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Journal Article Review Epublish 23 citations

PubMed: 36559548 DOI: 10.3390/plants11243436

Saudi Arabian Plants: A Powerful Weapon against a Plethora of Diseases.

Plants (Basel) 11(24)

Authors: Hesham R El-Seedi, Safaa M Kotb, Syed G Musharraf, Awad A Shehata, Zhiming Guo, Sultan M Alsharif, Aamer Saeed, Omer A A Hamdi, Haroon Elrasheid Tahir, Rasha Alnefaie, Rob Verpoorte, Shaden A M Khalifa

Affiliations

  • Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, P.O. Box 591, SE 751 24 Uppsala, Sweden. International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China. International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-Products Processing, Jiangsu Education Department, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
  • Department of Chemistry & Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Menoufia University, Shebin El-Kom 32512, Egypt.
  • H.E.J. Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan.
  • Avian and Rabbit Diseases Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Sadat City, Sadat City 32897, Egypt.
  • School of Food and Biological Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
  • Biology Department, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Al Madinah 887, Saudi Arabia.
  • Department of Chemistry, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan.
  • Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11115, Sudan.
  • Department of Biology, Faculity of Science, Al-Baha University, Albaha 65779, Saudi Arabia.
  • Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biology, Leiden University, P.O. Box 9505, 2300RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
  • Department of Molecular Biosciences, The Wenner-Gren Institute, Stockholm University, SE 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden.

Abstract

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia (SA) ranks fifth in Asia in terms of area. It features broad biodiversity, including interesting flora, and was the historical origin of Islam. It is endowed with a large variety of plants, including many herbs, shrubs, and trees. Many of these plants have a long history of use in traditional medicine. The aim of this review is to evaluate the present knowledge on the plants growing in SA regarding their pharmacological and biological activities and the identification of their bioactive compounds to determine which plants could be of interest for further studies. A systematic summary of the plants' history, distribution, various pharmacological activities, bioactive compounds, and clinical trials are presented in this paper to facilitate future exploration of their therapeutic potential. The literature was obtained from several scientific search engines, including Sci-Finder, PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus, MDPI, Wiley publications, and Springer Link. Plant names and their synonyms were validated by 'The Plant List' on 1 October 2021. SA is home to approximately 2247 plant species, including native and introduced plants that belong to 142 families and 837 genera. It shares the flora of three continents, with many unique features due to its extreme climate and geographical and geological conditions. As plants remain the leading supplier of new therapeutic agents to treat various ailments, Saudi Arabian plants may play a significant role in the fight against cancer, inflammation, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. To date, 102 active compounds have been identified in plants from different sites in SA. Plants from the western and southwestern regions have been evaluated for various biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antimalarial, anti-inflammatory, anti-glycation, and cytotoxic activities. The aerial parts of the plants, especially the leaves, have yielded most of the bioactive compounds. Most bioactivity tests involve in vitro assessments for the inhibition of the growth of tumour cell lines, and several compounds with in vitro antitumour activity have been reported. More in-depth studies to evaluate the mode of action of the compounds are necessary to pave the way for clinical trials. Ecological and taxonomical studies are needed to evaluate the flora of SA, and a plan for the conservation of wild plants should be implemented, including the management of the protection of endemic plants.

MeSH

Neoplasms, Weapons, Therapeutics, History

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