Phytochemical and Medical Perspective of an Endangered Plant Angelica glauca: Review on its Current Status and Future Research

Abstract

Angelica glauca is an important medicinal plant commonly distributed in Himalayan region of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand region of India. Plant possesses immense medicinal potential and is utilized in traditional and modern medicine systems for the treatment of several aliments. The plant has become endangered due to unrestricted harvesting from natural resources, poor germination rate and lack of adequate commercial cultivation. Inspite of inherent medicinal potential there exist a wide research gap to analyze and validate biochemical activities along with isolation, purification and structural elucidation of secondary metabolites. Considering the present endangered status micropropagation studies are required not only with an objective of conservation of A. glauca, but also to felicitate mass propagation of the plant. Micropropagation as well as vegetative propagation processes are required to be optimized to develop protocol which are easily reproducible, efficient and can be simultaneously employed for commercial cultivation. Their also exits potential of analytical studies such as HPLC, FTIR, NMR, LC-MS (plant oil as well as plant extract) to provide complete biochemical profiling of the plant, as at present comparatively insufficient literature is available pertaining to biochemical and metabolic characteristics features and properties of the plant. The present review provides an insight into scientific studies conducted so far and research potential pertaining to biochemistry and medicinal properties of A. glauca.