Abstract
Medicinal plants have served humans since prehistoric times to treat various ailments. Both developed and underdeveloped countries rely on traditional systems of medication using natural sources from plants. Phyllanthus is one of the largest genus in the family Phyllanthaceae, comprising over 700 well known species cosmopolitan in distribution mainly in the tropics and subtropics. Phyllanthus species are being in constant used in traditional medications to cure an array of human diseases (constipation, inhalation related, arthritis, loss of appetite, injuries, conjunctivitis, diarrhoea, running nose, common cold, malaria, blennorrhagia, colic, diabetes mellitus, dysentery, indigestion, fever, gout, gonorrheal diseases of males and females, skin itching, jaundice, hepatic disorders, leucorrhea, vaginitis, menstrual irregularities, obesity, stomach pains, and tumors), confectionaries, food industry, and in some pesticides. Phyllanthus species are rich in diversity of phytochemicals e.g., tannins, terpenes, alkaloids, glycosidic compounds, saponins, and flavones etc. More in depth studies are a direly needed to identify more compounds with specific cellular functions to treat various ailments.
Highlights
The utilization of herbal plants to treat various human diseases is cosmopolitan and universal, in third world countries due to their easy access and low cost, compared with advancedWestern medicines [1,2]
An initial phytochemical exploration of Phyllanthus species reported the occurance of terpenoids, An initial phytochemical exploration of Phyllanthus species reported the occurance of alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins, and saponins [7,21]
The ethanolic leaf extracts of P. amarus were studied to find the cause of modification in serum antioxidant levels along with reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated MDA in mice, and it was reported that the antioxidant defense capacity and revitalization of the blood in treated mice was increased, which might due to the presence of previously reported compounds [48]
Summary
The utilization of herbal plants to treat various human diseases is cosmopolitan and universal, in third world countries due to their easy access and low cost, compared with advanced. Plants with medicinal properties are efficiently used, mainly by the rural and/or tribal communities in remote areas, today and in ancient communities in prehistoric times [2,3,4], and are highly respected in certain tribal communities due to myths such as being a tonic of life [5] These herbal pharmacological formulations were routinely used throughout human history without any scientific evidence, and are being used in practical clinical trials to find their optimum and beneficial therapeutic dose ranges. These chemicals are highly beneficial because they help to safeguard forests and farm crops against the losses posed by various crop pathogens, aiding to increase overall yield of food production These phytochemicals efficiently control various insect-vector borne diseases of different crop plants, but their increased utilization poses serious threats to human health, erases bio-diversity at the local scale along with irrepairable environmental change and damage to natural ecological habitats [18]. This review aims to summarize the most recently published data (2016–2018) concerning the biological activities of various potent constituents found in Phyllanthus plant extracts
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