Clinacanthus nutans : a review on ethnomedicinal uses, chemical constituents and pharmacological properties

Abstract

Context: Medicinal plants have attracted global attention for their hidden therapeutic potential. Clinacanthus nutans (Burm.f) Lindau (Acanthaceae) (CN) is endemic in Southeast Asia. CN contains phytochemicals common to medicinal plants, such as flavonoids. Traditionally, CN has been used for a broad range of human ailments including snake bites and cancer.Objectives: This article compiles the ethnomedicinal uses of CN and its phytochemistry, and thus provides a phytochemical library of CN. It also discusses the known pharmacological and biological effects of CN to enable better investigation of CN.Methods: This literature review was limited to articles and websites published in the English language. MEDLINE and Google Scholar databases were searched from December 2014 to September 2016 using the following keywords: "Clinacanthus nutans" and "Belalai gajah". The results were reviewed to identify relevant articles. Information from relevant selected studies was systematically analyzed from contemporary ethnopharmacological sources, evaluated against scientific literature, and extracted into tables.Results: The literature search yielded 124 articles which were then further scrutinized revealing the promising biological activities of CN, including antimicrobial, antiproliferative, antitumorigenic and anti-inflammatory effects. Few articles discussed the mechanisms for these pharmacological activities. Furthermore, CN was beneficial in small-scale clinical trials for genital Herpes and aphthous stomatitis.Conclusion: Despite the rich ethnomedicinal knowledge behind the traditional uses of CN, the current scientific evidence to support these claims remains scant. More research is still needed to validate these medicinal claims, beginning by increasing the understanding of the biological actions of this plant.

Effects of temperature, time, and solvent ratio on the extraction of phenolic compounds and the anti-radical activity of Clinacanthus nutans Lindau leaves by response surface methodology

“…Previous investigations have established the presence of various polyphenols such as vitexin, isovitexin, shaftoside, isomollupentin-7- O -beta-glucopyranoside, orientin, isoorientin, kaempferol, sinapic acid, vanillin, quercetin, rutin trihydrate, syringic acid, protocatechuic acid, 4-vinylphenol and 7-hydroxyflavone in the extracts of C. nutans leaves [14, 16–18]. The ethnomedicinal uses of the C. nutans plant, its chemical constituents and pharmacological properties associated to its therapeutic potential has been of much research focus [19–21]. Plant polyphenols have drawn increasing attention due to their potent antioxidant properties and their marked effects in the prevention of oxidative stresses [22, 23].…”

The synergism of Clinacanthus nutans Lindau extracts with gemcitabine: downregulation of anti-apoptotic markers in squamous pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

“…There were extensive phytochemistry studies, isolating many compounds from C. nutans, trying to investigate the anti-cancer effects of these isolated compounds. These flavonoids and terpenoids were also commonly isolated from various other plants [41,42].…”

Physical Properties and Total Phenolic Content by Different Drying and Extraction Techniques of Clinacanthus Nutans Leaves

“…It is a shrub with pubescent branches that can grow 1 -3 meter in height. The plant grows well at the elevation ranging from 500 to 620 m, particular-ly at low altitude forest area that are scattered (Zulkipli et al, 2017). The leaves are pale green, with simple, narrowly elliptic, oblong or lanceolate-ovate shapes, that ranges between 2.5 -13 cm long and 0.5 -1.5 cm wide.…”

“…The plant's stems are terete, striate and glabrescent while the petioles are sulcate, bifariously pubescent and between 0.3 -2 cm long. C. nutans formed flowers in compact cymes that are dull red in color with green base and yellow stripes on the lower lip (Kunsorn et al, 2013;Alam et al, 2016;Zulkipli et al, 2017).…”

“…C. nutans has been used in the preparation of traditional remedies in Malaysia and other Asian countries for treating nettle rash, blisters, oral inflammatory symptoms, burns, dysentery, insect stings, gout, fever, urinates neuropathies, kidney problems, nasal cavity cancer, liver cancer and uterine fibroid (Arullappan et al, 2014;Peng et al, 2014;Zulkipli et al, 2017). A study by Pannangpetch et al (2007) concluded that ethanolic extract of C. nutans exhibited free radicals scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and exerted intracellular inhibition towards phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-induced free radical production.…”