Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Review Article | OPEN ACCESS

A Review of the Pharmacological and Biological Activities of the Aerial Parts of Telfairia occidentalis Hook.f. (Cucurbitaceae)

Olorunfemi A Eseyin^1,2 , Munavvar A Sattar¹, Hassaan A Rathore¹

¹Hypertension and Cardiovascular Physiology Research Laboratory, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Penang, 11800, Malaysia; ²Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Uyo, PO Box 4274, Uyo, Nigeria.

For correspondence:- Olorunfemi Eseyin Email: femieseyin2@yahoo.co.uk Tel:+2348065161478

Received: 28 March 2014 Accepted: 17 August 2014 Published: 19 October 2014

Citation: Eseyin OA, Sattar MA, Rathore HA. A Review of the Pharmacological and Biological Activities of the Aerial Parts of Telfairia occidentalis Hook.f. (Cucurbitaceae). Trop J Pharm Res 2014; 13(10):1761-1769 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v13i10.28

© 2014 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

Telfairia occidentalis Hook.f. (Cucurbitaceae) is cultivated in West Africa. The purpose of this article is to review information available in scientific literature on the pharmacological and biological activities of the plant. Searches were made and relevant information obtained from online resources such as Google Scholar, PubMed and Medline. Only literature highlighting the pharmacological, biological and biochemical activities of the plant were selected for this review. The antioxidant, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, haematological, antiplasmodial, antimicrobial, testiculoprotective, anticancer, antiinflammatory, anxiolytic, sedative and anticonvulsant properties of the plant are documented in this paper. Some of these properties are attributable to the high antioxidant activity of the plant. The medicinal value of Telfairia occidentalis is no longer in doubt. It is expected that this review will be useful to researchers, herbal medical practitioners and agriculturists, and would also enhance optimum exploitation of the plants for its several benefits.

Keywords: Telfairia occidentalis, Fluted pumpkin, Antioxidant, Antidiabetic, Haematological, Antiplasmodial, Testiculoprotective, Anticancer, Antiinflammatory,