## 5 Health Effects  
Sea fennel exhibits several bioactive effects (see Table 1). Recently, [PERSON] et al. [108] reported that the hydro-methanolic extracts from leaves of this species showed significant in vitro (DPPH and ORAC assays) antioxidant activity, while the same extracts exhibited in vivo protective effects in the liver of rats against carbon-tetrachloride-induced toxicity. In the same study, it was found that the administration of a sea fennel leaves water suspension to rats with liver toxicity reduced the activities of the enzymes used as markers of liver damage, e.g., alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (reduction of 8.1 and 9.3%, respectively), as well the levels of creatinine (reduction of 41.3%) [108]. Moreover, [PERSON] et al. [109] reported that the antioxidant activity of ethanolic and aqueous extracts from aerial parts of sea fennel were 89.35 mg GAE dw\({}^{-1}\) and 82.35 mg GAE dw\({}^{-1}\), respectively, while the total phenolic, total flavonoid and total condensed tannins contents were lower in the ethanolic extracts (62.47 mg GAE dw\({}^{-1}\), 6.05 mg CE g dw\({}^{-1}\) and 16.62 mg CE g dw\({}^{-1}\), respectively) compared to the aqueous ones (116.13 mg GAE dw\({}^{-1}\), 21.26 mg CE g dw\({}^{-1}\) and 58.31 mg CE g dw\({}^{-1}\), respectively). The main constituents of sea fennel identified in this study were epigallocatechin, vanillic acid and chlorogenic acid [109]. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline
**Plant Part Used** & **Extract or Essential Oil** & **Biological Activity** & **References** \\ \hline Leaves & & Antioxidant, hepatoprotective & [108] \\ Aerial parts & & Antioxidant & [109] \\ Whole plant & Extract & Anticancer (mechanisms: cell death, apoptosis, and proliferation) & [110; 111; 112] \\ Leaves & & Antioxidant, antimicrobial, antimtogenic & [2] \\ Leaves & & Anti-stress & [120] \\ Flowers & & Anti-parasitic & [119] \\ \hline Aerial parts at flowering stage & & Anti-inflammatory & [85] \\ - & Essential oil & Antioxidant, antimicrobial & [122] \\ Aerial parts & & Antifungal & [92] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Main biological activities of essential oil or extracts from aerial parts of sea fennel (_Crithum maritimum_ L.). The extracts from sea fennel plants exhibited notable anticancer properties [110]. In particular, [PERSON] et al. [111] reported that the ethyl acetate extracts from sea fennel plants collected on the Apulian coast, Italy at a concentration of 0.5 \(\upmu\)M showed anticancer activity against hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines (Huh7 and HepG2) by causing cell necrosis and apoptosis on the one hand and by reducing cancel cell growth on the other hand. Moreover, in vitro studies with sea fennel extracts showed that the combined application of ethyl acetate extracts with a half IC\({}_{50}\) dose of sorafenib treatment (a common anticancer drug against hepatocellular carcinoma) caused a reduction in the cell proliferation of two hepatocellular carcinoma lines (Huh7 and HepG2) compared to the full IC\({}_{50}\) dose of the drug, without increasing cell toxicity [112]. Other anticancer effects, include the inhibition of proliferation in the human skin cancer cell line A375, which was attributed to the presence of specific flavonoids (5-hydroxy-7,4\({}^{\prime}\)-dimethoxyflavone; 5-hydroxy-7,3\({}^{\prime}\),4\({}^{\prime}\)-trimethoxyflavone; 5,3\({}^{\prime}\)-dihydroxy-7,4\({}^{\prime}\)-dimethoxyflavone; 5,4\({}^{\prime}\)-dihydroxy-7-methoxyflavone; 3,5-dihydroxy-7,4\({}^{\prime}\)-tetramethylflavone; 5,8-dihydroxy-7,3\({}^{\prime}\),4\({}^{\prime}\)-trimethoxyflavone; and 5,8-dihydroxy-7,4\({}^{\prime}\)-dimethoxyflavone) [100]. Therefore, plant extracts could be used in integrative strategies in cancer therapy where conventional drugs could be combined with natural matrices that will increase the effectiveness of drugs and ameliorate their toxic and adverse effects.