Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1330732

A review of botany, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and applications of the herb with the homology of medicine and food: Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton

Provisionally accepted
Liping Chen Liping Chen 1*Dong Huang Dong Huang 2*Lin Jiang Lin Jiang 3Jihong Yang Jihong Yang 3*Xiaoyu Shi Xiaoyu Shi 3*Rong Wang Rong Wang 1*Wenbin Li Wenbin Li 1*
  • 1 Department of Pharmacy, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of PLA, Lanzhou, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
  • 2 School of Medicine, Tibet University, Lhasa, China
  • 3 College of Pharmacy, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton is an outstanding herb with the homology of medicine and food. Its ripe fruits are traditionally used as an important tonic for kidneys and liver in China. Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton is rich in nutritional components and a variety of bioactive ingredients. A total of 206 compounds have been isolated and identified, they mainly include flavonoids, phenylpropanoids, iridoid glycosides, and triterpenoids. These compounds exert anti-osteoporosis, anti-tumor, liver protective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects.Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton has been traditionally used to treat many complex diseases, including osteoporotic bone pain, rheumatic bone, cancer, related aging symptoms, and so on. In the 2020 Edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia, there are more than 100 prescriptions containing Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton. Among them, some classical preparations including Er Zhi Wan and Zhenqi fuzheng formula, are used in the treatment of various cancers with good therapeutic effects.Additionally, Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton has also many excellent applications for functional food, ornamental plants, bioindicator of air pollution, algicidal agents, and feed additives. Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton has rich plant resources. However, the application potential of it has not been fully exploited. We hope that this paper provides a theoretical basis for the high-value and highconnotation development of Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton in the future.

    Keywords: Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton, Homology of medicine and food, Nutritional value and chemical composition, Pharmacological activity, applications

    Received: 31 Oct 2023; Accepted: 14 May 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Chen, Huang, Jiang, Yang, Shi, Wang and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Liping Chen, Department of Pharmacy, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of PLA, Lanzhou, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
    Dong Huang, School of Medicine, Tibet University, Lhasa, China
    Jihong Yang, College of Pharmacy, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, 730101, Gansu Province, China
    Xiaoyu Shi, College of Pharmacy, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, 730101, Gansu Province, China
    Rong Wang, Department of Pharmacy, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of PLA, Lanzhou, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
    Wenbin Li, Department of Pharmacy, The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force of PLA, Lanzhou, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.