Rosmarinus officinalis L.: an update review of its phytochemistry and biological activity.

Future Sci OA. 2018 Feb 1;4(4):FSO283. doi: 10.4155/fsoa-2017-0124. eCollection 2018 Apr. Andrade JM1,1, Faustino C2,2, Garcia C1,1, Ladeiras D1,1, Reis CP2,3,2,3, Rijo P1,2,1,2. Author information 1 CBIOS - Research Center for Biosciences & Health technologies, Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, Campo Grande 376, 1749-024 Lisboa, Portugal. 2 iMed.ULisboa - Research Institute for Medicines, Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, 1649-003 Lisboa, Portugal. 3 Biophysics & Biomedical Engineering Institute (IBEB), Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract The worldwide interest in the use of medicinal plants has been growing, and its beneficial effects being rediscovered for the development of new drugs. Based on their vast ethnopharmacological applications, which inspired current research in drug discovery, natural products can provide new and important leads against various pharmacological targets. This work pioneers an extensive and an updated literature review on the current state of research on Rosmarinus officinalis L., elucidating which compounds and biological activities are the most relevant. Therefore, a search was made in the databases PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science with the terms 'rosemary', 'Rosmarinus officinalis', 'rosmarinic acid' 'carnosol' and 'carnosic acid', which included 286 articles published since 1990 about rosemary's pharmacological activities and their isolated compounds. According to these references, there has been an increasing interest in the therapeutic properties of this plant, regarding carnosic acid, carnosol, rosmarinic acid and the essential oil. The present manuscript provides an updated review upon the most reported activities on R. officinalis and its active constituents. KEYWORDS: Rosmarinus officinalis; biologic activity; carnosic acid; carnosol; essential oil; rosemary; rosmarinic acid PMID: 29682318 PMCID: PMC5905578 DOI: 10.4155/fsoa-2017-0124 Free PMC Article