Recently, there has been a significant increase in research on plant products, due to the use of these substances in pharmaceuticals and foods. The growing need for natural cosmetics, nutraceuticals, and functional foods has pushed academics and industry to explore new and natural sources of bioactive compounds, which can not only supplement conventional synthetic ingredients but also offer new health benefits (El Omari et al., 2019). Natural products, including phytocomplexes, have attracted increasing interest among food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries (Abdullah, Hussain, Cucca, & Vidari, 2018; O Abdullah, 2021). The use of herbal remedies has been practiced in Iraqi Kurdistan since time immemorial. Evidence for this is the discovery of pollens of different medicinal plants, still growing in Kurdistan, in the plant samples of an approximately 60,000-year-old Neanderthal burial site at Shanidar IV cave in Northern Iraq (Solecki, 1975). The popularity of traditional medicines has increased in Kurdish society in the last 20 years, not only in rural areas but also in main towns where different medicinal plants are sold at local bazaars (Mati & de Boer, 2011). Indeed, the first choice for treating many diseases is the use of traditional plants (Abdullah et al., 2018; Abdullah, Hussain, Sardar, Vita-Finzi, & Vidari, 2016). This is due to medicinal use practices being a part of the country’s cultural heritage and the high cost of synthetic drugs, most of which are produced abroad and imported. However, despite the wide use of herbal remedies, a limited number of papers have been published in Kurdistan concerning the structures and bioactivities of certain specialized metabolites isolated from native plants that have been described in a recently published article (Abdullah, Hussain, Sardar, Gilardoni, Thu, et al., 2022). Aristolochia is a broad genus of over 500 species belonging to the Aristolochiaceae family. Plant extracts were investigated for their impact on cell proliferation and human embryonic fibroblasts to assess anticancer effects. Aristolochia is one of the best-known edible plants due to its long-established and widespread use. According to previous research on this plant genus, Aristolochia contains a rich variety of phytochemicals such as aristolochic acids, flavonoids, alkaloids, and lignans (Abdullah, Behrouzi, & Kaboudin, 2021; Micucci et al., 2023; Nandhini, Rajasekar, & Venmathi, 2017). Several members of the Aristolochia genus are utilized traditionally as anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-tumour, anti-obesity, and antitussive agents all over the world (Wiart, 2007).
To the best of our knowledge, there are no GC-MS, anti-inflammatory, or anticancer activity studies on Aristolochia Olivieri. It is one of the medicinal plants used in Kurdistan and has traditionally been used to treat snake bites and inflammation. Therefore, we focused our attention on this plant species, performing GC-MS chemical characterization and biological activity assays of Aristolochia Olivieri organic extracts. The study will provide scientific validation for the roles of natural products (phytocomplexes) and their multiple potential applications in human health.