A Review on Chenopodium botrys L.: traditional uses, chemical composition and biological activities

Introduction According to the WHO, about threequarters of the world population relies upon traditional remedies (mainly herbs) for the health care of its people. In fact, plants are the oldest friends of mankind. They not only provided food and shelter but also served the humanity to cure different ailments (1). The WHO is encouraging, promoting and facilitating the effective countries for herbal health programs. The potential of higher plants as a source of new drugs is still largely unexplored (2). The family Chenopodiaceae is a large family comprising about 102 genera and 1400 species (1). The genus Chenopodium (FamilyChenopodiaceae) includes varieties of weedy herbs (more than 200 species) native to much of Europe, Asia, India, China and both North and South America (3). In Ayurveda Chenopodium L. is well-known for its applications in the treatment of various ailments like pectoral complaints, cough, abdominal pain, pulmonary obstruction and in nervous affections (4). The genus Chenopodium comprises 5 species, which have been widely distributed in Iran (5). Chenopodium botrys L. has been found in Azerbaijan, Abstract Chenopodium botrys L. is native to Europe and Asia and adventive in much of North America. The plant has been used traditionally for medicinal purposes; generally, these therapeutic uses and health benefits of C. botrys are largely based on folklore rather than on scientific substantiation, making it a good candidate to gather documentations, including the phytochemical content, in vitro experiments, animal models and human studies available in the scientific studies. The herb contains flavonoids, alkaloids and several terpenoids. C. botrys of different origins yielded 0.08-2% essential oil. Pharmacological reports support medicinal potential of C. botrys for developing new drugs. Different isomers of ascaridole were identified in C. botrys oil from different origins. In some reports, these compounds were major constituents of the essential oil. Ascaridole has various properties including anthelmintic, antifungal, sedative and pain-relieving. Ascaridole also showed activity against different tumor cell lines in vitro. These data suggest that C. botrys may be an interesting novel candidate plant for cancer treatment, but many studies are needed to confirm this possibility. Review Article PBR Available online at http://pbr.mazums.ac.ir