Biological properties of salvia species. An overview

In many Countries Salvia plant is used as common spice and added to food for a traditional longstanding culinary utilization. Many species of the genus Salvia are also widely used in folk medicine. Salvia plants are considered useful for numerous biological activities such as antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anticancer and for prevention of atherosclerotic plaque formation and blood circulation-improvement activity. In recent time attention was also focused on the possible use of salvia as anti-aging and neurodegenerative diseases counteracting agent. In the continuous searching for compounds potentially useful for the development of pharmaceuticals, the use of plants as pharmaceuticals has moved from an empirical-traditional knowledge and applications to more precise scientific uses. In this view in recent time species of salvia genus have been deeply investigated to identify compounds possibly responsible of the biological and pharmacological properties well established during time. In the present chapter an overview of recent findings on salvia compounds and their biological properties will be reported.