Advances in studies on chemical constituents and pharmacological action of pine needle

Pine needle is the leaves of Pinaceae plant.It mainly contains volatile oil,flavonoids,lignans,pigment,vitamin,amino acids,and manyminerals.Pine needle's application for medicinal purposes has a long history.Modern research suggests pine needle has many pharmacological effects such as fall in the blood sugar and blood fat,inhibititng tumor,anti-aging,antimutation,antibacterial,antiviral and analgesia.The recent research about chemical constituents and its pharmacological activities of pine needles both at domestic and abroad have been summarized in this paper,expect for providing a reference for the further study,exploitation,and utilizing of this resource.