Erythrina Alkaloids: An Updated Review with Neurological Perspective.

Abstract

Erythrina is a genus comprising several plant species that are distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. This genus is a source of many phytoconstituents, with alkaloids and flavonoids as the main bioactive components. Erythrina alkaloids are characterized by a unique nucleus. One hundred ninety-eight alkaloids were isolated from Erythrina plants till early 2023. Recently, an increase in the number of isolated dimeric alkaloids has been witnessed. Erythrina plants have been used in the management of different conditions such as oxidative stress and diseases like cancer, inflammation, viral diseases, malaria, and diabetes, with the alkaloids showing a good potential against certain neurological disorders like anxiety, epilepsy, and Alzheimer's disease. All data on Erythrina alkaloids were collected from Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, SCOPUS, and SciFinder. For compounds isolated from multiple Erythrina species, the plant source was traced only from 2008 till 2023. The reported anxiolytic, anti-convulsant, and anti-Alzheimer's activities of Erythrina plant metabolites were traced from 2002 till 2023.