Dvorakova Marcela, Soudek Petr, Pavicic Antonio, Langhansova Lenka
Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Botany, Rozvojova 263, CZ-16200, Prague 6, Czech Republic.
Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Experimental Botany, Rozvojova 263, CZ-16200, Prague 6, Czech Republic; Department of Biochemical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, Heyrovského 1203, CZ-50005, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2024 Apr 24;324:117818. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2024.117818. Epub 2024 Jan 29.
Ferns form an important part of the human diet. Young fern fiddleheads are mostly consumed as vegetables, while the rhizomes are often extracted for starch. These edible ferns are also often employed in traditional medicine, where all parts of the plant are used, mostly to prepare extracts. These extracts are applied either externally as lotions and baths or internally as potions, decoctions and teas. Ailments traditionally treated with ferns include coughs, colds, fevers, pain, burns and wounds, asthma, rheumatism, diarrhoea, or skin diseases (eczema, rashes, itching, leprosy).
This review aims to compile the worldwide knowledge on the traditional medicinal uses of edible fern species correlating to reported biological activities and isolated bioactive compounds.
The articles and books published on edible fern species were searched through the online databases Web of Science, Pubmed and Google Scholar, with critical evaluation of the hits. The time period up to the end of 2022 was included.
First, the edible fern species were identified based on the literature data. A total of 90 fern species were identified that are eaten around the world and are also used in traditional medicine. Ailments treated are often associated with inflammation or bacterial infection. However, only the most common and well-known fern species, were investigated for their biological activity. The most studied species are Blechnum orientale L., Cibotium barometz (L.) J. Sm., Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw., Marsilea minuta L., Osmunda japonica Thunb., Polypodium vulgare L., and Stenochlaena palustris (Burm.) Bedd. Most of the fern extracts have been studied for their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities. Not surprisingly, antioxidant capacity has been the most studied, with results reported for 28 edible fern species. Ferns have been found to be very rich sources of flavonoids, polyphenols, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carotenoids, terpenoids and steroids and most of these compounds are remarkable free radical scavengers responsible for the outstanding antioxidant capacity of fern extracts. As far as clinical trials are concerned, extracts from only three edible fern species have been evaluated.
The extracts of edible fern species exert antioxidant anti-inflammatory and related biological activities, which is consistent with their traditional medicinal use in the treatment of wounds, burns, colds, coughs, skin diseases and intestinal diseases. However, studies to prove pharmacological activities are scarce, and require chemical-biological standardization. Furthermore, correct botanical classification needs to be included in publications to simplify data acquisition. Finally, more in-depth phytochemical studies, allowing the linking of traditional use to pharmacological relevance are needed to be done in a standardized way.
蕨类植物是人类饮食的重要组成部分。嫩蕨菜大多作为蔬菜食用，而根茎常被提取用于制作淀粉。这些可食用蕨类植物也常用于传统医学，整株植物都被利用，主要用于制备提取物。这些提取物可外用，制成洗剂和用于沐浴，也可内服，制成药剂、煎剂和茶剂。传统上用蕨类植物治疗的疾病包括咳嗽、感冒、发烧、疼痛、烧伤和伤口、哮喘、风湿病、腹泻或皮肤病（湿疹、皮疹、瘙痒、麻风病）。
本综述旨在汇总全球范围内关于可食用蕨类植物传统药用用途的知识，并将其与已报道的生物活性和分离出的生物活性化合物相关联。
通过在线数据库Web of Science、Pubmed和谷歌学术搜索关于可食用蕨类植物的文章和书籍，并对搜索结果进行严格评估。纳入截至2022年底的时间段。
首先，根据文献数据确定了可食用蕨类植物的种类。共鉴定出90种在世界各地被食用且也用于传统医学的蕨类植物。所治疗的疾病通常与炎症或细菌感染有关。然而，仅对最常见和最知名的蕨类植物种类进行了生物活性研究。研究最多的种类有东方乌毛蕨、金毛狗、普通针毛蕨、小叶萍、日本紫萁、欧洲多足蕨和华南实蕨。大多数蕨类植物提取物都进行了抗氧化、抗炎和抗菌活性研究。不出所料，抗氧化能力的研究最为广泛，有28种可食用蕨类植物报道了相关结果。已发现蕨类植物富含黄酮类化合物、多酚、多不饱和脂肪酸、类胡萝卜素、萜类化合物和甾体化合物，其中大多数化合物是出色的自由基清除剂，赋予了蕨类植物提取物卓越的抗氧化能力。就临床试验而言，仅对三种可食用蕨类植物的提取物进行了评估。
可食用蕨类植物的提取物具有抗氧化、抗炎及相关生物活性，这与其在治疗伤口、烧伤、感冒、咳嗽、皮肤病和肠道疾病方面的传统药用用途一致。然而，证明其药理活性的研究较少，需要进行化学 - 生物学标准化。此外，出版物中应包含正确的植物分类，以简化数据获取。最后，需要以标准化方式进行更深入的植物化学研究，以便将传统用途与药理相关性联系起来。
