PLANT CELL BIOTECHNOLOGY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

Terminalia arjuna is an evergreen tree that belongs to the family Combretaceae and has widespread traditional medicinal uses. Although the whole plant part has some medicinal properties owing to the presence of specific bioactive compounds, but the bark part of the plant prominently being used to treat various ailments by ethnic traditional healers (cardiovascular, skin, asthama, hypertension, unrinary tract disorders) . The main bioactive constituent of the plant is glycosides (cardiac glucoside), flavonoids (arjunone and arjunolone), and triterpenoids (arjunolic acid) that are responsible for its cardioprotective, antioxidant, wound healing (tannin and saponin found in bark part), antitumour (especially against human hepatoma), anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial (broad spectrum effect against many gram negative bacteria) activities. Various pharmacological studies indicated its protective action against toxicities induced by certain heavy metals (As) and toxic compounds (NaF and Acetaminophen) owing to the potent antioxidant properties of one of the bioactive agent Arunolic acid. The plant has many more potential in terms of its therapeutic uses that can be explored by referring to the traditional ethnomedicinal experts and literature and thereby can be scientifically validated so that its toxicity side effects and dosage can be measured and quantified. The present review encompases morphological features, distribution, a few traditional and ethnomedicinal formulations and uses, scientific studies on phytochemical constituents and pharmacological significance of Terminalia arjuna and can be refered for further scientific investigations on the bioactive secondsary metabolites of the plant.