Indian Medicinal Plants with Multiple Pharmacological Efficacies: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Medicinal herbs have long been utilized by numerous countries, ethnic groups, and cultures across the globe to treat various diseases since ancient times. A variety of phytochemicals, including alkaloids, tannins, carotenoids, proteins, chlorophyll, phytosterols, glycosides, phenols, flavonoids, and diterpenes, as well as minerals, vitamins and other crucial nutrients are abundantly found in medicinal plants. Medicinal plants and herbs are very useful for developing new drugs due to their potent pharmacological properties. Traditional Indian system of medicines consists of a wealth of information on medicinal plants, which contributed to developing therapies for communicable and non-communicable diseases. The present review summarizes the pharmacological characteristics such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, anticancer, antiulcer, hepatoprotective and cardioprotective effects of some valuable medicinal plants and herbs. Keywords: Indian medicinal plants; Bioactive constituents; Pharmacological efficacies.