Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Review Article | OPEN ACCESS

Astraea lobata (L) Klotzsch (Euphorbiaceae): An ethnopharmacological review

Alfred Maroyi

Medicinal Plants and Economic Development (MPED) Research Center, Department of Botany, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, Alice 5700, South Africa;

For correspondence:- Email: amaroyi@ufh.ac.za Tel:+27719600326

Accepted: 16 May 2018 Published: 30 June 2018

Citation: Maroyi A. Astraea lobata (L) Klotzsch (Euphorbiaceae): An ethnopharmacological review. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(6):1215-1223 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i6.31

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

This is a review on the medicinal uses, phytochemistry and biological activities of A. lobata with a view to present a better understanding of the medicinal potentials of the species. Published literature on A. lobata were sourced from databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, SciFinder, Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed, Scielo, Springerlink, Google Patents, Espacenet, BioMed Central (BMC) and Medline. Astraea lobata is native to north, central and south America, and now naturalized in Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo where it is used to treat numerous diseases including dysentery, malaria, menstrual problems, scorpion bite, rheumatism pain, skin cancer, sterility in women and as purgative. Multiple classes of phytochemicals such as alkaloids, anthraquinones, esters, diterpene alcohols, flavonoids, hydroxy ketones, peptides, phenolics, saponins, steroids, tannins, triterpenes and triglycerides have been isolated from fruits, leaves, roots and stems of A. lobata. Scientific studies on A. lobata indicate that it has a wide range of pharmacological activities which include antibacterial, antidiabetic, antiplasmodial, antioxidant, antitrypanosomal and leishmanicidal activities. The wide usage of A. lobata as a herbal medicine calls for detailed pharmacological and phytochemical studies aimed at correlating the documented medicinal uses of the species with its biological activities and phytochemistry.

Keywords: Astraea lobata, Euphorbiaceae, herbal medicine, pharmacology, phytochemistry