Steroids from the Meliaceae family and their biological activities

Steroids are farnesyl diphosphate-derived triterpene derivatives widely distributed in Meliaceae plants that can have several health benefits due to their biological activities. This literature survey on chemical and pharmacological studies of steroids from the Meliaceae plants indicates that 157 distinct steroids classified into six subclasses including (in decreasing number): pregnane-, stigmastane-, ergostane-, cholestane-, androstane- and ecdysterone-type steroids have been reported from a total of 49 plant species. This review aims to provide a reference document compiling information about the occurrence, chemistry and biological activities of meliaceous steroids for the period from 1988 to July 2023. In particular, generalities about the chemistry of steroids with unusual skeletons and underlying biosynthetic pathways are highlighted. In addition, some structural relationships between different compound types and their biological activities are presented. The information used during the writing of this paper was collected from the online libraries PubMed, Google Scholar and Scifinder using the keywords steroids and Meliaceae with no language restriction. This review points out new avenues for further investigations of steroids from plants of the Meliaceae family.