Review A Review on Phytoconstituents and Biological activities of Cuscuta species Ateeque Ahmad a,b , Sudeep Tandon a,b , Tran Dang Xuan c , Zulfa Nooreen a, * a Process Chemistry and Technology Department, CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, 226015, Uttar Pradesh, India b Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, 226015, Uttar Pradesh, India c Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima city, Hiroshoshima 739-8529, Japan A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 21 March 2017 Received in revised form 24 May 2017 Accepted 25 May 2017 Keywords: Cuscuta Phytochemical constituents Biological activities Anticancer Antibacterial Anti-inflammatory Antimicrobial Antifungal Anti-proliferative Antioxidant Hepatoprotective activity Antiulcer activity A B S T R A C T The genus Cuscuta belonging to the Cuscutaceae family comprises of about 100–170 species spread around the world. Although several species have been studied for their phytochemical characterization and biological activities but still many species are yet unexplored till date. Cuscuta are parasitic plants generally of yellow, orange, red or rarely green color. The Cuscuta species were reported rich in flavonoid and glycosidic constituents along with alkaloids, fatty acids, fixed oil, minerals, essential oil and others phytomolecules also etc. Flavonoids and other molecules of Cuscuta species were reported for different types of biological activities such as antiproliferative activity, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antimicrobial and anxiolytic activity, while some other flavonoids have exhibited potential antiviral and anticancer especially in ovarian and breast cancer activities. This review is an attempt to compile all the available data for the 24 different of Cuscuta species on the basis of different types of phytochemical constituents and biological studies as above. © 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 2. Traditional uses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 3. Phytochemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773 3.1. Flavonoids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 3.2. Alkaloids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 3.3. Glycoside and steroids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 778 3.4. Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779 4. Pharmacological profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782 4.1. Antiproliferative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 782 4.2. Antioxidant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 4.3. Hepatoprotective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784 4.4. Antimicrobial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 4.5. Anxiolytic activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 4.6. Antiinflammatory activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 Abbreviations: MDA-MB-231, human caucasian breast adenocarcinoma; MCF-7, breast adenocarcinoma from human; Hep 3B, human hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines; HEK 293, human embryonic kidney cell lines; RAW 264.7, breast adenocarcinoma from human; DPPH, intercellular adhesion molecule; HRBC, human red blood cells; ATCC, American type culture collection; HPTLC, high performance thin layer column chromatography; Bcl-2, B-cell lymphoma; DPPH, 2, 2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl; CCL4, carbon tetrachloride; APAP, N-acetyl-para-aminophenol; LC, lethal concentration; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; IL, interleukin; ICAM, intercellular adhesion molecule; Aq, aqueous; Me, methanol; Et, ethanol; Ch, chloroform. * Corresponding author. E-mail address: khan.zulfanooreen7860@gmail.com (Z. Nooreen). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2017.05.124 0753-3322/© 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 92 (2017) 772–795 Available online at ScienceDirect www.sciencedirect.com