Several studies have reported on the antimicrobial effects of the different extracts of
A.
visnaga The alkaloidal and sesquiterpene lactone fractions have shown activity against
Candida species
[73][46], while the ethanolic extracts of fruits showed a significant inhibition of the growth of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis [74][47]. In addition, the fruit’s aqueous extract inhibited the growth and aflatoxin production of
Aspergillus flavus in a dose-dependent manner
[75][48]. Additionally, remarkable activity was revealed for the aqueous and hydroalcoholic stem extracts of
A.
visnaga against
Streptococcus mutans,
Streptococcus salivarius, and
Streptococcus sanguis [76][49]. In an approach aimed to evaluate the possibility of using
A.
visnaga extracts in pharmaceutical and food preservation systems, a study showed that the fruit ethanolic extract was the most active extract against the Gram-positive bacteria
Enterococcus faecalis. Moreover, the same extract revealed antimicrobial activity against the Gram-negative bacteria
Escherichia coli and
Klebsiella pneumoniae [77][50]. Several studies have focused on the antimicrobial effects of the essential oils of the
A.
visnaga L., showing their effectiveness against various microorganisms such as
Escherichia coli,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and
Klebsiella pneumoniae strains
[25,26,78,79][51][52][53][54]; however, they showed weak antifungal activities
[34][55]. Razzaghi-Abyaneh identified components that strongly inhibited aflatoxin formation in toxigenic fungi, e.g., khellin, xanthotoxin, and bergapten
[20][56].
3.7. Cytotoxic Activity
In recent years, focus has been directed to the discovery of new cytotoxic agents, and attempts have been made to investigate the cytotoxic activities of many medicinal plants, including
A.
visnaga. In 2004, khellin was isolated, and its cytotoxicity was evaluated against four human tumour cell lines: HT-29 (colorectal cancer), MCF-7 (breast cancer), HEp-2 (larynx cancer), and MKN-45 (gastric cancer). However, the results were not promising, and the substance did not show significant cytotoxic activity at the tested concentrations against the four cell lines
[80][57]. On the other hand, khellin showed mild to moderate activity when tested against the hepatocarcinoma cell line (HepG2)
[81][58]. An ethanolic extract of
A.
visnaga also showed inhibitory effects on both Hela (cervical cancer) and MCF7 cell lines
[82][59]. The cytotoxic activity of isolated khellin and visnagin against four human cell lines, Hela (cervical carcinoma), Hep-G2 (liver carcinoama), HCT 116 (colon carcinoma), and MCF7 (breast carcinoma), was further investigated; the results revealed good cytotoxic activity of both γ-pyrones against the Hep-G2 cell line
[83][60].
3.8. Antioxidant Activity
Very few studies have examined the antioxidant properties of
A.
visnaga. The free radical scavenging activity of the butanol extracts of the aerial parts of
A.
visnaga has been investigated, showing equivalent antioxidant activity, i.e., an IC
50 equals to 8.77 ± 0.2 µg/mL, to the standard antioxidant rutin (IC
50 = 3.01 ± 0.2 µg/mL)
[22][61]. Another study examined the antioxidant activity of essential oils isolated from the umbels of
A.
visnaga; however, the results showed only very weak activity
[28][62].
3.9. Hair Loss
The topical application of
A.
visnaga for hair loss has been studied. A lotion for hair scalp composed of visnadin and other constituents led to an increase in arterial and arteriolar sphygmic activity in the subpapillary plexus, leading to an improvement in local microcirculatory flow
[84][63].
3.10. Antimutagenic Effect
In a study aiming to evaluate the antimutagenicity spectrum of
A.
visnaga, khellin showed inhibition to mutagenicity of promutagens benzo[a]pyrene, 2-aminofluorene, and 2-aminoanthracene in
Salmonella typhimurium T98, while visnagin showed higher toxic activity. Meanwhile, the total extract from
A.
visnaga fruit showed higher inhibition potency than khellin alone against 2-aminoanthracene, 1-nitropyrene, and daunomycin. This was attributed to the presence of additional inhibitors such as coumarins, or to the synergistic effects with the accompanying compounds
[85][64].
3.11. Cardiovascular Activity
It is well known that
A.
visnaga extract or its active principals exert a relaxant effect on smooth muscles, even those of coronary arteries. It was found that intravenous injection of visnagin lowered the blood pressure with no change in the heart rate. It was also found that samidin and khellol glycoside induced a positive inotropic effect on the heart, while visnadin in a concentration 60 µg/mL increased coronary blood flow in isolated guinea pig heart. On the other hand, it was found that khellin, samidin, dihydrosamidin, and visnadin effectively normalized the electrocardiogram of ischemic myocardia in a dog. It seems that khella extracts or active principals improve the blood supply to coronary smooth muscles, where it dilates the coronary arteries without affecting the heart rate. The administration of khellin by oral or intramuscular injection gave good results in treating angina pectoris, and is favored in case of coronary thrombosis. As a result, khellin in a concentration of 50 mg/mL can help prevent angina pectoris with no side effects, although it is weaker than glyceryl trinitrate
[54,59,60,61][26][31][32][33].
3.12. Immunostimulatory Activity
A.
visnaga total and protein extracts were found to have immunostimulatory effects. Extracts were tested using an MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay on splenocytes with or without stimulation by concanavalin-A (Con-A), a mitogenic agent used as a positive control. This could explain the traditional use of such a plant
[86][65].
3.13. Other Reported Activities on Human
Gouda obtained results that suggested that
A.
visnaga, among other plants, might have analgesic activity
[87][66]. Also, Bhagavathula et al. suggested that
A.
visnaga fruits have a significant effect on increasing HDL-cholesterol levels, highlighting the hypothesis that it could be used in treating hypertriglyceridemia
[49][21].
3.14. Larvicidal and Insecticidal Activities
Many natural products isolated from plants could be used as alternative treatments with larvicidal and insecticidal activities. For this purpose, the larvicidal and insecticidal properties of
A.
visnaga were studied, and the toxicity of khellin was investigated against nymphs
Oncopeltus fasciatus (Hemiptera) and the larvae of
Aedes aegypti (Diptera), where it showed great activity
[88][67]. Studying the acaricidal and ovicidal activity of khellin and visnagin against
Tetranychus urticae showed that both khellin and visnagin were highly promising, and could be used for the development of new botanical acaricides from
A.
visnaga [89][68], as well as that they were both phytotoxic to model species lettuce (
Lactuca sativa) and duckweed (
Lemna paucicostata)
[90][69]. The fruit extract was found to possess an inhibitory action on the lipid content in haemolymph of nymphs and adults
[91][70], while the
n-butanolic extract of
A.
visnaga was also shown to prevent the activity of Glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) and Glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) in haemolymph and fat bodies of last instar nymphs and newly-emerged adult females of the dangerous desert locust,
Schistocerca gregaria [92][71].
3.15. Herbicidal Activity
A study done in Argentina found that the dichloromethane extract of
A.
visnaga had a significant herbicidal effect. Phytotoxicity fractionation was done, and the fraction that contained khellin and visnagin was found to be responsible for its significant herbicidal activity
[90][69].