INTRODUCTION:

The majority of people prefer herbal remedies to conventional therapies despite the fact that medicinal plants are essential in health care and are the main raw materials for both traditional and mainstream medicine formulations^1-5. They have received a lot of attention due to their efficacy, the lack of modern medical options, the rising cost of modern pharmaceuticals, and cultural preferences^6-7. Ethnobotanical research is essential for revealing past times and current culture about plants around the world, as well as maintaining unique therapeutic plant knowledge. Quantitative ethnobotanical studies were used to identify plant applications as food, human health care drugs, veterinary medicine, and economic relevance^8-11.

Traditional knowledge systems have expanded in importance globally in terms of plant resource protection, sustainable growth, and the search for novel usage patterns. This comprehensive examination includes ethnomedical, phytochemical, pharmacognostical, pharmacological, and clinical aspects of its ethnomedical, phytochemical, pharmacognostical, pharmacological, and therapeutic significance to a variety of illnesses, most notably cardiovascular issues. This plant has a favourable safety profile when combined with other conventional drugs. Based on multiple studies, this review highlights numerous pharmacological features such as antioxidant, hypotensive, anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-mutagenic, and gastro-productive effect^11-21.

METHODS:

Materials:

The available information on various plants based traditionally used for pharmacological, ethnomedicinal, phytochemical and treatment of disorders was collected through electronic databases 149 searches using PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, as well as a library search for articles published in peer-reviewed journal 209 articles in this review survey^2-51.

Gulancha, heart-leaved moonseed:

(Tinospora cordifolia l.)

Tinospora cordifolia is a member of the Menispermaceae family and possesses a wide range of immunotherapeutic qualities, including antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, antidiabetic, antihepatotoxic, and antibacterial activities, as well as relatively low toxicity. Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi), a perennial and climbing shrub with succulent stems and papery barks, is found all over the world. It has been discovered that the leaf extract is beneficial in treating infections caused by B. subtilis, P. vulgaris, S. aureus, E. coli, and S. pyrogens^21-39.

The immunomodulatory property of the Guduchi extract was established by evaluating its influence on activating resting macrophages and calculating the production of secretory components such as NO and lysosomes. Lysozymes are an effective antibacterial agent against gram-positive bacteria. T. cordifolia extract administration increased the quantity of lysozymes, which leads to microbial activation of macrophages. The phagocytic activity of human neutrophils was boosted by water and ethyl acetate extracts of T. cordifolia stem^35-39.

The immunomodulatory impact may be attributable to the synergistic action of two or more active components, such as Cordifolioside A and syringin²⁹. T. cordifolia extract has also been demonstrated to increase stem cell proliferation. It raises the total number of WBCs as well as alpha-esterase-positive cells, which is a sign of an increase in bone marrow cells. The extract also increases the number of antibodies generating cells, implying a role in humoral immune system fortification^35-50. T. cordifolia extracts have also been shown to be effective against tumors, with tumor growth suppressed to levels comparable to cyclophosphamide treatment. Tinospora cordifolia, often known as guduchi or amrita, is another essential Ayurvedic medicinal herb^11-28. The stems and roots are used in a variety of chemical preparations. Guduchi is a powerful tonic that can help with chronic debilitating illnesses, dyspepsia, fever, and urinary disorders. Guduchi was found to be beneficial in alleviating cholestasis-induced immunosuppression in preclinical experiments with rats. Guduchi has also been proven to inhibit carbon tetrachloride-induced immunosuppression and improve the functional capacity of peritoneal macrophages. In vitro experiments with (1,4)—D-glucan (RR1), a guduchi phytochemical, revealed that it had immunostimulatory effects^35-47.

Chemical constituents^21-57:

Alkaloids:

The primary protoberberine alkaloids were berberine, palmatine, jatrorrhizine, magnoflorine, and corydine. Thirteen alkaloids with isoquinoline and aporphine skeletons, amine, and amide were reported.

