Centre for Biological Sciences, Department of Biochemistry, K.S. Rangasamy College of Arts and Science (Autonomous), Tiruchengode, Namakkal District, Tamilnadu-637215, India.
Cardiovasc Hematol Agents Med Chem. 2020;18(1):5-20. doi: 10.2174/1871525718666200212095353.
Nature is an amazing source for food, shelter, clothing and medicine. An impressive number of modern drugs are isolated from many sources like plants, animals and microbes. The development of natural products from traditional medicines is of great importance to society. Modern concepts and methodologies with abundant clinical studies, unique diversity of chemical structures and biological activities aid the modern drug discovery process. Kedrostis foetidissima (Jacq.) Cogn., a traditional medicinal plant of the Cucurbitaceae family, is found in India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Western Malaysia. Almost all parts of the plant are used in traditional systems of medicines and reported having medicinal properties in both in vitro and in vivo studies. In the last few years, extensive research work had been carried out using extracts and isolated phytoconstituents from Kedrostis foetidissima to confirm its pharmacology and biological activities. Many scientific reports show that crude extracts and extensive numbers of phytochemical constituents isolated from Kedrostis foetidissima have activities like antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer, gastroprotective, anti-inflammatory and various other important medicinal properties. The therapeutic properties of the plants are mainly attributed to the existence of phytoconstituents like phenols, alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids and steroids. This comprehensive review in various aspects gave a brief overview of phytoconstituents, nutritional values and medicinal property of the plant and might attract the researchers to explore its medicinal activity by discovering novel biologically active compounds that can serve as a lead compound in pharmaceutical and food industry.
大自然是食物、住所、衣物和药物的绝佳来源。许多现代药物都是从植物、动物和微生物等多种来源中分离出来的。从传统药物中开发天然产品对社会具有重要意义。现代概念和方法结合了丰富的临床研究、独特多样的化学结构和生物活性，有助于现代药物发现过程。臭石榴（Kedrostis foetidissima）（Jacq.）Cogn.，是葫芦科的一种传统药用植物，分布于印度、斯里兰卡、埃塞俄比亚和马来西亚西部。该植物的几乎所有部分都在传统医学体系中使用，并在体外和体内研究中均具有药用特性。在过去的几年中，已经使用臭石榴的提取物和分离的植物化学成分进行了广泛的研究工作，以证实其药理学和生物活性。许多科学报告表明，臭石榴的粗提物和分离出的大量植物化学成分具有抗菌、抗氧化、抗癌、胃保护、抗炎和其他各种重要的药用特性。植物的治疗特性主要归因于存在酚类、生物碱、类黄酮、单宁、萜类和甾体等植物化学成分。本文从各个方面对植物的植物化学成分、营养价值和药用特性进行了综述，可能会吸引研究人员通过发现新的具有生物活性的化合物来探索其药用活性，这些化合物可以作为药物和食品工业的先导化合物。
