OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of traditional medicinal claims, pharmacological properties, and phytochemical principles of P. kotschyi as a basis for its clinical applications and further research and development of new drugs.
METHODS: Through interpreting already published scientific manuscripts retrieved from different scientific search engines, namely, Medline, PubMed, EMBASE, Science Direct and Google scholar databases, an up-to-date review on the medicinal potentials of P. kotschyi from inception until September, 2020 was compiled. 'Pseudocedrela kotschyi', 'traditional uses', 'pharmacological properties' and 'chemical constituents' were used as search words.
RESULTS: At present, more than 30 chemical constituents have been isolated and identified from the root and stem bark of P. kotschyi, among which limonoids and triterpenes are the main active constituents. Based on prior research, P. kotschyi has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, anthelminthic, antimalaria, anti-leishmaniasis, anti-trypanosomiasis, hepatoprotective, antioxidant, antidiabetic, antidiarrheal, antimicrobial, and anticancer effects.
CONCLUSIONS: P. kotschyi is reported to be effective in treating a variety of diseases. Current phytochemical and pharmacological studies mainly focus on antimalaria, anti-leishmaniasis, anti-trypanosomiasis and anticancer potential of the root and stem bark of P. kotschyi. Although experimental data support the beneficial medicinal properties of this plant, there is still a paucity of information on its toxicity profile. Nonetheless, this review provides the basis for future research work.
AIM OF THE REVIEW: The present review aims to compile an up-to-date review of the progress made in the continuous pharmacological and phytochemistry investigation of K. africana and the corresponding commercial and pharmaceutical application of these findings with the ultimate objective of providing a guide for future research on this plant.
METHOD: The scholarly information needed for this paper were predominantly sourced from the electronic search engines such as Google, Google scholar; publishing sites such as Elsevier, scienceDirect, BMC, PubMed; other scientific database sites for chemicals such as ChemSpider, PubChem, and also from online books.
RESULTS: Pharmacological investigations conducted confirm the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant and anticancer activity of the extract of different parts of the plant. Bioactive constituents are found to be present in all parts of the plant. So far, approximately 150 compounds have been characterized from different part of the plant. Iridoids, naphthoquinones, flavonoids, terpenes and phenylethanoglycosides are the major class of compounds isolated. Novel compounds with potent antioxidant, antimicrobial and anticancer effect such as verbascoside, verminoside and pinnatal among others, have been identified. Commercial trade of K. africana has boosted in the las few decades. Its effect in the maintenance of skin has been recognized resulting in a handful of skin formulations in the market.
CONCLUSIONS: The pharmaceutical potentials of K. africana has been recognized and have witness a surge in research interest. However, till date, many of its traditional medicinal uses has not been investigated scientifically. Further probing of the existential researches on its pharmacological activity is recommended with the end-goal of unravelling the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, clinical relevance and possible toxicity and side effects of both the extract and the active ingredients isolated.
AIMS OF THE STUDY: The aims of this review were to assess the scale of the global trade in F. cirrhosa, and to synthesise studies of the impacts of wild harvest on F. cirrhosa populations and on the extent of emerging cultivation initiatives as an alternative to wild harvest.
METHODS: Firstly, we reviewed published information on studies on impacts of wild F. cirrhosa harvest from across the geographic range of this species. Secondly, global trade data for F. cirrhosa were analysed.
RESULTS: The principal demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs is in China, where hundreds of different companies produce Fritillaria preparations. Trade data also show that in 2013, China exported over 44 tonnes of F. cirrhosa bulbs to Taiwan and 26.7 tonnes to the Republic of Korea. Extensive commercial use and limited wild stocks result in a high price (2000 - 3800 CNY per kg (around US$ 303 -560 per kg in 2017)) for F. cirrhosa bulbs. Prices of cultivated Fritillaria bulbs are much lower (600-680 CNY per kg in 2017) than wild harvested bulbs. But due to very specific growth requirements of F. cirrhosa, cultivation is not yet able to meet total demand. The consequence is continued exploitation of wild stocks. At the same time, however, an increasing proportion of the demand is met by cultivation of alternative Fritillaria species that are easier to grow than F. cirrhosa. The air-dry mass of F. cirrhosa bulbs varies between 0.0917 and 0.1116 g per bulb. This represents 8960 - 10,900 bulbs/kg or 8.9 - 10.9 million bulbs per tonne. Current demand therefore represents billions of bulbs per year.
