Shifali Thakur et al / Int. J. Res. Ayurveda Pharm. 12 (3), 2021 106 Review Article www.ijrap.net (ISSN:2229–3566) HEMIDESMUS INDICUS (ANANTMOOL): A POTENTIAL TRADITIONAL PLANT WITH ANTIVENOM ACTIVITY Shifali Thakur, Hemlata Kaurav, Gitika Chaudhary * Shuddhi Ayurveda Jeena Sikho Pvt. Ltd. Zirakpur Punjab, India Received on: 22/03/21 Accepted on: 17/05/21 *Corresponding author E-mail: shuddhi.research@jeenasikho.co.in DOI: 10.7897/2277-4343.120384 ABSTRACT The field of Ayurvedic Science is acquiring more importance and prevalence all through the world as a result of its amazing medicinal uses. Therapeutic plants have been utilized by humankind since ancient times. According to World Health Organization, 80% of individuals depend on natural drugs for some aspect of their primary healthcare. Hemidesmus indicus (Anantmool) is a significant medicinal plant, which is described in Ayurvedic literature and current science because of the presence of its number of remedial properties. Hemidesmus indicus is locally known as Anantmool and Indian Sarsaparilla. It is an aromatic, long-rooted plant that belongs to the Apocynaceae family. The plant is widely cultivating in deciduous forests, uncultivated lands and moist hedges. The medicinal plant is used against a variety of diseases due to the presence of various phytochemicals like Hemidesmol, Resin, Glucoside, Tannin and Resin. The plant parts, roots and rhizome have been utilized for hundreds of years in Ayurvedic medication for relieving countless diseases. Many reported studies highlighted the potential pharmacological properties of H. indicus like anti-cataractous, anti- diarrhoeal, anti-cancerous, anti-diabetics, anti-venom, anti-angiogenic. The present work aims overall Ayurvedic and modern therapeutical information of Hemidesmus indicus with various reported Ayurvedic literature and scientific pharmacological studies. Keywords: Anantmool, Hemidesmus indicus, Anti-venom, Lupeol, Indian Sarsaparilla INTRODUCTION Herbal formulations are significantly utilized for their therapeutic uses and have become progressively popular worldwide 1 . Herbal drugs or formulations have lesser side effects than synthetic formulations. The potency of herbal medicine can be improved by modern pharmacological methods 2 . Several plants are used in the traditional medicinal system as well as modern medication system 3 . Hemidesmus indicus is a well-known drug in the traditional medicinal system 4 and Indian Pharmacopoeia 5 . Hemidesmus indicus (Figure 1) is an aromatic climbing plant commonly known as “Anantmool” or “Indian sarsaparilla”. It belongs to Apocynaceae Family 4 . