Phytochemistry and Pharmacological Activities of the Genus Swertia (Gentianaceae): A Review

Abstract

Swertia plants have been considered to be medicinal plants useful for the treatment of various ailments for thousands of years, especially in Asian countries. This is due to the broad variety of chemical compounds that provide multiple ligands for bonding to different endogenous biomacromolecules for patients. Chemical constituents and pharmacological activities of Swertia plants are summarized in this paper. Approximately 419 metabolites and 40 bioactive compounds have been reported from 30 Swertia species, including xanthones, flavonoids, seco-iridiods, iridiods, triterpenoids, alkaloids, volatiles, and other secondary metabolites. The bioactivities of Swertia plants include anticarcinogenic, hepatoprotective, anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, anthelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-diabetic, gut, and airways modulatory, metabolizing isozymes inhibitory, neuroprotective, HIV-I reverse transcriptases inhibitory, anticholinergic, and CNS-depressant activities, etc. In addition, biosynthetic pathways of xanthones, and seco-iridiods, two most important secondary metabolites for Swertia, are elucidated. The xanthones biosynthetic pathway is a mixed biosynthetic pathway involved the shikimate and the malonate routes, and the seco-iridoid pathway starts with geraniol derived from IPP which is produced either via the MEP or the MVA pathway. This review will offer a reference for future researches on the protection of natural resources, the investigation of therapeutic basis, new drug development, and so forth. Metabolic pathways of some crucial active compounds were also discussed in this review.

Validation and quantification of major biomarkers in ‘Mahasudarshan Churna’- an ayurvedic polyherbal formulation through high-performance thin-layer chromatography

“…as tinctures, infusions etc. [24]. Presence of significant marker compounds in MC formulations is in accordance with our previous reports of Swertia chirata herbs.…”

Optimization of salicylic acid and chitosan treatment for bitter secoiridoid and xanthone glycosides production in shoot cultures of Swertia paniculata using response surface methodology and artificial neural network

“…Swertia (Family: Gentianaceae) is a diverse genus with worldwide distribution at the north temperate areas of Asia, America, Europe and Africa [1]. This genus has been cited as an effective herbal medicine in Indian traditional (Ayurvedic, Unani and Sidha) and British Pharmacopoeias.…”

Comprehensive Quality Assessment Based Specific Chemical Profiles for Geographic and Tissue Variation in Gentiana rigescens Using HPLC and FTIR Method Combined with Principal Component Analysis

“…Association analysis of target ingredients across specimens of inter- and intra-tissues provides the approach to further understand the influence of environmental factors on the quality of this herbal medicine. To address this issue, Pearson's correlation analysis was performed between contents of four major ingredients (i.e., gentiopicroside, loganic acid, sweroside, and swertiamarin) belonging to the biosynthesis pathway of ( seco -) iridoid glycosides in Gentianaceae species (Li et al, 2017 ). Pearson's correlation analysis is based on the Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC), a range of values from 1 (a perfect positive correlation) to −1 (a perfect negative correlation) with 0 representing a random distribution (Barlow et al, 2010 ), which is designed for describing the linear relationship of intensity distributions between two channels in pattern recognition (Zinchuk et al, 2005 ).…”