Medicinal, pharmacological and biochemical progress on the study of genus Helianthemum: A review

The genus Helianthemum from the Cistaceae family includes about 110 plants, which are well known for their wide therapeutic uses and interesting pharmacological activities. To the best of our knowledge, there are no previous comprehensive and critical reviews on the therapeutic applications, chemical composition, and biological properties of this genus. In this context, the present paper describes a systematic mini-review on the traditional use, phytochemical composition, and pharmacological properties of species belonging to the genus Helianthemum. For this, more than 75 papers covering the period from 1970 to 2022 were collected and analyzed to achieve this review. From 110 species of the genus Helianthemum, only 22 species were studied. Helianthemum species are widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of respiratory, hepatic, renal, psychiatric, and inflammatory diseases. According to the collected information, species from this genus have several pharmacological properties linked to their rich chemical composition, particularly in phenolic compounds and flavonoids. In fact, Helianthemum plants have antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antidiabetic, insecticide, anticancer, antiulcer, larvicide, chemo, and hepatoprotective activities, justifying their various uses in traditional medicine. Despite the intense use of Helianthemum species in traditional human and veterinary medicine, few studies were conducted on the phytochemical composition and pharmacological activities of the plants constituting this genus. In fact, until now, the emphasis has only been on twenty-two species and the work carried out was not explanatory, especially for certain species. So it will be interesting to broaden the spectrum of the tested biological activities, especially for endemic species in order to understand the possible modes of action and to confirm the toxicity of certain species.