Cycadaceae: An Important Source for Biflavonoids and Various Pharmacological Effects of Different Cycas Species

Abstract

Cycadaceae is regarded as one of the largest cycad families. It is made up of 120 species of the single genus Cycas. Genus Cycas is found only in tropical and subtropical climates. They are dioecious plants with male and female reproductive cones. Members of Cycadaceae family are excellent suppliers of a wide range of beneficial phytochemicals however, only a few numbers of species had undergone phytochemical and pharmacological research. A wide battery of metabolites, including flavonoids, biflavonoids, phenolic acids, sterols, amino acids, lignans, and fatty acids, have been isolated and structurally identified from various Cycas species. Since biflavonoids are a defining trait of all cycads, we focused in this review on the various biflavonoids nuclei found in Cycadaceae and their distribution in distinct Cycas species among other isolated secondary metabolites. Therefore, we outlined the various biflavonoids nuclei found in Cycadaceae and their distribution in distinct Cycas species in this review. Additionally, we highlighted the diverse pharmacological effects of different Cycas species that their biflavonoid content can be credited with.

COMPARATIVE STUDY FOR RESPONSE TO Cycas circinalis-INDUCED TOXICITY IN LIVER, KIDNEY AND COLON OF RATS AND GUINEA PIGS

“…Reports have shown that leaves of C. circinalis are used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, and are also known to exude moderate antibacterial activity (Arshad et al, 2020;El-Seadawy et al, 2023). Despite these outlined ethnomedicinal uses, well-established scientific information is also available on cycads' toxicity, including C. circinalis.…”