Original Article AN OVERVIEW ON THE BIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES OF SIDA CORDIFOLIA LINN SRINITHYA B., MEENAKSHI SUNDARAM MUTHURAMAN* Department of Biotechnology, School of Chemical & Biotechnology, SASTRA University, Thirumalaisamudram, Thanjavur 613401, India. Email: msundar77@yahoo.com Received: 28 Aug 2014 Revised and Accepted: 25 Sep 2014 ABSTRACT Plants have been used since ancient times to heal and cure diseases and to improve health and well being. Sida cordifolia Linn belonging to family Malvaceae is widely distributed throughout the plains of India. The various parts of Sida cordifolia possess different biological perspectives such as antidiabetic, anti stress, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, hepatoprotective and anticancer activity. This plant has great potential for development of ayurvedic and modern medicines. The present study is focused on pharmacological review of Sida cordifolia L. Keywords: Sida cordifolia, Anti-inflammatory, Antidiabetic, Analgesic. INTRODUCTION Plants are one of the most important sources of medicines. They have been used since ancient times to heal and cure diseases. India has rich heritage of use of medicinal plants in clinical practices. According to WHO, 80% of world’s population rely on traditional plant based medicines for their health care. It is believed that current drugs such as NSAIDS and opiates which are analgesia inducing drugs are not useful in all cases, because of gastrointestinal irritation, liver dysfunction and many other side effects [1]. Therefore, there is still a need existing for the discovery of new drugs from medicinal plants. The crude extracts of plant parts and phytochemicals are known to contain some biological properties and can be of great significance in the therapeutic treatments [2]. Sida is considered to be one of the most important genuses of plants. There are nearly 1096 species of Sida out of which 100 species are medicinally important. Over 2000 years, in India the plants from genus Sida are widely used [3]. Sida cordifolia L commonly known as Country Mallow and Bala (Sanskrit) is a herb belongs to Malvaceae family is widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of India. The plant is shrubby, branched and grows well in damp climates. The leaves are cordate or ovate oblong 2.5- 5 cm long and 2.5-5 cm broad. The shrub grows to a height of about 0.75 – 1.5 m. The flowers are small, yellow or white in color with calyx 6-8 mm long and corolla slightly exceeding the calyx. The fruits are 6-8 mm in diameter with carpels 7-8, strongly reticulated, with a pair of awns on each carpel [4]. The leaves contain both ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, whereas alkaloid, ephedrine, vasicinol, vasicinone and N-methyl tryptophan were present in roots and seeds of Sida cordifolia plant and hence it can be used as medicinal herb [5]. Hence the present study, review the following pharmacological activities which have been recently explored. Antimicrobial activity Chilakapathi Damodar Reddy et al., 2012 [6] evaluated antimicrobial activity using different extracts of Sida cordifolia against bacteria and fungi by disc diffusion method. Solvent control dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) showed no effect against the tested bacteria and fungi. Aqueous extract showed highest inhibitory activity compared to other extracts [7]. Kalaiarasan A et al., 2010 [8] showed that ethanolic leaf extract have significant activity than methanolic extract with zone of inhibition 9.5 mm for Klebsiella pneumonia, 11 mm* for Pseudomonas aeruginosa at 75 ml/disc concentration. Mahesh B et al., 2008 [9] performed antimicrobial activity for five medicinal plants from which Sida cordifolia showed the highest antibacterial activity for Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, highest antifungal activity for Fusarium verticillioides. Mohammad Abdul Motalib Momin et al., 2014 [10] investigated phytochemical screening of ethanolic extract of Sida cordifolia roots and reported antioxidant, antimicrobial and analgesic activity. Antioxidant activity Rajesh Singh Pawa et al., 2011 [11] studied radical scavenging activity using DPPH radical and ascorbic acid was measured in terms of hydrogen donating radical. The IC 50 Anti-Inflammatory activity value of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Sida cordifolia was found to be higher than ascorbic acid. For antioxidant activity the presence of phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, flavonoids and phenolic compounds in the plant which makes ethanolic extract more significant [12]. Maurice Ouedraogo et al., 2012 [13] performed free radical scavenging activity and found a decrease in the DPPH absorbance which was induced by antioxidant. Franzotti EM et al., 2000 [14] investigated aqueous extracts of Sida cordifolia against anti-inflammatory, analgesic and acute toxicity effects in rats. The aqueous extract also increased the latency period of mice in the hot plate method and inhibited a number of writhes produced by acetic acid at the oral dose of 400 mg/kg. Shailender et al., 2011 [15] conducted a study to screen the ethanolic extract of Sida cordifolia for acute and sub-acute anti- inflammatory effects. Sida cordifolia L showed acute inflammatory activity and it was found to be 48.83% with a concentration of 100mg/kg of extract and for 200 mg/kg of extract 53.48% was observed. The ability to inhibit the increase number of fibroblast and synthesis of collagen and mucopolysaccharides during granuloma tissue formation indicates the efficiency of anti- inflammatory agents in sub-acute inflammatory states. Sida cordifolia Linn showed significant (p<0.05) anti-inflammatory activity by reducing granulomatous tissue in cotton pellet granuloma method and thus found to be effective in sub-acute inflammatory conditions [16]. Ternikar et al., 2010 [17] investigated anti-inflammatory activity from the seed oil of Sida cordifolia and it showed a significant activity at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight. Swathy SS et al., 2010 [18] studied the effect of ethanolic extract of sida cordifolia roots on quinolinic acid induced neurotoxicity and its effects were compared with standard drug deprenyl in rat brain. Cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase are the markers of inflammatory responses which were increased in the quinolinic acid treated rats and this was decreased upon administration of plant extract and deprenyl. Anti-ulcer activity Akilandeshwari S et al.,2013 [19] studied antiulcer activity of Sida cordifolia Linn extracts by inducing ulcer using aspirin plus pylorus International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences ISSN- 0975-1491 Vol 6, Issue 11, 2014 Innovare Academic Sciences