Phytochemical evaluation of the Ferulago genus and the pharmacological activities of its coumarin constituents

Abstract

The genus Ferulago W. Koch is a member of the Apiaceae (Umbelliferae) family and consists of 49 species throughout the world. In traditional medicine, Ferulago species have been utilized as sedatives, carminatives, aphrodisiacs, for increasing milk secretion and for the treatment of bronchitis, skin diseases, and eye diseases. The authors aimed to evaluate the phytochemical constituents of Ferulago species and the pharmacological activities of its coumarins. In this review, literature searches were performed using scientific search engines and databases (Google Scholar, SciFinder, Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed.) for papers published in the past until June 2019. The molecular structures of all isolated compounds are shown in Tables 2, 3, and 4, and the main constituents of the essential oil (Table 5) are indicated with the identified number, characterization, and extraction method. Additionally, the pharmacological activities of the coumarins isolated from the Ferulago genus were investigated. The results demonstrated that coumarins have various pharmacological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiproliferative, and anticholinesterase activities. Therefore this review may be considered to be an important scientific resource for future research. © 2020 Elsevier GmbH