Achillea millefolium: Mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic, clinical drug-drug interactions and tolerability

Bahareh Farasati Far; Golnaz Behzad; Hasti Khalili

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22841

Achillea millefolium: Mechanism of action, pharmacokinetic, clinical drug-drug interactions and tolerability

Heliyon. 2023 Nov 30;9(12):e22841. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e22841. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Bahareh Farasati Far¹, Golnaz Behzad², Hasti Khalili³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.
² Lorestan University of Medical Science, Lorestan, Iran.
³ Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: Achillea millefolium, known as Yarrow, is a medicinal plant in the Asteraceae family which is one of the oldest known botanicals used by humans and itis one of the most important medicinal plants in the pharmaceutical field. Purpose: This review discusses pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and mechanism of action of the most important component of Achillea millefolium. There are a variety of same species such as white, red and yellow yarrow and all of these species have been discussed in this manuscript. We focus on previously discovered hormonal, antibiotic, and anticancer drug interactions with Achillea millefolium that may decrease or increase the concentration of certain drugs. We categorized different interactions of this herb into minor and serious ones, such as affecting Cytochromes P450 metabolism enzyme, resulting in a concentration rise in drugs such as Erythromycin, Diazepam, and Cyclosporine.The reason of writing a review article in this field is our enthusiasm for pharmacology of herbal ingredients and also, we want to gather other scientists' and our knowledge in this review for future researchers who like to know more about this plant pharmacological criteria in order to make their way.

Method: Pharmacological and phytochemical-specific details of Achillea millefolium, as well as related keywords, were used to conduct a literature search across the following essential collections of electronic databases: Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct.

Outcome: Achillea millefolium medical indications are the treatment of spasmodic gastrointestinal ulcers, inflammation, wound healing, and cancers, as well as excellent antioxidant activity. Camphene, Limonene, Apigenin and some other components show anti-inflammatory effects by cyclooxygenase inhibition, prostaglandin E2 inhibition and other mechanisms. Studies showed 90 % of its essential oil consists of monoterpenes which can be mutually beneficial with extract components.

Conclusion: A. millefolium can play a significant role as a strong antioxidant and anticancer source, positively affecting gastrointestinal inflammations.

Keywords: Achillea millefolium; Drug interactions; Mechanism of action; Pharmacodynamics; Pharmacokinetics; Toxicity.

Publication types

Review