Prosopis plant chemical composition and pharmacological attributes: Targeting clinical studies from preclinical evidence

Javad Sharifi-Rad*, Farzad Kobarfard, Athar Ata, Seyed Abdulmajid Ayatollahi, Nafiseh Khosravi-Dehaghi, Arun Kumar Jugran, Merve Tomas, Esra Capanoglu, Karl R. Matthews, Jelena Popović-Djordjević, Aleksandar Kostić, Senem Kamiloglu, Farukh Sharopov, Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary, Natália Martins

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

43 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Members of the Prosopis genus are native to America, Africa and Asia, and have long been used in traditional medicine. The Prosopis species most commonly used for medicinal purposes are P. africana, P. alba, P. cineraria, P. farcta, P. glandulosa, P. juliflora, P. nigra, P. ruscifolia and P. spicigera, which are highly effective in asthma, birth/postpartum pains, callouses, conjunctivitis, diabetes, diarrhea, expectorant, fever, flu, lactation, liver infection, malaria, otitis, pains, pediculosis, rheumatism, scabies, skin inflammations, spasm, stomach ache, bladder and pancreas stone removal. Flour, syrup, and beverages from Prosopis pods have also been potentially used for foods and food supplement formulation in many regions of the world. In addition, various in vitro and in vivo studies have revealed interesting antiplasmodial, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer, antidiabetic and wound healing effects. The phytochemical composition of Prosopis plants, namely their content of C-glycosyl flavones (such as schaftoside, isoschaftoside, vicenin II, vitexin and isovitexin) has been increasingly correlated with the observed biological effects. Thus, given the literature reports, Prosopis plants have positive impact on the human diet and general health. In this sense, the present review provides an in-depth overview of the literature data regarding Prosopis plants’ chemical composition, pharmacological and food applications, covering from pre-clinical data to upcoming clinical studies.

Original languageEnglish
Article number777
JournalBiomolecules
Volume9
Issue number12
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Funding

N. Martins would like to thank the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT-Portugal) for the Strategic project ref. UID/BIM/04293/2013 and “NORTE2020—Northern Regional Operational Program” (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012).

FundersFunder number
Fundação para a Ciência e a TecnologiaUID/BIM/04293/2013, NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000012

    Keywords

    • Antiplasmodial
    • C-glycosyl flavones
    • Food preservative
    • Prosopis
    • Vitexin
    • Wound healing potential

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