Phytochemistry and pharmacological potential of Cassia absus - a review

Cassia absus is a plant of the family fabaceae with Ayurvedic ethnomedical records. It is used in traditional medicine for the treatment of bronchitis, asthma, cough, conjunctivitis, leucoderma, renal and hepatic diseases, constipation, tumors, venereal ulcer, headache, hemorrhoids and wound healing. Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies have provided valuable scientific evidence for its use. This review aims to summarize reported pharmacognosy, traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological potential of C. absus while identifying potential areas of further research of plant.

The review comprises literature pertaining to the evidence base therapeutic potential, pharmacognosy and phytochemistry of C. absus spanning from 1935 to 2016 using published articles in peer-reviewed journals, ethno botanical text books, and worldwide accepted scientific databases via electronic search (Elsevier, Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Springer, Web of Science, Wiley online library). Kew Botanical Garden databases and the Plant List were used to authenticate the scientific names. Different pharmacological experiments in many in-vitro and in-vivo models have proved the potential of C. absus with antihypertensive, antifertility, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-glycation, antibacterial activity, α- amylase inhibitory activity, antioxidant and reducing activitity etc. chaksine, iso-chaksine, saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, chrysophanol, aloe-emodin and a wide range of chemical compounds have also been reported. Toxicity studies reveal the nontoxic nature of C. absus at a dose of 2000 mg/kg, however, plant possess reproductive toxicity and can be used as birth control or abortifacient.

Reported activities suggest that there is sufficient pharmacological potential for developing C. absus as a drug for hypertension, infections, diabetes and its complications. However, heterogeneity in study protocol and conflicting results mask the ability to replicate these studies. So, future studies should be replicated in line with best practices. More toxicological studies would aid the progress to clinical trial studies. Various ethno medical uses of C. absus have not been evaluated yet.