The Salvia genus comprises about 1000 species endowed with medicinal, aromatic, cosmetic, and ornamental applications. Even though the genus is one of the most-studied taxa of the Lamiaceae family, data on the chemical composition and biological properties of certain locally used Salvia species are still scarce. The present work aimed to evaluate the phytochemical profile and antimicrobial, antioxidant, and cytotoxic potential of ten Salvia species that grow in Eastern Europe (e.g., the Republic of Moldova). LC-HRMS/MS metabolite profiling allowed for the annotation of 15 phenolic and organic acids, 18 flavonoids, 19 diterpenes, 5 sesterpenes, and 2 triterpenes. Multivariate analysis (e.g., principal component analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis) revealed that S. austriaca, S. nutans, and S. officinalis formed individual clusters, whereas the remaining species had a similar composition. S. officinalis showed the highest activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae (MIC = 0.625 mg/mL). As evaluated in DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP assays, S. officinalis was one of the most potent radical scavenging and metal-reducing agents (CE₅₀ values of 25.33, 8.13, and 21.01 μg/mL, respectively), followed by S. verticillata, S. sclarea, S. kopetdaghensis, S. aethiopis, and S. tesquicola. Pearson correlation analysis revealed strong correlations with rosmarinic acid, luteolin-O-glucuronide, and hydroxybenzoic acid. When the cytotoxic activity was evaluated in human breast carcinoma MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells, no significant reduction in cell viability was observed over the concentrations ranging from 25 and 100 μg/mL. The results confirm the potential use of understudied Salvia species as promising sources of antioxidant compounds for developing novel pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, or cosmeceutical products.

Long COVID-19 or post-COVID infection (PCI) refers to the prolongation of symptoms in people who have been infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Some meta-analysis studies have shown that patients with comorbidities, such as diabetes, obesity or hypertension, have severe complications after infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The presence of chronic respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma, COPD, pulmonary hypertension or cystic fibrosis increases the risk of developing severe forms of the COVID-19 disease. The risk of developing the severe form of COVID-19 was observed in patients with bronchial asthma being treated with corticosteroids, but also in those hospitalized with severe asthma. The biological variables determined in patients with PCI infection showed changes, especially in the hematological parameters, but also in some inflammatory markers. The aim of this study was to investigate some biological predictors in post-COVID-19 infection in patients with asthma and various comorbidities. In the case of patients diagnosed with moderate and severe forms of COVID-19, the variation in biological tests has shown high concentrations for serum glucose, lactate dehydrogenase and C-reactive protein. Additionally, the calculation of the relative risk (RR) based on the associated comorbidities in patients with PCI points to higher values for patients with asthma, hypertension, diabetes and obesity (RR moderate/severe form = 0.98/1.52), compared to patients with PCI and asthma (RR moderate/severe form = 0.36/0.63). Based on the statistical results, it can be concluded that the alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity (p = 0.006) and the age of patients (p = 0.001) are the variables that contribute the most to the separation of the four classes of comorbidities considered.

Tuberculosis remains a major global health threat, severely exacerbated by the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains. The bioprospecting of natural matrices for novel, efficacious, and safe antimycobacterial agents represents an important strategy within the drug discovery pipeline. Essential oils (EOs) derived from the Lamiaceae family represent a rich reservoir of bioactive constituents, with well-documented antimicrobial properties and broad therapeutic potential. This review evaluates the current state of research regarding the antimycobacterial activity of Lamiaceae EOs, highlighting their efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant phenotypes, mechanism of action, structure-activity relationships, synergistic interactions with conventional antitubercular chemotherapies, and existing translational challenges. EOs from species belonging to genera such as Thymus, Mentha, Ocimum, Salvia, Satureja, Tetradenia, and Zataria showed significant antimycobacterial potency, with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) below 100 μg/mL. The phenolic monoterpenoids thymol and carvacrol, alongside the abietane-type diterpene 6,7-dehydroroyleanone, exhibited notable antimycobacterial activity with MIC values of 0.78–12.5 μg/mL. Carvacrol and thymol disrupted the lipid-rich mycobacterial cell wall, increased bacterial membrane permeability, impaired energy metabolism, and induced oxidative stress. These compounds also exerted dual inhibitory effects on biofilm formation and development, interfered with Rv1258c and Rv0194 efflux pumps, and inhibited chorismate mutase activity. Similarly, 6,7-dehydroroyleanone compromised the integrity of the lipophilic mycobacterial cell envelope, suppressed cell wall biosynthesis, blocked ABC-family efflux transporters, and induced intracellular oxidative stress. Lamiaceae EOs exhibit multi-target antimycobacterial efficacy and hold considerable potential as adjuvants in combination antituberculosis regimens. To facilitate the translation of these natural matrices from bench to bedside, future research should focus on robust microbiological and chemical standardization, pharmacological and toxicological evaluation, and the development of advanced nanoformulations of EOs to optimize bioavailability and mitigate host cytotoxicity.