REVIEW article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Ethnopharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1585697
This article is part of the Research TopicReviews in Ethnopharmacology: 2025View all 19 articles
Bioactive Components and Clinical Potential of Astragalus Species
Provisionally accepted
- 1Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, Gansu, China
- 2Lushan Botanical Garden (CAS), Jiujiang, China
- 3Jiangxi Academy of Forestry, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China
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Astragalus L., the world's largest vascular plant genus, has been used medicinally and as food for centuries, especially in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is widely applied in immune modulation, antioxidant therapy, anti-inflammatory treatments, and antitumor applications. Recent studies show that Astragalus species is rich in bioactive compounds, such as polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, and simple phenolics, which demonstrate significant pharmacological effects, including antiinflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, and antitumor properties, along with potential benefits for Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.This review synthesizes 140 references to analyze 51 newly identified flavonoids, 31 triterpenoid saponins, and 19 alkaloids in Astragalus (2020-2025), focusing on their chemical structures and bioactivities. It also examines Astragalus species in medicine and food homology (MFH)and how processing methods affect its efficacy. Furthermore, the mechanisms behind its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immune-boosting, antitumor, neuroprotective, and hypoglycemic effects are discussed.Future studies should prioritize large-scale clinical trials to confirm Astragalus's efficacy and safety, explore combination therapies, and improve sustainable resource utilization to expand its medical and food applications.
Keywords: bioactive molecules, astragalus, pharmacological action, mechanism of action, Medicine and food homology (MFH)
Received: 01 Mar 2025; Accepted: 01 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Hu, Liu and Hu. 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:
Fen Liu, Lushan Botanical Garden (CAS), Jiujiang, China
Weiming Hu, Lushan Botanical Garden (CAS), Jiujiang, 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.