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Review
. 2023 Jun 10;12(12):2267.
doi: 10.3390/plants12122267.

An Insight into Citrus medica Linn.: A Systematic Review on Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activities

Nadia Benedetto  1 , Vittorio Carlucci  1 , Immacolata Faraone  1   2 , Ludovica Lela  1 , Maria Ponticelli  1 , Daniela Russo  1   3 , Claudia Mangieri  1 , Nikolay T Tzvetkov  4 , Luigi Milella  1
Affiliations
Review

An Insight into Citrus medica Linn.: A Systematic Review on Phytochemical Profile and Biological Activities

Nadia Benedetto et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Plant species are a reservoir of natural compounds that can potentially be used to treat different diseases. Citrus medica Linn. belonging to the Rutaceae family, has been used for centuries in medicine for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral, and antihyperglycemic properties. These activities are ascribable not only to the presence of health-promoting macronutrients and micronutrients, such as carbohydrates, minerals, amino acids, and vitamins, but also to specialized metabolites, such as flavonoids (apigenin, hesperetin, hesperidin, naringin, naringenin, rutin, quercetin, and diosmin), coumarins (citropten, scoparone, and bergapten), terpenes (limonene, γ-terpinene, limonin, and nomilin), and phenolic acids (p-coumaric acid, trans-ferulic acid, and chlorogenic acid). In recent years, particular attention has been focused on the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial activity, antidiabetic, anticancer, and neuroprotective activity of C. medica. However, although many studies have reported this species' chemical and biological properties, the literature has never been analyzed via a systematic approach. For this reason, using PubMed and Scopus as databases, we performed a systematic review of C. medica's chemical composition and biological properties to inspire new research approaches and increase its curative application.

Keywords: Citrus medica Linn.; biologic effects; phytochemical composition; systematic review.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Horizontal cross-section of C. medica cultivar, Diamante Liscia, harvested in Italy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Representation of (a) morphological characteristics of some cultivars of C. medica from Italy, China, and Bangladesh (b) and in different states of maturation.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of traditional uses in medicine of C. medica in different countries.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Density visualization of the main keywords in the articles analyzed.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Flow diagram of the systematic review of the literature-search results based on PRISMA statement.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Representation of distribution of authors’ countries of origin; (b) distribution of the selected studies by year of publication.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Representation of distribution of authors’ countries of origin; (b) distribution of the selected studies by year of publication.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Metabolic profile of C. medica according to classes of compounds with percentage ranges in the plant. Values < 1.8% are grouped in other compounds.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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