Biological Activities of Snowdrop (Galanthus spp., Family Amaryllidaceae)

Chee Kei Kong; Liang Ee Low; Wei Sheng Siew; Wei-Hsum Yap; Kooi-Yeong Khaw; Long Chiau Ming; Andrei Mocan; Bey-Hing Goh; Poh Hui Goh

doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.552453

Biological Activities of Snowdrop (Galanthus spp., Family Amaryllidaceae)

Front Pharmacol. 2021 Feb 19:11:552453. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2020.552453. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Chee Kei Kong^{1

2}, Liang Ee Low^{3

4}, Wei Sheng Siew⁵, Wei-Hsum Yap⁵, Kooi-Yeong Khaw¹, Long Chiau Ming⁶, Andrei Mocan^{7

8}, Bey-Hing Goh^{1

9

10}, Poh Hui Goh⁶

Affiliations

¹ Biofunctional Molecule Exploratory (BMEX) Research Group, School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
² Department of Primary Care Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
³ Institute of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of the Ministry of Education, College of Biomedical Engineering and Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
⁵ School of Biosciences, Taylor's University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.
⁶ PAPRSB Institute of Health Sciences, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Gadong, Brunei.
⁷ Department of Pharmaceutical Botany, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁸ Laboratory of Chromatography, Institute of Advanced Horticulture Research of Transylvania, University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
⁹ College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
¹⁰ Health and Well-Being Cluster, Global Asia in the 21st Century (GA21) Platform, Monash University Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Malaysia.

Abstract

Snowdrop is an iconic early spring flowering plant of the genus Galanthus (Amaryllidaceae). Galanthus species (Galanthus spp.) are economically important plants as ornaments. Galanthus spp has gained significance scientific and commercial interest due to the discovery of Galanthamine as symptomatic treatment drug for Alzhiermer disease. This review aims to discuss the bioactivities of Galanthus spp including anticholinesterase, antimicrobial, antioxidant and anticancer potential of the extracts and chemical constituents of Galanthus spp. This review highlights that Galanthus spp. as the exciting sources for drug discovery and nutraceutical development.

Keywords: bioactivities; galanthamine; galanthus; lycorine; snowdrop.

Publication types

Review