Plant species have long been regarded as possessing the principal ingredients used in widely disseminated ethnomedical practices. Different surveys showed that medicinal plant species used by the inhabitants for the traditional treatment of diseases are inadequately screened for their therapeutic/preventive potential and phytochemical findings. The genus Nepeta L., which belongs to the family Lamiaceae, are widely used in traditional medicine. In this review, Nepeta species, which are used as traditional herbal medicine pursued indigenously, have reported several pharmacological effects as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, sedative, relaxant, cholesterol lowering, antiasthmatic, carminative, diuretic, diaphoretic, febrifuge, vermifuge, herbicidal, insecticidal and insect repellent, all of them directly related to the specific chemical composition. According to the Nepeta genus phytochemistry, there exist two main essential oil chemotypes. The first is the nepetolactone chemotype, and the second is the 1,8-cineole and/or linalool chemotype. The active constituents from Nepeta genus may provide the opportunity for the production of antidepressive, antidiabetes, analgestic, anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering and cardioprotective drugs. Due to the effects of Nepeta species on improving the complications of various diseases, the need for doing more extensive and comprehensive clinical trials for the use of Nepeta species in the treatment of diseases is necessary. Recommended future directives incurring the design and conduct of comprehensive trials are pointed out to validate the usefulness of these active plant species and bioactive secondary metabolites either alone or in combination with existing conventional therapies.

长期以来，植物物种一直被认为具有在广泛传播的民族学实践中使用的主要成分。不同的调查显示，居民用于传统疾病治疗的药用植物种类在治疗/预防潜力和植物化学方面的研究不足。属于唇形科（Lamiaceae）的荆芥属（Nepeta L.）被广泛用于传统医学中。在这篇评论中，Nepeta该物种已被当地人用作传统草药，已报告了多种药理作用，例如抗微生物剂，抗氧化剂，抗炎药，镇静剂，松弛剂，降低胆固醇，消喘药，Carminative，利尿剂，发汗，退热药，蠕虫，除草剂，杀虫剂和驱虫剂，它们都与特定的化学成分直接相关。根据荆芥属植物化学，存在两种主要的精油化学型。第一个是荆芥内酯化学型，第二个是1,8-桉树脑和/或芳樟醇化学型。荆芥的活性成分该属可以为生产抗抑郁药，抗糖尿病药，止痛药，抗炎药，降脂药和心脏保护药提供机会。由于荆芥属物种对改善各种疾病的并发症的影响，有必要进行更广泛和综合的临床试验，以利用荆芥属物种治疗疾病。指出了建议进行设计和进行全面试验的未来指令，以验证这些活性植物物种和生物活性次生代谢物的有效性，无论是单独使用还是与现有常规疗法结合使用均是如此。