A review on Phytochemical and biological properties of Calotropis gigantea (Linn) R.Br (original) (raw)

2016, Discovery Phytomedicine

Calotropis gigantea Linn is a well known medicinal herb commonly known as milk weed and has been used in Unani, Ayurveda and Siddha system of medicine for years. It is a native of India, China and Malaysia and it is distributed in almost all over world. All parts of the plant have been used as medicine as well as an important ingredient in a number of Unani formulations used for the treatment of various ailments. In classical Unani literature it is mentioned to have anthelmintic, appetizer, anti flatulence, astringent, tonic, expectorant, emetic, diaphoretic, anti inflammatory, sedative, wound healer, antidote and digestive properties and used in asthma, stomach ache, cholera, amenorrhea and toothache. Phytochemical constituents include giganteol, α and β calotropeol, β-amyrin, giganteol and isogiganteol etc. Calotropis gigantea has been reported for its anti asthmatic, antioxidant, antibacterial, antiviral, wound healing, antiinflammatory, antidiarrhoeal, hepatoprotective and hypoglycemic activities. In this manuscript the articles published from 2004-2016 were reviewed. Well known scientific search engines viz. Pub med, Medline, Google scholar, and Science Direct were used to retrieve online literature. All referred studies published in peer reviewed indexed journals were included. For Unani literature classical text and manuscripts were referred.