An up-to-date overview of baicalein and its biological and pharmacological activities

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Baicalein (5,6,7-trihydroxyflavone) is a representative flavone found in Scutellaria spp., particularly Scutellaria *baicalensis and S. lateriflora *(Zhu et al., 2024[24]) Baicalein can be biosynthesized from phenylalanine, an initial precursor, with serial enzymatic reactions mediated by phenylalanine ammonialyase, cinnamate 4-hydroxylase, cinnamate-CoA ligase, chalcone synthase, chalcone isomerase, flavone synthase II, and flavone 6-hydroxylase (Yeo et al., 2025[22]). Baicalein is beneficial to human health owing to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial, anti-aging, cardioprotective, neuroprotective, respiratory-protective, gastroprotective, liver-protective, and kidney-protective effects (Munjal et al., 2024[15]). In particular, baicalein has received attention as an antitumor agent owing to its high efficacy and low toxicity in the treatment of malignant tumors (Lei et al., 2024[11]). This letter provides an overview of the recent studies conducted to assess the biological and pharmacological properties of baicalein (Table 1(Tab. 1); References in Table 1: Chen et al., 2024[1]; Chi et al., 2025[2]; Dong et al., 2024[3]; Du et al., 2025[4]; Fang et al., 2024[5]; Guo et al., 2024[6]; Hao et al., 2025[7]; Huang et al., 2024[8]; Jin et al., 2024[9]; Lai et al., 2024[10]; Li et al., 2024[13], 2025[12]; Liu et al., 2024[14]; Park et al., 2024[16]; Ren et al., 2024[17]; Wang et al., 2024[18], 2024[19], 2025[20]; Xu et al., 2025[21]; Zhang et al., 2025[23]).

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this paper was provided by Chungcheongnam-do Regional Innovation System for Education (RISE) Project.

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.