Chemical Constituents and Biological Importance of Swertia: A Review

Abstract

Swertia, commonly known as ‘Chirata’ in indigenous systems of medicine, are used for treatment of a variety of ailments. Literature survey revealed that much phytochemical analysis has been done on genus Swertia by several groups. In this study, we had planned to document the active chemical constituents of valuable medicinal plants of genus Swertia. The major bioactives of Swertia are xanthones, however, other secondary metabolites such as flavonoids, iridoid glycosides and triterpenoids are also active constituents of this genus. These secondary metabolites played significant role in biological activities such as hepatoprotective, antihepatotoxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antileprosy, hypoglycemic, antimalarial, antioxidant, anticholinergic, CNS depressant and mutagenicity.