Fructus arctii: an overview on its traditional uses, pharmacology and phytochemistry

Fructus arctii (F. arctii) is the dried ripe fruit of Arctium lappa Willd (Asteraceae). It is being used as a traditional medicine in China, Japan, Iran, Europe, Afghanistan, India, etc. for cough, inflammation, clearing the heat, detoxification, cancer and diabetes. This review summarized the botanical description, distribution, ethnopharmacology, bioactive constituents and pharmacological actions of F. arctii including methods to assess its quality. In addition, this review also provides insights into future research directions on F. arctii to further explore its bioactive constituents, mechanism involved in pharmacological activity, and clinical use including the development of new analytical methods for assessing the quality.

The comprehensive analysis of the literature revealed that F. arctii contains lignans, volatile oil, flavonoids, sesquiterpenoids, triterpenes, phenolic acids, etc. Experimental studies on various extracts and drug formulations showed that it has antioxidant, antimicrobial, hypoglycaemic, lipid-lowering, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiviral, anti-tumour activity, etc.

The pharmacological activity of a few major constituents in F. arctii have been identified. However, there are still need more studies and more new technologies to prove the pharmacological activity and the effective mechanism of the other constituents that undergoing uncertain. Except for the animal experiments, clinical studies should be carried out to provide the evidence for clinical application.