El-Seedi Hesham R, Kotb Safaa M, Musharraf Syed G, Shehata Awad A, Guo Zhiming, Alsharif Sultan M, Saeed Aamer, Hamdi Omer A A, Tahir Haroon Elrasheid, Alnefaie Rasha, Verpoorte Rob, Khalifa Shaden A M
Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 591, SE 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden.
International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
Plants (Basel). 2022 Dec 8;11(24):3436. doi: 10.3390/plants11243436.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SA) ranks fifth in Asia in terms of area. It features broad biodiversity, including interesting flora, and was the historical origin of Islam. It is endowed with a large variety of plants, including many herbs, shrubs, and trees. Many of these plants have a long history of use in traditional medicine. The aim of this review is to evaluate the present knowledge on the plants growing in SA regarding their pharmacological and biological activities and the identification of their bioactive compounds to determine which plants could be of interest for further studies. A systematic summary of the plants' history, distribution, various pharmacological activities, bioactive compounds, and clinical trials are presented in this paper to facilitate future exploration of their therapeutic potential. The literature was obtained from several scientific search engines, including Sci-Finder, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, MDPI, Wiley publications, and Springer Link. Plant names and their synonyms were validated by 'The Plant List' on 1 October 2021. SA is home to approximately 2247 plant species, including native and introduced plants that belong to 142 families and 837 genera. It shares the flora of three continents, with many unique features due to its extreme climate and geographical and geological conditions. As plants remain the leading supplier of new therapeutic agents to treat various ailments, Saudi Arabian plants may play a significant role in the fight against cancer, inflammation, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To date, 102 active compounds have been identified in plants from different sites in SA. Plants from the western and southwestern regions have been evaluated for various biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, anti-glycation, and cytotoxic activities. The aerial parts of the plants, especially the leaves, have yielded most of the bioactive compounds. Most bioactivity tests involve in vitro assessments for the inhibition of the growth of tumour cell lines, and several compounds with in vitro antitumour activity have been reported. More in-depth studies to evaluate the mode of action of the compounds are necessary to pave the way for clinical trials. Ecological and taxonomical studies are needed to evaluate the flora of SA, and a plan for the conservation of wild plants should be implemented, including the management of the protection of endemic plants.
沙特阿拉伯王国在亚洲面积排名第五。它具有广泛的生物多样性，包括有趣的植物群，并且是伊斯兰教的历史发源地。它拥有各种各样的植物，包括许多草本植物、灌木和树木。这些植物中有许多在传统医学中有着悠久的使用历史。本综述的目的是评估目前关于沙特阿拉伯生长的植物的药理和生物活性的知识，以及鉴定它们的生物活性化合物，以确定哪些植物可能值得进一步研究。本文对这些植物的历史、分布、各种药理活性、生物活性化合物和临床试验进行了系统总结，以促进未来对其治疗潜力的探索。文献来自多个科学搜索引擎，包括Sci-Finder、PubMed、科学网、谷歌学术、Scopus、MDPI、Wiley出版物和Springer Link。植物名称及其同义词于2021年10月1日通过《植物名录》进行了验证。沙特阿拉伯约有2247种植物，包括本土植物和外来植物，分属于142科837属。它拥有三大洲的植物群，由于其极端的气候以及地理和地质条件而具有许多独特特征。由于植物仍然是治疗各种疾病的新治疗剂的主要来源，沙特阿拉伯的植物可能在对抗癌症、炎症和抗生素耐药细菌方面发挥重要作用。迄今为止，已在沙特阿拉伯不同地点的植物中鉴定出102种活性化合物。来自西部和西南部地区的植物已针对各种生物活性进行了评估，包括抗氧化、抗癌、抗菌、抗疟疾、抗炎、抗糖化和细胞毒性活性。植物的地上部分，尤其是叶子，产生了大部分生物活性化合物。大多数生物活性测试涉及体外评估对肿瘤细胞系生长的抑制，并且已经报道了几种具有体外抗肿瘤活性的化合物。需要进行更深入的研究以评估这些化合物的作用方式，为临床试验铺平道路。需要进行生态和分类学研究以评估沙特阿拉伯的植物群，并且应该实施一项野生植物保护计划，包括对特有植物的保护管理。
