Insights into research on phytochemistry and biological activities of Prunus armeniaca L. (apricot)

Prunus armeniaca L. (Rosaceae) is an important medicinal edible plant species commonly known as “apricot”. Apricot is one of the most delicious and commercially traded fruits in the world. The plant is rich in mono- and polysaccharides, polyphenols, fatty acids and sterol derivatives, carotenoids, cyanogenic glucosides, and volatile components due to its appealing smell. P. armeniaca has been also investigated for various biological activities such as antimicrobial, antimutagenic, inhibitory activity against several enzymes, cardioprotective, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive as well as antioxidant activity. Among these activities, antioxidant activity of apricot has been studied extensively and the plant displayed a high antioxidant effect in both in vitro and in vivo test systems. In this review, the relevant literature summary is given on phytochemistry and biological activity reports published on apricot. The literature survey for this review was performed using the key words “Prunus armeniaca and apricot” through the search Scopus, ScienceDirect, Pubmed, and Web of Science data bases between 1950 and 2010.