Chlorophytum borivilianum: A White Gold for Biopharmaceuticals and Neutraceuticals

Abstract

Chlorophytum borivilianum Santapau & Fernandes (Liliaceae) also known as 'Safed Musli' is a traditional rare Indian medicinal herb which has many therapeutic applications in Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathic and Allopathic system of medicine. Its roots (tubers) are widely used for various therapeutic applications. It is used to cure physical illness and weakness, as an aphrodisiac agent and revitalizer, as general sex tonic, remedy for diabetes, arthritis and increasing body immunity, curative for natal and postnatal problems, for rheumatism and joint pains, increase lactation in feeding mothers, as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antitumor agent, also used in diarrhea, dysentery, gonorrhea, leucorrhea etc. It has spermatogenic property and is found useful in curing impotency, now it is considered as an alternative 'Viagra'. Its root contains steroidal and triterpenoidal saponins, sapogenins and fructans which act as therapeutic agents and play vital role in many therapeutic applications. It is a rich source of over 25 alkaloids, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, steroids, saponins, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phenol, resins, mucilage, and polysaccharides and also contains high quantity of simple sugars, mainly sucrose, glucose, fructose, galactose, mannose and xylose. The commercial exploitation of this plant and their secondary metabolites, germplasm conservation and in vitro production of secondary metabolites for quality control are some of the major prospects of this rare medicinal herb. The focus of the present review is to galvanize the potential of therapeutic and nutritive values of this herb and production of their secondary metabolites. The in vitro tuber induction, extraction, purification and characterization of saponins are also discussed in the present review.

Safed musli (Chlorophytum borivilianum): A review of its botany, ethnopharmacology and phytochemistry

“…There are reports on improved production of medicinally important stigmasterol and hacogenin through in vitro cultures of C. borivilianum (Bathoju and Giri, 2012a and b). The HPTLC (high performance thin layer chromatography) and HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) analyses were performed by various researchers for qualitative analysis of saponins and to standardize the saponin and sapogenin of C. borivilianum (Govindarajan et al, 2005;Joshi et al, 2000;Sreevidya et al, 2006;Thakur et al, 2009a Till date only a few studies have been reported on systematic isolation of saponins.…”

“…C. borivilianum is widely growing species and an integral part of Ayurvedic, Unani, Homeopathic and Allopathic systems of medicine, where root of the plant holds principal place. Traditionally, safed musli is considered as general health promotive tonic and has been used to treat various male sexual disorders (Thakur et al, 2009a). The knowledge on indigenous uses of C. borivilianum have been mostly passed through oral communication from generation to generation in local spoken languages and left undocumented by various communities.…”

Pharmacognostic Evaluation and HPTLC Finger Printing of Rhizome of Chlorophytum borivilianum Sant. and F. from Nepal

“…2 It was first reported in India in 1954 and reached rare status in nature due to over exploitation. 3 C. arundinaceum Baker, C. laxum R.Br., C. tuberosum Baker, C. orchidastrum Hook.f., p.p. non Lindl.…”

Plant Regeneration Studies in Safed Musli (Chlorophytum Sp.)

“…It is a remedy for diabetes, for rheumatism and joint pains 6 . It is antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory and antitumor agent 7 . The roots of plants are currently sold in market at a price of Rs.…”