REVIEW The Bioactive and Therapeutic Potential of Hemidesmus indicus R. Br. (Indian Sarsaparilla) Root Sarita Das* and Satpal Singh Bisht Department of Biotechnology, Roland Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Berhampur, Odisha, 760010, India The root of Hemidesmus indicus R. Br., commonly known as Indian Sarsaparilla, is used traditionally to treat a wide variety of illnesses including rheumatism, leprosy, impotence, urinary tract and skin infections. The anticancer, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, analgesic, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, renoprotective, neuroprotective and immunomodulatory properties of H. indicus have been investigated in numerous in vivo and in vitro studies. Among these, the antioxidant and antimicrobial activity was well documented. This review details the phytochemistry and therapeutic applications of H. indicus root. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Keywords: Hemidesmus indicus; H.indicus root; HMBA; antioxidant; antimicrobial. INTRODUCTION Hemidesmus indicus R. Br. (Asclepiadaceae), commonly known as Indian Sarsaparilla, is a common weed found all over India. It is widely used in Indian traditional medi- cine and has been extensively investigated for its pharma- cological effects. It has a wide variety of ethno-medicinal uses, the most important of which is probably the treat- ment of dysentery and diarrhoea, but it is also used for other infections, skin disease, menorrhagia, post-partum recovery, stomach ulcer and gastric ailments, fever, head- ache, pain and inflammation, sore mouth, venereal disease including gonorrhea and syphilis, impotence, and as a blood purifier, cooling tonic and appetite stimulant, and to promote health and vitality, neutralize snake bite and scorpion sting (Das et al., 2003a; Austin, 2008). The first pharmacological study was undertaken on the diuretic activity of H. indicus root in 1962 (Satoskar et al., 1962), and since then, three review articles have been published on the pharmacology of H. indicus (Aneja et al., 2008; Austin, 2008; George et al., 2008). The present review covers the phytochemistry and pharmacology of H. indicus root to date. Phytochemistry H. indicus exists in two variants, namely var. indicus and var. pubescens. The constituents are similar, although var. pubescens has been found to have a higher content of b-sitosterol and tannins whereas var. indicus had a higher content of phenols and free amino acids (Austin, 2008). The steam distillation product (yield, 0.25 %) contained 2-hydroxy 4-methoxy benzoic acid (HMBA, 91%) as the major constituent, with 40 minor constituents (Nagarajan et al., 2001). A quantitative estimation of the crude chemical constituents in the aqueous extract of H. indicus root yielded the following: tannins 3.06%, saponins 12.55%, flavonoids 1.12%, alkaloids 1.23%, terpenoids 0.79%, coumarins 0.91% and phenols 1.1% (Ananthi et al., 2010a). Darekar et al. (2008) proposed that lupeol octacosanoate could be used as a marker compound for the quality control of H. indicus; the average amount of lupeol octacosanoate present in the root powder was found to be 36.5 mg/gm. H. indicus roots contain a wide variety of biologically active compounds, including a series of novel coumarino-lignans called hemidesmins (Mandal et al., 1991; Das et al., 1992), and steroidal glycosides known as hemidesmosides A-C (Zhao et al., in press), which are thought to contribute to the therapeutic activity. These are shown in Table 1 together with the other important constituents of the root and their biological activities, where known. PHARMACOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES In vivo animal studies A number of in vivo animal studies have been undertaken to evaluate the therapeutic potential of H. indicus root. These are shown in Table 2. Beneficial effects have been observed in a wide range of studies, including chemopre- ventive and antitumour activity, hepatoprotection, free radical scavenging and antioxidant activity, cardioprotec- tion, neuroprotection, antithrombotic and hypolipidaemic effects, renal protection, antiulcer activity, anti-infective and anti-inflammatory activity. There are no clinical trial reports available for H. indicus for any of its folk-lore (or any other) uses, and many of the in vivo studies that have been carried out are of poor quality. However, there is enough evidence of biological activity to suggest that this plant has a high potential for therapeutic use in some of its traditional indications, and especially for its antidiar- rhoeal properties, where mechanistic studies have also * Correspondence to: Dr. Sarita Das, Department of Biotechnology, Roland Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Berhampur – 760010, Orissa, India. E-mail: saritadas7@yahoo.com PHYTOTHERAPY RESEARCH Phytother. Res. (2012) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ptr.4788 Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 24 December 2011 Revised 18 June 2012 Accepted 12 July 2012