Abstract
Kamala tree (Mallotus philippensis) is traditionally used by different ethnic groups to treat a variety of diseases and health ailments. However, these traditional uses need to be scientifically investigated and validated in order to develop drugs from this tree. Therefore, the present article is aimed to review the scientifically validated knowledge on the pharmacology and phytochemistry of the tree. To accomplish this, we extensively surveyed the available databases like Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, NCBI including PubMed and PubChem, etc. by using keywords ‘Mallotus philippensis’, ‘Mallotus phillippinensis’ and ‘Mallotus philippinensis’. Our results indicated that the tree possesses more than 50 different types of important phytochemicals of natural origin. The wide array of phytochemicals possesses fascinating biological activities like anthelmintic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-cancerous, anti-tuberculosis, anti-parasitic, analgesic, anti-urolithiatic and anti-viral activities. Thus, pharmacological activities and isolation of active phytochemicals make the tree a promising candidate for drug discovery. However, pharmacological activities such as antibacterial and anti-oxidant activities are often tested with crude extracts and in vitro rudimentary methods that can be sometimes misleading and non-specific. Thus, more sophisticated techniques may be applied for the isolation of active chemicals and elucidating their mechanism of actions.
Highlights
Indigenous people and local ethnic communities have learned and developed knowledge to use specific plants for various health disorders and ailments from pre-historic times
Two modern anti-malarial drugs quinine and artemisinin have been developed from indigenous knowledge from the Amazon basin and China respectively, where local people use them for treating fevers
About 65-75% of modern drugs recommended for cancer and other infectious disease have been directly or indirectly derived from traditional knowledge [1]
Summary
Indigenous people and local ethnic communities have learned and developed knowledge to use specific plants for various health disorders and ailments from pre-historic times These practices are still continued and common in remote areas of the Indian subcontinent where no or few health facilities are available. Earliest medicinal systems like the Ayurveda and the Yunani advocate its usage as alexiteric, anthelmintic, appetiser, bitter, carminative, cooling, purgative, styptic and vulnerary [5,6,7] Some of these medicinal properties of this species are already transformed into commercially available drug formulations like Krimighatni Bati and Krimikuthar Rasa for intestinal worms and Roghan Kameela and Zimad Jarb for dermatological disorders [8]. We do not pretend to be complete in our review, as collecting all the literature is a tough task and some studies seemed to be beyond the scope of this review article, but surely, it will be useful for future research on the same tree
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