呫吨酮类化合物在自然界中广泛存在，它及其衍生物具有广泛的生理学和药理学活性，具有抗肿瘤、保护心血管、降低血糖、抗氧化、抗菌等药理作用，但很多药理作用机制尚处于研究探索阶段，从而使其药理活性及其与构型关系的研究倍受关注。收集国内外近几年来的有关文献，综述呫吨酮类化合物的药理研究进展。

Xanthone compounds exist extensively in nature with many physiological and pharmacological activities, such as antitumor, cardioprotection, decreasing blood glucose, anti-oxidation, antimicrobial, and so on. But the mechanism of some pharmacological functions was still under study and exploration, which attracts a lot of attention. The related literatures both at home and abroad was collected and summarized in order to investigate the pharmacological activities.