A Brief Overview of the Effects of Melissa officinalis L. Extract on the Function of Various Body Organs

Melissa officinalis (lemon balm) which belongs to the Lamiaceae family is a known herb that has long been used in traditional medicine to treat many disorders, and several studies have been conducted to identify the plant and its healing properties. The purpose of this article is to review a series of studies on the effects of the herb extract on the function of various body organs. Due to its volatile organic compounds and active constituents such as terpenoids, flavonoids, quercetin, rutin, quercitrin, gallic acid and high antioxidant capacity, the extract of the plant can have a significant role in maintaining health and curing diseases. In this paper data have been collected from books and scientific papers published in the databases like Science Direct, Web Science, Scopus, EBSCO, Iran medex and PubMed. Search in the interval of the years 2006 to 2012 was carried out. To search for the key words Melissa officinalis, lemon balm, and balm mint were used. About 80 articles was reviewed and after rejection non-related or similar items, in the end about 50 the number was actually cited. Results indicate that the extract of the plant with its several antioxidant, anti- inflammatory, anti-pain, anti-spasmodic and anti-cancer properties as well as its cholinergic receptor activation have highly significant effects on improving behavioral symptoms, cognitive impairment, insomnia, anxiety, and stress. However, these studies have been vast and sparse, and doing more focused and extensive researches in this area is recommended.