A bitter plant with a sweet future? A comprehensive review of an oriental medicinal plant: Andrographis paniculata

Abstract

Andrographis paniculata (Burm.f) Nees is one of the most popular and important medicinal plant of the Orient, and South East Asia. It finds mention in various forms in Indian, Chinese, Malay, Thai, Unani, and Japanese systems of medicine. The plant exhibits anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antihypertensive, anti-venom, cholestatic, hepatoprotective, anti-thrombotic, anti-retroviral, anti-microbial, anti-pyretic, anti-malarial, anti-oxidant, immunomodulatory, and cardioprotective effects. The major active principles contributing to biological activity are diterpene lactones, but flavonoids, xanthones and caffeic acid derivatives also contribute to anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-atherosclerotic, and anti-malarial effects. As a result of its wide spectrum of pharmacological activity, almost impeccable safety profile, being a widely cultivated medicinal plant, we have collected and compiled various facets of this plant. Extensive datamining of the phytochemistry and pharmacology of Andrographis paniculata revealed more than 50 diterpene lactones, 30 flavonoids, 8 quinic acid derivatives, and 4 xanthones. This review contains information on around 80 isolated compounds, out of which more than half of the compounds have no reported pharmacological activity. Though there are some good reviews available on Andrographis paniculata, the authors of the earlier reviews focused on one or two aspects of the plant and none have attempted to integrate the available information on this plant. This provided us the much needed impetus, warranting a full-fledged and complete review on Andrographis paniculata, one of the most popular and important Oriental medicinal plant.

The anti-inflammatory effect of Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Nees on pelvic inflammatory disease in rats through down-regulation of the NF-κB pathway

“…f.) Nees (APN) is a famous traditional medicine, widely used to treat sore throat, flu, and upper respiratory tract infections in many Asian countries [6]. Phytochemical studies on APN have found the principal bioactive compound andrographolide [7] and many other constituents, including diterpenoids, flavonoids, quinic acids, xanthones [8, 9], and noriridoids [10, 11]. Based on the abundant bioactive constituents, APN showed many salutary effects, such as anticancer [12], hepatoprotective [13], antiviral [14, 15], antipyretic and analgesic [16] effects, etc .…”

Hepatoprotective properties of extensively studied medicinal plant active constituents: Possible common mechanisms

“…Future studies will be necessary to expand the existing, limited therapeutic drugs for the vast majority of liver diseases. Reports of medicinal plants for the treatment of liver disease are numerous; however, due to space limitations, we will focus on only a few (Ansari et al, 2011;Asgarpanah & Kazemivash, 2012;Asuku et al, 2012;Avila et al, 2011;Ghosh et al, 2011;Gutierrez et al, 2013;Haddad et al, 2011;Ho et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2012;Mihailovic et al, 2013;Nagalekshmi et al, 2011;Nithianantham et al, 2011;Paul et al, 2013;Shivananjappa et al, 2013;Singab et al, 2010;Mukherjee et al, 2009;Rana et al, 2011;Subramanian et al, 2012;Torres-Gonalez et al, 2011;Upadhyay et al, 2013;Xavier et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2012).…”

In silico structural and functional analysis of copalyl diphosphate synthase enzyme in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. f.) Wall. ex Nees: A plant of immense pharmaceutical value

“…It has immense effect on various diseases and considered to be a valuable source in medicine. It has pharmacological effects such as antimicrobial (Singha et al, 2003), anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous and immuno-stimulatory (Kumar et al, 2004;Subramanian et al, 2012;Islam et al, 2018), immuno-modulatory and antiatherosclerotic (Chao and Lin, 2010). This plant has shown effect on suppression of esophageal cancer and metastasis (Li et al, 2018).…”