Adhatoda vasica (Nees.): A Review on its Botany, Traditional uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacological Activities and Toxicity

Abstract

Background: Adhatoda vasica (Nees.) of family Acanthaceae has been used in the Southeast tropical zone as it is efficacious against headache, colds, cough, whooping cough, fever, asthma, dyspnea, phthisis, jaundice, chronic bronchitis and diarrhea and exhibits commendable pharmacological activities. Objective: The aim of the review is to provide a systematic overview of pharmacological activities with toxicity and clinical assessment, phytochemistry of A. vasica along with its characterization, geographical observation, phenology, traditional uses as well as an organized representation of the findings. Method: The overall information of A. vasica were collected from various resources including books, review papers, research papers and reports which were obtained by an online search of worldwide-accepted scientific databases. ChemDraw software was used to draw the compounds’s structure. Results: Phytochemical review on A. vasica has led to the collection of 233 compounds of different types such as alkaloids, flavonoids, essential oils, terpenoids, fatty acids, phenols etc. It is a promising source of phytopharmaceutical potential agent that exhibits diverse pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, hepatoprotective, anti-ulcer, abortifacient, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, thrombolytic, hypoglycemic, anti-tubercular, antioxidant and antitussive activities. Conclusions: The sufficient number of studies on ethno-pharmacology, traditional uses and pharmacological activities of A. vasica are conducted. Furthermore, it is necessary to study the activity of chemical constituents for new drug design and discovery from natural products.