Terpenoids:

T. cordifolia was used to isolate 32 diterpenoids and their glycosides of the clerodane and norclerodane skeletons, 1 monoterpenoids, 5 sesquiterpenoids, and 1 triterpenoid cycloeuphordenol. Tinosporin was a bicyclic diterpenoid (C21H24O7) that was isolated from the entire plant.

Phenolics:

T. cordifolia has yielded four phenyl propanoids, two flavonoids, three lignans, and two benzenoid derivatives.

Steroids:

In addition to -sitosterol and 2, 3, 14, 20, 22, 25-hexahydroxyl-5-cholest-7-en-6-one, four steroids have been identified.

Essential oil and aliphatic compounds:

Hydroquinone (16.6%), 2-hexenal (14.2%), palmitic acid (14.1%), and phytol (11.4%) were also present in the hydrodistilled essential oil of fresh leaves, according to the GC-MS profile. Alcohols (32.1%), phenols (16.6%), aldehydes (16.2%), fatty acids (15.7%), alkanes (8.3%), esters (3.2%), and terpenes (1.2%) were also present. Methyl-9, 12-octadecadienoate, methyl 9-octadecenoate, methyl hexadecanoate, and methyl octadecanoate were all discovered through GC-MS analysis of the hexane extract of stems. The stems and entire plant were used to identify heptacosanol, octacosanol, nonacosan-15-one, and cyclohexyl-11-heneicosanone.

Polysaccharide:

The stems of T. cordifolia were found to have 98.0% glucose, 0.5% arabinose, 0.5% rhamnose, 0.2% rhamnose, 0.8% xylose, 0.2% mannose, and 0.3% galactose units in their polysaccharide.

Others:

Numerous T. cordifolia compounds were described, however they lacked thorough chemical and biological analysis. Some of these include giloinsterol, a non-glucoside bitter compound called giloinin, a bitter glucoside called giloin, giloinin, tinosporan acetate, tinosporic acid, tinosporal acetate, tinosporone, and tinosporal. T. cordifolia was used as the source for the isolation of the tinosporoidstinosporidine, cordifolone, tinosporon, tinosporic acid, and tinosporol. The fresh stems of T. cordifolia contained two bitter substances called tinosporide and cordifolide. The stems also yielded three furanolactone diterpenoids, C20H20O6, C20H22O8, and C₂₆H₃₄O₁₁; however, only their physical characteristics were recorded. Protein (11.2%), calcium, and phosphorus are all abundant in T. cordifolia leaves, and zinc is present in significant amounts in the stems.

DISCUSSION:

An extensive review of the literature revealed that medicinal plants are an important source of many pharmacologically and medicinally important alkaloids such as Tinospora cardifolia. The plant has also been extensively researched for its pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, anxiolytic, adaptogen, memory enhancing, antiparkinsonian, antivenom, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor properties. Other effects studied include immunomodulation, hypolipidemic, antibacterial, cardiovascular protection, sexual behavior, tolerance, and dependence. Although the findings of this review are quite promising for the use of TC as a multi-purpose medicinal agent, there are several limitations in the current literature. While TC has been used successfully in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries, more clinical trials to support its therapeutic use are needed.

CONCLUSION:

According to literature documentation across several disciplines of study, T. cordifolia has been extensively researched in the domain of biological activity of diverse extracts, fractions, and compounds, with the quantification of some bioactive chemicals. For crude extracts, formulations, and compounds, as well as clinical and toxicological research, potential modes of action in in vitro and in vivo models were also investigated. The pharmacological results of T. cordifolia and its separated components unambiguously support its use as an ingredient in herbal medications and formulations. Furthermore, T. cordifolia substances with anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and immunomodulatory properties can be used as therapeutic agents against these diseases, either alone or in controlled combinations. Because T. cordifolia is abundant in subtropical Asian countries, it is a low-cost and effective herbal supplemental therapy.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:

The author has no conflicts of interest.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

The author would like to thank NCBI, PubMed and Web of Science for the free database services for their kind support during this study.

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Received on 14.12.2022 Modified on 12.05.2023

Res. J. Pharmacognosy and Phytochem. 2024; 16(1):42-46.

DOI: 10.52711/0975-4385.2024.00009