A review of phytochemistry and antitumor activity of a valuable medicinal species: Scutellaria barbata

Scutellaria barbata belonging to the genus Scutellaria L. (Labiatae) is a perennial herb which is natively distributed throughout Korea and Southern China. As a popular traditional medicinal herb “Ban-Zhi-Lian” listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, it has a therapeutic history extending back over thousands of years. Currently, effective monomeric compounds or extracts have been screened for antitumor activity from S. barbata in vivo or in vitro. More than forty i¬‚avonoids, twenty neo-clerodane diterpenoid alkaloids and fifty neo-clerodane type diterpenoids have been isolated. The modern pharmacology research has confirmed that some monomeric compounds or extracts possess widely antitumor activity on human gynecological tumor cells, leukemia cells, colon cancer cells, hepatoma cells, lung cancer cells, skin cancer cells and so on. The present paper reviews the progresses on the phytochemistry and antitumor activity of S. barbata, and has a very important reference value to the rational application and exploitation of S. barbata.