Advances and perspectives on pharmacological activities and mechanisms of the monoterpene borneol

Borneol, a highly lipid-soluble bicyclic terpene mainly extracted from plants, is representative of monoterpenoids. Modern medicine has established that borneol exhibits a range of pharmacological activities and used in the treatment of many diseases, particularly Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CVDs). The crucial role in enhancing drug delivery and improving bioavailability has attracted much attention. In addition, borneol is also widely utilized in food, daily chemicals, fragrances, and flavors industries. This review systematically summarized the sources, pharmacological activities and mechanisms, clinical trial, pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and application of borneol. In addition, this review describes the pharmacological effects of borneol ester and the combination of borneol with nanomaterial. This review will provide a valuable resource for those pursuing researches on borneol inspiring the pharmacological applications in the medicine, food and daily chemical products, and developing of new drugs containing borneol or its derivatives. This review searched the keywords ("borneol" or "bornyl esters") and ("pharmacology" or "Traditional Chinese medicine" or "Cardio-cerebrovascular diseases" or "blood–brain barrier" or "ischemic stroke" or "nanomaterials" or "neurodegenerative diseases" or "diabetes" or "toxicity") in Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) from January 1990 to May 2024. The search was limited to articles published in English and Chinese. Borneol exhibits extensive pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory effects, analgesia, antioxidation, and has the property of crossing biological barriers and treating CVDs. The intrinsic molecular mechanisms are involved in multiple components, such as regulation of various key factors (including Tumor necrosis factor-α, Nuclear factor kappa-B, Interleukin-1β, Malondialdehyde), inhibiting transporter protein function, regulating biochemical levels, and altering physical structural changes. In addition, this review describes the pharmacological effects of borneol ester and the combination of borneol with nanomaterial. The pharmacological properties and applications of borneol are promising, including anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties, as well as enhancing drug delivery and treating CVDs. However, its clinical application is hindered by the limited research on safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetics. Therefore, this review systemically summarized the advances on pharmacological activities and mechanisms of the borneol. Standardized clinical trials and exploration of synergistic effects with other drugs were also are outlined.