Document Type : Mini-reviews
Authors
1
Department of Pharmacognosy, faculty of pharmacy, Alexandria university, Egypt
2
Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
3
Pharmacognosy Department Faculty of Pharmacy Alexandria University
Abstract
Genus Lotus (Fabaceae) comprises several species, which are widely distributed in north temperate regions of the world, especially the Mediterranean region and West Asia. Lotus is represented in Egypt by 18 species: L. edulis, L. polyphyllos, L. ornithopodioides, L. angustissimus, L. peregrinus, L. halophilus, L. creticus, L. cytissoides, L. palustris, L. corniculatus, L. pedunculatus, L. lanuginosus, L. nubicus, L. glinoides, L. lalambensis, L. arabicus, L. hebranicus and L. tetragonolobus. Plants of this genus exhibited a significant role in traditional medicine. Lotus has a history of folkloric medicinal uses as contraceptives, prophylaxis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and peptic ulcers. Flavonoids, saponins, phenolic acids, coumarins and sterols were reported as the main bioactive constituents of this genus with a wide range of biological activities. Anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet aggregation, antibacterial, antifungal, estrogenic, hepatoprotective, anticancer and antioxidant activities were reported for Lotus. The present work is an overview of the reported biological activities together with the isolated compounds from genus Lotus.
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