European Journal of Medicinal Plants

Background: Pavetta indica Linn is a medicinal plant that belongs to the family of Rubiaceae. The parts of this plant are used in indigenous clinical practices, especially for treating visceral obstruction, haemorrhoidal pains, rheumatism and eye diseases, and in the preferential treatment of liver disease, pain from piles, urinary infections, and fever. Despite its usage in indigenous clinical practices, there is limited available information on comparative pharmacognostic, physicochemical, phytochemical, ethnopharmacological data and antioxidant capacity of this herb.

Aim: To review and summarize the medicinal properties of Pavetta indica Linn after critically evaluating the published studies reporting and to identify potential research areas from the existing data.

Methodology: In the first phase, a comprehensive literature search was carried out in several databases under the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Project for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines.

Results: The plant reported various classes of bioactive compounds with the main components: carbohydrates, glycosides, alkaloids, phytosterols, saponins, tannins, proteins and amino acids, phenolic and flavonoids. Extracts of this plant possess multiple pharmacological activities such as hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, neuroprotective and wound healing factors, anti-dementia, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antihelminthic and diuretic properties.

Conclusion: This review gives vital information on the traditional uses and, on the other hand, modern discoveries such as phytochemistry and pharmacology of Pavetta indica Linn. The therapeutic value of the plant was discovered based on the information gathered during the review process. As a result, greater research on this plant should be encouraged to identify new useful drugs and therapeutic effects and test using clinical studies.