Phytochemistry and pharmacological potential of Cassia absus – a review

Abstract

Objectives Cassia absus is a plant of the family fabaceae with Ayurvedic ethnomedical records. It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of bronchitis, asthma, cough, conjunctivitis, leucoderma, renal and hepatic diseases, constipation, tumors, venereal ulcer, headache, hemorrhoids and wound healing. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies have provided valuable scientific evidence for its use. This review aims to summarize reported pharmacognosy, traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological potential of C. absus while identifying potential areas of further research of plant. Key findings The review comprises literature pertaining to the evidence base therapeutic potential, pharmacognosy and phytochemistry of C. absus spanning from 1935 to 2016 using published articles in peer-reviewed journals, ethno botanical text books, and worldwide accepted scientific databases via electronic search (Elsevier, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Web of Science, Wiley online library). Kew Botanical Garden databases and the Plant List were used to authenticate the scientific names. Different pharmacological experiments in many in-vitro and in-vivo models have proved the potential of C. absus with antihypertensive, antifertility, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-glycation, antibacterial activity, a-amylase inhibitory activity, antioxidant and reducing activitity etc. chaksine, iso-chaksine, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, chrysophanol, aloe-emodin and a wide range of chemical compounds have also been reported. Toxicity studies reveal the nontoxic nature of C. absus at a dose of 2000 mg/kg, however, plant possess reproductive toxicity and can be used as birth control or abortifacient. Summary Reported activities suggest that there is sufficient pharmacological potential for developing C. absus as a drug for hypertension, infections, diabetes and its complications. However, heterogeneity in study protocol and conflicting results mask the ability to replicate these studies. So, future studies should be replicated in line with best practices. More toxicological studies would aid the progress to clinical trial studies. Various ethno medical uses of C. absus have not been evaluated yet.

Investigative evaluation of Cassia absus for antibacterial capacity and biomimetic synthesis of silver nanoparticles

“…The phytochemistry and medicial potential of Cassia plants had been already well documented [38]. The ethyl acetate extract of C. absus seeds revealed the presence of oxalates, flavonoids and alkaloids in abundance (see Table 1) and this was indeed the reason for its potent antimicrobial properties.…”

In vitro Anti-ulcer potential of Raphanus sativus L. seeds

“…In this experiment, R. sativus extracts/fractions exhibited anti-H. pylori activity. Broth micro dilution assay is the antibacterial susceptibility testing along with minimum inhibitory concentration determination [19,20] . MIC results have shown that all the tested extract/fractions displayed anti-H. pylori activity.…”

“…However, a previous study showed that R. s a t i v u s c o n t a i n f l a v o n o i d s , p h e n o l , anthocyanins and sulphurated constituents [7] . Many polyphenols and flavonoids exhibited maximum inhibitory activity against free radicals and H. pylori urease [20] . So, antiulcer potential of R. sativus presumably attributed to its phenolic and flavonoids constituents.…”

Frequently used medicinal herbs and spices in weight management: a review

“…Cinnamomum is a genus that includes approximately 250 species, the most medically and economically important of which are C. verum (also known as C. zeylanicum) (12) and C. cassia (13). In addition to its use as a in food preparation, cinnamon has been used in traditional medicine to treat diarrhea and other gastrointestinal symptoms (14), menstrual cramps (15), rheumatoid arthritis (16) microbial infection (17) and type 2 diabetes (18).…”