Ethnomedicinal Uses, Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Carica papaya Plant: A Compendious Review

Abstract

Medicinal properties of papaya (Carica papaya Linn.) fruit and other parts are wellknown in the traditional system of medicine. Papaya plant originated in Central America and now grown in tropical areas of worldwide, most particularly in Africa and Asia. Studies validate that, papaya has several pharmacological activities, such as antioxidant, antiulcer, antibacterial, woundhealing, anti-inflammatory and anti-sickling, just to name a few. The present review article provides the explicit and updated information on botanical aspects, ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities of C. papaya plant in order to explore their therapeutic potential. This review conducted a systematic search on C. papaya through electronic database search (Google Scholar, PubMed, SciFinder, Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science) and a library search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals, until January of 2018. Constituents of papaya plant belongs to different chemical classes that include alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenoids, saponins, steroids, tannin, vitamins, quinones, minerals and others. Experimental evidence confirmed that these classes of compounds cure the microbial infections, diabetes, inflammatory, cytotoxic and liver disorders. Conclusively, the present review aimed to summarize the information of ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological activities to prevent and treat the wide range of diseases and disorders. The future research draws the attention of the researcher for intensive investigations relating to phytochemicals, pharmacological activities and industrial applications.