Abstract

INTEGRATED IMMINENT WIDE SCIENTIFIC POTENTIAL FROM TROPICAL WEEDY MEDICINAL PLANT OF TEPHROSIA PURPUREA (LINN.) PERS. AN OVERVIEW

*S. Sujatha and Briska Renuga

Abstract

Tephrosia purpurea (L.) pers a well-known plant of Indian and Chinese traditional system of medicines, commonly known as Sarapunkha has drawn attention of researchers in recent times. The weedy plant of T. purpurea native to east India Wild Indigo grows as common wasteland weed. Mainly it has been used as a traditionally folk medicine. This review deals with the key bioactive compounds and the role of medicinal value in various aspects of medicine in India and their earlier investigations. It has also been used traditionally in many parts of the world for its innumerable medicinal properties but still its identity as a medicinal plant is not established. To date, several flavonoids, Isoflavonoids, tannins and protein fractions have been isolated from its different parts and their medicinal uses have been established, but many bioactive constituents and pure compounds have so far been neglected by phytochemists and pharmacologists and a large amount of work has been done only on extracts and not the isolated fractions which shows scope for further study in this direction. Since there has been an increasing demand for the Phytopharmaceutical products need frm of Ayurvedic industries in all the countries because allopathic drugs have more side effects. Many pharmaceutical companies are now concentrating on manufacturing of Ayurvedic Phytopharmaceutical products. Ayurveda is the Indian traditional system of medicine, which also deals about pharmaceutical science. T. purpurea the principal bioactive chemical constituent of the plant has shown credible anticancer, anti-inflammatory, angiogenic, Antihelminthic activity, antidiabetic, antimalarial potentially in various investigations around the globe. This paper contains brief explanation about active constituent and pharmacological activity of tropical weedy plant T. purpurea. Different type of plant parts used for the Ayurvedic formulation; overall out line of those herbal scenario and its future prospects for the scientific evaluation of medicinal plants used by traditional healers are also discussed. In India most of them, where Ayurvedic treatment is frequently used, for their ailments and provides instructions to local people how to prepare medicine from the herbs. As much as possible importance is also given for the taxonomic literature.

Keywords: Tephrosia purpurea, Pharmacology, Phytochemical Constituents, Potential use, Conventional medicine