Importance of Alangium salviifolium and Its Pharmacological Update

Plant based traditional and indigenous medicines are used globally for the treatment of various diseases. About 80% of the world population relies on plants and their products for primary health care. The plant Alangium salviifolium has been in use traditionally for treatment of various ailments. Almost every part of this plant including roots, leaves, stem and bark are used in the Ayurveda and Siddha system of medicines for treatment of various diseases. In modern scientific literatures, the plant has been reported to have potential efficacy against hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, inflammation, etc. It is reported to contain various biologically active phytochemicals such as alangine, ankorine, tubulosine, alangicine, salsoline etc.

Aims: The present review highlights traditional uses of different parts of Alangium salviifolium, its phytochemical constituents with therapeutic activity, translational research on the plant and the evidence based studies on various pharmacological effects of the plant.

Place and Duration of Study: Value Addition Research and Development, Division of Human Health, National Innovation Foundation-India and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), Ahmedabad, India between October, 2015 to December, 2015.

Methodology: A review of literature was carried out using several resources through online internet searches, including scientific databases such as Pubmed, Science Direct, Google Scholar, etc.

Results: Alangium salviifolium is a widely distributed plant with a number of reported traditional uses. Several phytochemicals including alangine, ankorine, tubulosine, alangicine, salsolin etc. have been characterized in different parts. The phytoconstituents isolated from the plant have been shown to be associated with a number of biological effects demonstrating the therapeutic potential.

Conclusion: Due to amplified acceptance and use of traditional plants, stringent scientific validation studies are being carried out worldwide, to develop evidence based phyto-medications. Alangium salviifolium is an excellent medicinal plant which holds numerous bioactive phytochemicals. Evidence based scientific studies have been reported against hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy, cancer, inflammation, ulcer, etc. Various plant parts have been found to possess biological activity more specifically towards overcoming metabolic ailments. Mere scientific evidences of activity of the extracts will not create the solutions, rather studies should focus on developing contemporary formulations after extensive analysis of its bioactivity, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, safety, etc. using appropriate animal models followed by clinical trials. Substantial research has already been conducted on this plant during last few decades, which can be used by scientists in developing useful therapeutic solution from Alangium salviifolium.