Granica Sebastian, Piwowarski Jakub P, Czerwińska Monika E, Kiss Anna K
Department of Pharmacognosy and Molecular Basis of Phytotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Banacha 1, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
Department of Pharmacognosy and Molecular Basis of Phytotherapy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Medical University of Warsaw, ul. Banacha 1, 02-097 Warsaw, Poland.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2014 Oct 28;156:316-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2014.08.036. Epub 2014 Sep 6.
The Epilobium genus (willowherb) comprises of ca. 200 species of herbaceous plants distributed around the world. Infusions prepared form willowherbs have been traditionally used externally in skin and mucosa infections and in the treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia. Nowadays extracts from different Epilobium species are widely used by patients, however the lack of clinical studies does not allow to fully establish their efficacy. The present review summarizes published data on phytochemistry, ethnopharmacological use and pharmacological studies concerning willowherb species investigated throughout past few decades.
Literature survey was performed using Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science and Reaxys databases looking for papers and patents focused on chemical composition and bioactivity of Epilobium species. Systematic research in ethnopharmacological literature in digitalized sources of academic libraries was also carried out.
The chemical composition of different Epilobium species and their bioactivities are described. The detailed information on constituents isolated and detected by chromatographic methods is given. The studies show that polyphenols are main compounds occurring in Epilobium herb among which flavonoids, phenolic acids and tannins (oenothein B and oenothein A) are dominating constituents. The extracts and some isolated compounds from Epilobium sp. were shown to possess antimicrobial, anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antioxidative activities. Because many studies suggest that oenothein B as dominating constituent may be responsible for Epilobium sp. pharmacological effects, its documented bioactivities were also described.
The pharmacological studies performed on Epilobium justify the traditional use of this species in external and in gastrointestinal inflammations. As far as the treatment of benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) is considered, in the literature, there are some reports indicating that Epilobium extracts have a beneficial effect for this disorder, but the number of in vitro studies is not sufficient and the in vivo studies are not conclusive or too preliminary to draw a final conclusion about the efficacy of Epilobium preparations. More in vitro, in vivo and clinical studies to confirm this mode of action are strongly needed. Epilobium's extracts have also documented antioxidative and potential anti-inflammatory properties. Oenothein B can be considered as responsible for some of Epilobium pharmacological properties. Because of the lack of clinical data further studies are needed to provide an evidence base for traditional uses of plant materials belonging to the Epilobium genus.
柳叶菜属植物（柳兰）约有200种草本植物，分布于世界各地。传统上，柳叶菜制成的浸剂外用可治疗皮肤和黏膜感染以及良性前列腺增生。如今，不同柳叶菜属植物的提取物被患者广泛使用，但由于缺乏临床研究，其疗效尚无法完全确定。本综述总结了过去几十年中有关柳叶菜属植物的植物化学、民族药理学用途及药理学研究的已发表数据。
通过Scopus、PubMed、Web of Science和Reaxys数据库进行文献检索，查找聚焦于柳叶菜属植物化学成分和生物活性的论文及专利。同时，对学术图书馆数字化资源中的民族药理学文献进行了系统研究。
描述了不同柳叶菜属植物的化学成分及其生物活性。给出了通过色谱法分离和检测到的成分的详细信息。研究表明，多酚是柳叶菜属植物中的主要化合物，其中黄酮类、酚酸和单宁（oenothein B和oenothein A）是主要成分。柳叶菜属植物的提取物及一些分离出的化合物具有抗菌、抗增殖、抗炎、镇痛和抗氧化活性。由于许多研究表明，作为主要成分的oenothein B可能是柳叶菜属植物药理作用的原因，因此也描述了其已记录的生物活性。
对柳叶菜属植物进行的药理学研究证实了该植物在治疗外部炎症和胃肠道炎症方面的传统用途。就良性前列腺增生（BPH）的治疗而言，文献中有一些报告表明柳叶菜提取物对该疾病有有益作用，但体外研究数量不足，体内研究尚无定论或过于初步，无法就柳叶菜制剂的疗效得出最终结论。强烈需要更多的体外、体内和临床研究来证实这种作用方式。柳叶菜提取物还具有已记录的抗氧化和潜在抗炎特性。Oenothein B可被认为是柳叶菜某些药理特性的原因。由于缺乏临床数据，需要进一步研究以为柳叶菜属植物材料的传统用途提供证据基础。