CONCLUSIONS: Demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, particularly from China, makes this species one of the most intensively harvested alpine Himalayan medicinal bulbs. Although F. cirrhosa is listed as a Class III protected species in China, billions of these tiny, wild harvested bulbs are sold per year. Due to demand exceeding supply, the price of F. cirrhosa bulbs has increased dramatically. Between 2002 and 2017, for example, the price of wild harvested F. cirrhosa bulbs increased over nine-fold, from the equivalent of US$60 in 2002 to US$560 per kg in 2017. To date, cultivation has been unable to meet the entire market demand for F. cirrhosa bulbs, although other Fritillaria species are successfully cultivated on a larger scale.
OBJECTIVES: This review exhaustively gathers available information on ethnopharmacological uses, phytochemistry, and bioactivity studies on more than 20 species of Premna and critically analyzes the reports to provide the perspectives and directions for future research for the plants as potential source of drug leads and pharmaceutical agents.
METHODS: A literature search was performed on Premna species based on books of herbal medicine, major scientific databases including Chemical Abstract, Pubmed, SciFinder, Springerlink, Science Direct, Scopus, the Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ethnobotanical databases.
RESULTS: More than 250 compounds have been isolated and identified from Premna species, comprising of diterpenoids, iridoid glycosides, and flavonoids as the most common secondary metabolites, followed by sesquiterpenes, lignans, phenylethanoids, megastigmanes, glyceroglycolipids, and ceramides. Many in vitro and in vivo studies have been conducted to evaluate the biological and pharmacological properties of the extracts, and isolated compounds of Premna species with antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antihyperglycaemia, and cytotoxic activities.
CONCLUSION: The bioactive compounds responsible for the bioactivities of most plants have not been well identified as the reported in vivo pharmacological studies were mostly carried out on the crude extracts. The isolated bioactive components should also be further subjected to more preclinical studies and elaborate toxicity study before clinical trials can be pursued.
AIM OF THE REVIEW: The present review aims to collate and analyze the available data and information on distribution, traditional uses, chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Blepharis.
METHODS: Scientific information of genus Blepharis was retrieved from the online bibliographic databases such as MEDLINE/PubMed, SciFinder, Web of Science and Google Scholar and secondary resources including books and proceedings.
RESULTS: Seven species of Blepharis were found to be reported frequently as useful in folklore in African and Asian countries. B. maderaspatensis was found to be widely used in Indian traditional medicines whereas the B. ciliaris and B. edulis were common in folklore of Egypt, Jordan, and Arabia. Active phytochemicals of Blepharis are flavonoids from B. ciliaris, alkaloids from B. sindica, phenolic acid derivatives, and phytosterols, and derivatives of hydroxamic acids from B. edulis resulted in possessing diverse biological properties such as anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer.
CONCLUSIONS: Various species of Blepharis were found to be used in traditional medicine systems in African and Asian countries. Few of these species were studied for their bioactive chemical constituents however the activity guided isolation studies are not performed. Similarly, detailed pharmacological studies in animal models to explore their mechanism of action are also not reported. Future studies should focus on these aspects related to the medicinally used species of Blepharis. The detailed and comprehensive comparative analysis presented here gives valuable information of the currently used Blepharis species and pave the way to investigate other useful species of Blepharis pertaining to ethnobotany, phytochemistry and discovery of new drugs.
AIM OF THE REVIEW: Rather than a comprehensive coverage of the literature, this article aims to identify discrepancies between findings in animal and human studies, and to highlight some of the problems in developing plant extract-based medicines that lower blood glucose in patients with diabetes, as well as to suggest potential ways forward.
METHODS: In addition to searching the 2018 PubMed literature using the terms 'extract AND blood glucose, a search of the whole literature was conducted using the terms 'plant extracts' AND 'blood glucose' AND 'diabetes' AND 'double blind' with 'clinical trials' as a filter. A third search using PubMed and Medline was undertaken for systematic reviews and meta-analyses investigating the effects of plant extracts on blood glucose/glycosylated haemoglobin in patients with relevant metabolic pathologies.
FINDINGS: Despite numerous animal studies demonstrating the effects of plant extracts on blood glucose, few randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials have been conducted to confirm efficacy in treating humans with diabetes; there have been only a small number of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of clinical studies. Qualitative and quantitative discrepancies between animal and human clinical studies in some cases were marked; the factors contributing to this included variations in the products among different studies, the doses used, differences between animal models and the human disease, and the impact of concomitant therapy in patients, as well as differences in the duration of treatment, and the fact that treatment in animals may begin before or very soon after the induction of diabetes.
