# The Origin and Biomedical Relevance of Cannabigerol
## 1 Introduction  
Recent years have seen a significant increase in the interest in the use of plant-derived ingredients in pharmacotherapy. Although plants and their components have been used in therapeutic activities for several thousand years, their conscious use as elements of drugs, dietary supplements, cosmetics, and other products exhibiting biomedical properties are the result of research carried out over the last 20 years. One of the plants whose ingredients are more and more often studied for use in biomedical and pharmaceutical activities is _Cannabis sativa_L. At the same time, it should be noted that compounds obtained from _Cannabis sativa_L are usually considered more beneficial than synthetic ones, because the latter may cause unwanted side effects when used for longer periods of time [1].  
Consequently, many drugs that are currently clinically investigated contain components of plant origin, whose biological functions may vary. In particular, it has been shown that plant extracts can act, e.g., as antimicrobial agents by significantly reducing the viability of pathogens. In light of the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, this could be of great importance in clinical medicine [2]. Furthermore, some bioactive compounds found in medicinal plants have been shown to exhibit antifungal activity [3]. This has led to an increased interest in their potential use from representatives of both medicine and pharmacy. Another area of interest is the antioxidant properties of medicinal plant-based ingredients, including their ability to scavenge free radicals generated in disease conditions, thus making it possible to enhance the body's antioxidant capacity [4]. Since antioxidant properties are often accompanied by anti-inflammatory properties, bioactive compounds contained in medicinal plants often also regulate the efficiency of the transcription factorNF*B and, by inhibiting TNF*a generation, exhibit anti-inflammatory properties [5]. Consequently, the study of bioactive compounds of plant origin has led to the discovery of drugs with a potential therapeutic value, especially in the treatment of cancer [6].  
One of the plants that are being increasingly often studied, due to the promising multidirectional biomedical activity of their constituents, is _Cannabis sativa_ L., a plant that has been cultivated since ancient times, mainly for its fibers and oil, but also for its medicinal properties [7]. The plant is a source of many biologically active compounds [8], making it especially interesting as a source of substances already defined as medicinal as well as compounds under investigation as potentially exhibiting medicinal properties [8; 9]. Of particular interest are those components of _Cannabis sativa_ L. that show antioxidant properties and thus may potentially modulate oxidative stress that accompanies the development of many diseases [9; 10].  
Among the various groups of constituents of _Cannabis sativa_ L., phytocannabinoids, i.e., dibenzopyrene or monoterenoid derivatives that exhibit a range of activities modulating metabolic changes in the human body, are currently attracting the greatest interest due to their similarities to endocannabinoids--in direct as well as indirect action through G-protein-coupled membrane receptors. Consequently, both single compounds and natural mixtures are increasingly often being tested for their potential medical use.  
Currently, attention is focused mostly on phytocannabinoids, which do not exhibit psychoactive activity but beneficially modify cellular metabolism. In terms of potential use in pharmacotherapy, cannabidiol is the one studied the most frequently and extensively and is primarily evaluated for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties [11]. In contrast, the most recent literature data on biomedical activity focuses on another phytocannabinoid, i.e., cannabigerol (CBG) [12], a precursor of other cannabinoids such as cannabidiol (CBD), cannabichromene (CBC), and \(\Delta^{9}\)-tetrahydrocannabinol (\(\Delta^{9}\)-THC) [13].