Cotula cinerea as a source of natural products with potential biological activities

Abstract

Cotula cinerea of the Asteraceae family is a traditional plant which grows in desert area. The plant is endowed with various biological activities due to the presence of several secondary metabolites. Owing to its use in traditional folk medicine and its interesting biological effects, the plant has been subjected to many scientific explorations resulting in the publication of a multitude of papers in a wide range of scientific fields including phytochemistry, biological activities, and toxicology. The objective of this chapter is to report and gather previous studies on Cotula cinerea regarding its botanical description, geographic distribution, bioactive compounds, toxicology, and in vivo and in vitro biological properties. The phytochemical analysis was carried out by several spectroscopic methods, and the obtained results showed the richness of this plant in several phytochemicals including phenolic compounds, volatile compounds, sesquiterpene lactones, and others. Studies on Cotula cinerea showed the harmlessness of this plant since its tested extracts were not toxic even at higher doses. The evaluation of the pharmacological activities of the essential oil and the extracts of Cotula cinerea have shown that the plant has significant antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anticancer, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic effects. This review showed that even if a number of publications have been reported on the plant, research on Cotula cinerea remains an open research area of good interest. It is hoped that the information presented here will be beneficial and useful for further studies that will eventually lead to the development of therapeutic agents from this plant.