Toona sinensis: a comprehensive review on its traditional usages, phytochemisty, pharmacology and toxicology

Abstract

a b s t r a c tToona sinensis (Juss.) M.Roem, Meliaceae, a deciduous plant native to eastern and southeastern Asia, is widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine. This paper was aimed to summarize the current advances in traditional usage, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of T. sinensis. In this review, various types of data of T. sinensis are discussed in the corresponding parts of this paper, and perspectives for possible future studies of this plant are discussed. The main constituents of T. sinensis are terpenoids, phenylpropanoids and flavonoids, etc., and its pharmacological activities include anti-tumor effects, antioxidant activities, anti-diabetic effects and anti-inflammatory effects. Although a series of phytochemical and pharmacological researches of this plant have been conducted, the active constituents and action mechanism of these activities should be also further explored. Furthermore, the present review also indicates that T. sinensis has potentials to develop into drugs for treating various diseases with high efficacy and low toxicity, particularly in cancer, diabetes and inflammatory disorders. In conclusion, the paper provides a full-scale profile of the traditional usage, phytochemistry, pharmacology and toxicology of T. sinensis, and also provides potential therapeutic uses and drug development prospects of this plant.

Azadirone from Toona sinensis possesses anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities via suppressing MAPK signal pathway

“…It is well-known that natural products derived from plants are precious resource for finding candidate drugs for treating various inflammation-related diseases (Arulselvan et al 2016). In previous investigations, it was reported that T. sinensis contains various types of constituents, including terpenoids, phenylpropanoids, and flavonoids, and its main pharmacological activities of this plant are activities of anti-tumor, antioxidant, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory (Peng et al 2019). Our present study found that azadirone (1) exhibited significant anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties, and the possible mechanisms are closely correlated to inhibition of proinflammatory cytokines and blocking MAPK signal pathway.…”

“…M. Roem., Meliaceae, is an important Chinese medicinal plant and has a long medicinal history for medicinal uses in Chinese folk medicine (Peng et al 2019). It has been reported that T. sinensis has the potential for reducing fever and swelling, stopping bleeding and diarrhea, relieving pain, and killing insects (Dong et al 2013).…”

“…It has been reported that T. sinensis has the potential for reducing fever and swelling, stopping bleeding and diarrhea, relieving pain, and killing insects (Dong et al 2013). Modern pharmacological studies have also found that T. sinensis has anti-tumor, anti-oxidation, anti-angiogenesis, and anti-inflammatory activities (Wu et al 2014;Chen et al 2019;Peng et al 2019). Azadirone (1), a limonoid tetranortriterpene form the T. sinensis, was discovered more than 30 years ago; however, its biological activities are still unknown.…”

Differences and Correlations of Morphological Characteristics and Fatty Acid Profiles of Seeds of Toona sinensis

“…The highly durable timbers of T. sinensis are valuable raw materials for furniture manufacturing [3,4] . In addition, the bark and roots of T. sinensis are used in traditional medicines for the treatments of dysentery, enteritis, flatulence and itchiness [1,5] . In recent years, increasing numbers of studies report that T. sinensis is rich in bioactive compounds, such as phenolics, [6] polysaccharides, [7] and triterpenoids, [8] and exhibits various beneficial functions for human health, such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti‐angiogenesis, anti‐inflammatory, anti‐fatigue and anti‐nociceptive effects [5] .…”

Anticoronaviral activity of triterpenoids

“…Тритерпеноиды являются перспективными препаратами для лечения коронавирусных инфекций, так как способны не только препятствовать проникновению вируса в клетку, но и его размножению внутри клетки. Существует ряд обзоров [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], затрагивающих антикоронавирусные свойства тритерпеноидов. Однако имеющиеся работы в основном посвящены антиретровирусной и цитостатической активности тритерпеноидов.…”