition of Wild Growing Apiaceae from Europe and the Mediterranean

In this overview, the essential oil composition of more than 150 species from about 50 genera of the Apiaceae is reviewed. Essential oil components encountered in Apiaceae proved to be very diverse; they include monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, rarely diterpenes, phenylpropanoids, phthalides, octanol and octyl esters, trimethylbenzaldehydes and aliphatic aldehydes. In assessing the data one has to keep in mind that the essential oil amount and composition is influenced by many factors, including geographic and genetic variation, physiological aspects and environmental conditions. In some species the occurrence of chemotypes could be demonstrated, but in many cases the data available do not allow the evaluation of infraspecific variability.

Comparison of Hydrodistillation and Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction Techniques for Antibacterial Volatile Compounds from the Fruits of Seseli Libanotis

The volatile compounds from the fruits of Seseli libanotis, wild-growing in Poland, were obtained by hydrodistillation (HD) and headspace solid-phase microextraction techniques (HS-SPME) and analyzed using GC-MS. A total of 58 components were identified. The most abundant compounds were sabinen and β-phellandrene. MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) and MBC (minimal bactericidal concentration) values for the essential oil against reference bacterial strains and clinical S. aureus isolates were determined. The essential oil showed better antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive bacteria (MICs between 0.15 to 1.25 mg/mL) when compared with Gram-negative bacteria (MICs between 1.25 to 2.5 mg/mL). The low values of the MBC/MIC ratio suggest that the examined oil behaved as a bactericidal agent.