Abstract Centella asiatica is an important and commonly used herbal medicine that can be traced back a long way in the history of Chinese medicine. It contains a variety of active ingredients, mostly triterpenes. Asiatic acid (AA) is a pentacyclic triterpenoid that existed in Centella asiatica, which exhibits efficient anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. Since there is a lack of review articles on the biological activities of AA for these two species, this paper reviews the relevant research progress in recent years to fill the gap.
Keywords Asiatic acid, pentacyclic triterpenoid, anti-inflammation, anti-cancer.