Pharmacological Potentials of Andrographis paniculata: An Overview

The main objective of this review was to provide the details about the pharmacological potentials of Andrographis paniculata. It was found that the plant possessed wide varieties of pharmacological activities including hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, anti-allergic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-hyperglycemic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antimalarial, antidiarrheal, larvicidal, ovicidal, testicular toxicity. Several active diterpene phytoconstituents such as andrographolide andrographiside and neoandrographolide, 14-deoxyandrographolide and 14-deoxy-11, 12-didehydroandrographolide were also isolated from the different parts of the plant. Moreover, four xanthones such as 1,8-di-hydroxy-3,7-dimethoxy-xanthone; 4,8-dihydroxy-2,7-dimethoxy-xanthone; 1,2-dihydroxy-6,8-dimethoxy-xanthone and 3,7,8-trimethoxy-1-hydroxy xanthone were obtained from the roots of Andrographis paniculata. It was revealed that andrographolide was responsible for anti-hepatotoxic, anti-allergic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial activities, larvicidal, ovicidal and testicular toxicity while xanthones showed anti-plasmodial potential. Neoandrographolide, an another diterpene phytoconstituent, showed antidiarrheal activity of the medicinal plant. However, due to the presence of 14-deoxyandrographolide and 14-deoxy- 11, 12-didehydroandrographolide, the plant possessed antioxidant activity as well. This review study provided the evidence based information to the future scientists for qualitative research and for isolation and characterization of bioactive compounds.