CONCLUSION: The potential afforded by natural products has not yet been realised in the context of treating diabetes mellitus. A systematic, coordinated, international effort is required to achieve the goal of providing anti-diabetic treatments derived from medicinal plants.
AIM OF THIS REVIEW: In this article, we have reviewed the literature on the phytochemicals of several Tinospora species, which have shown strong immunomodulatory effects and critically analyzed the reports to provide perspectives and instructions for future research for the plants as a potential source of new immunomodulators for use as medicinal agents or dietary supplements.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Electronic search on worldwide accepted scientific databases (Google Scholar, Science Direct, SciFinder, Web of Science, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, ACS Publications Today) was performed to compile the relevant information. Some information was obtained from books, database on medicinal plants used in Ayurveda, MSc dissertations and herbal classics books written in various languages.
RESULTS: T. cordifolia, T. crispa, T. sinensis, T. smilacina, T. bakis, and T. sagittata have been reported to possess significant immunomodulatory effects. For a few decades, initiatives in molecular research on the effects of these species on the immune system have been carried out. However, most of the biological and pharmacological studies were carried out using the crude extracts of plants. The bioactive compounds contributing to the bioactivities have not been properly identified, and mechanistic studies to understand the immunomodulatory effects of the plants are limited by many considerations with regard to design, conduct, and interpretation.
CONCLUSION: The plant extracts and their active constituents should be subjected to more detail mechanistic studies, in vivo investigations in various animal models including pharmacokinetic and bioavailability studies, and elaborate toxicity study before submission to clinical trials.
METHODS: A structured electronic search on worldwide accepted scientific databases (Web of Science, PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, SciFinder, Wiley Online Library) was carried out to compile the relevant information. Some information was obtained from books and database on medicinal plants used in various countries.
RESULTS: About 60 metabolites, mainly polyphenols, and terpenoids have been isolated and identified. However, most of the reported pharmacological studies were based on crude extracts, and only a few of those isolated metabolites, particularly zerumbone have been investigated for biological and pharmacological activities. Many of the mechanistic studies to understand the pharmacological effects of the plant are limited by many considerations with regard to design, experimentation and interpretation.
CONCLUSION: The bioactive metabolites should be further investigated on their safety and more elaborate preclinical studies before clinical trials can be undertaken.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Literature abstracts and full text articles from journals, books, reports and electronic searches (Google Scholar, Elsevier, PubMed, Read Cube, Scopus, Springer, and Web of Science), as well as from other relevant websites, are surveyed, analysed and included in this review.
RESULTS: A literature survey of agarwood plant materials showed that they contain sesquiterpenes, 2(-2-phenylethyl)-4H-chromen-4-one derivatives, genkwanins, mangiferins, iriflophenones, cucurbitacins, terpenoids and phenolic acids. The crude extracts and some of the isolated compounds exhibit anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, anti-oxidant, anti-ischemic, anti-microbial, hepatoprotective, laxative, and mosquitocidal properties and effects on the central nervous system. Agarwood plant materials are considered to be safe based on the doses tested. However, the toxicity and safety of the materials, including the smoke from agarwood incense burning, should be further investigated. Future research should be directed towards the bio-guided isolation of bioactive compounds with proper chemical characterisation and investigations of the underlying mechanisms towards drug discovery.
CONCLUSIONS: The traditional medicinal use of agarwood plant materials has provided clues to their pharmacological properties. Indeed, agarwood contains a plethora of bioactive compounds that now elegantly support their use in traditional medicine. As wild agarwood trees are critically endangered and vulnerable, sustainable agricultural and forestry practices are necessary for the further development and utilization of agarwood as a source of health beneficial compounds.
AIM OF THIS REVIEW: This review is comprehensively discussed the information on the anti-infective properties of P. indica and its secondary metabolites, and highlight the potential of the plant as a new source of anti-infective agents.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Scientific databases such as Scopus, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, and ACS Publications were used to gather the relevant information on the ability of P. indica to fight infections, with the leaves and roots receiving most of the attention.
RESULTS: Anti-bacterial, anti-mycobacterial, anti-malarial, and anti-viral activities have been the most exploited. Most studies were carried out on the crude extracts of the plant and in most studies the bioactive extracts were not standardized or chemically characterized. Several studies have reported the anti-infective activity of several bioactive components of P. indica including caffeoylquinic acids, terpenoid glycosides, thiophenes, and kaempferol.
CONCLUSIONS: The strong anti-infective effect and underlying mechanisms of the compounds provide insights into the potential of P. indica as a source of new leads for the development of anti-infective agents for use in food and pharmaceutical industries.