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Phytopharmacological Aspects of the Genus Terminalia

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Bioprospecting of Tropical Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Medicinal plants are the major source of therapeutic compounds for curing various diseases from ancient times. The genus Terminalia belonging to the family Combretaceae is distributed all over the world. More than 250 species are included under the genera and they are found particularly in South Asia, Australia and South Africa. These are one of the most common plants used in global ethnopharmacology as well as in Indian Ayurvedic medicine systems like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. The fruits of the Terminalia species are a very rich source of ayurvedic medicines. Ancient people have used this genus to cure asthma, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhoea, dysentery, bleeding piles, ulcers, gout, heart and bladder diseases. Moreover, Terminalia species possess significant phytopharmacological and medicinal activities like antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic, antiproliferative, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, radioprotective, cardioprotective, antiarthritic, gastrointestinal motility and wound healing activity. Also, the plants of the genus Terminalia have unveiled a positive upshot on immune regulation, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes control. The detected health benefits may be due to the incredible availability of biologically active phytochemicals such as alkaloids, polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenes, anthocyanins, glycosides, coumarins, proteins, amino acids, etc. The prospective phytocompounds like triterpenoids, tannins and polyphenols in Terminalia species are responsible for cardioactive properties, against the anti-herpes simplex virus effect (HSV) and to cure cancer, respectively. Almost all the plant parts such as leaves, fruits and bark are useful for various purposes. The bark is a cardiac stimulant and has cardiotonic properties. Likewise, leaves and fruits possess a significant pharmacological activity. This investigation is mainly focused on the phytopharmacological aspects of some Terminalia species used in Ayurvedic medicine systems.

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Abbreviations

Caco-2:

Cancer coli-2

COX-2:

Cyclooxygenase 2

MCF-7:

Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (Breast cancer cell line)

NF-Kb:

Nuclear factor kappa light chain enhancer of activated B cells

OSCC:

Squamous cell carcinoma

Spp. :

Species

TNF-a:

Tumour necrosis factor α

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Acknowledgments

The first author is grateful to University of Calicut (U. O. No. 12753/2019/Admn) for providing the financial assistance. Second author acknowledges the financial grant supported by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in the form of Senior Research Fellowship (09/043(0186)/2017-EMR-1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell and Molecular Biology Division, Department of Botany, University of Calicut, Malappuram, Kerala, India

    Aswathi Pokkadath, Reshmi Chembrammal & John Ernest Thoppil

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  1. Aswathi Pokkadath
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  2. Reshmi Chembrammal
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  3. John Ernest Thoppil
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Studies in Stem Cells Cell Therapy and Toxicological Genetics (CeTroGen), Graduate Program in Health and Development in the Midwest RegionFaculty of Medicine (FAMED)Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul (UFMS) Campo Grande, Cidade Universitária, Pioneiros, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Karuppusamy Arunachalam

  2. Key Laboratory for Wild Plant Resources, Kunming Institute of Botany, Kunming, Yunnan, China

    Xuefei Yang

  3. Department of Botany, NSS College Nemmara, Palakkad, Kerala, India

    Sreeja Puthanpura Sasidharan

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Pokkadath, A., Chembrammal, R., Thoppil, J.E. (2023). Phytopharmacological Aspects of the Genus Terminalia. In: Arunachalam, K., Yang, X., Puthanpura Sasidharan, S. (eds) Bioprospecting of Tropical Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28780-0_47

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