Genus and its Endophytic Fungi - Comprehensive Review of their Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicology.

BACKGROUND

The use of ethnic medicinal plants has revitalized wide popularity in Africa, Asia, and most of the world because of the energy consumption barriers increase of synthetic drugs. is a traditional genus of plants with famous cultural and medicinal significance in Southeast Asia and North America. Three species are reported from the genus , including (Gardn. & Camp.) Benth., (L.) J.St.-Hil., and Small. Among them, is well known for its toxicity and is used as a traditional remedy for skin problems, neuralgia, fractures, and cancer. The first record of the toxic medicine is the Chinese herbal medicine classically known as In the legend, the Shennong emperor was poisoned by , hence, it is also wellknown as Duan Chang Cao in China. In addition, tincture is also used in the treatment of inflammation of the spinalcolumn, and diminishes blood to the cerebrospinal centers.

INTRODUCTION

This review aims to provide up-to-date information on and its endophytic fungi on their traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology. Mechanism studies regarding the detoxification profile of are also reviewed.

METHODS

For this updated review, the literature survey and search were performed on the scientific databases PubMed, ScienceDirect, Wiley, China CNKI, Web of Science, SciFinder, and Google Scholar using the relevant keywords.

RESULTS

The plants of the genus are all reported as rich sources of monoterpene indole alkaloids. Previous phytochemical studies published more than 200 alkaloids from and its endophytic fungi, which have attracted considerable attention from pharmaceutists and phytochemists due to their diverse and complex structures. The bioactivities of phytoconstituents studied using various chemical methods are summarized and described herein. Considering the huge influence of regarding its traditional applications, the activities of isolated compounds were focused on the anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antianxiety, immunostimulatory, and immunosuppressive properties, which provide evidence supporting the ethnopharmacological effectiveness of the genus . Unlike all previous reviews of genus , to the best of our knowledge, the recently reported natural products from its endophytic fungi are first time summarized in this review.

CONCLUSION

It is clearly suggested from the literature information that the structures and biological activities of have a wide range of attraction from folk to the community of scholars. However, as a highly toxic genus, the work on the detoxification mechanism and toxicology of is urgently needed before entering clinical research. It is noteworthy that the discussion about the relationship between structural and biological activities are a valuable topic of expectation, while the structural modification for active or toxic components may shed light on toxicological breakthrough. Besides the compounds from the plants of genus , the recently reported natural products from its endophytic fungi may provide a supplement for its ethnomedicinal uses and ethnological validity.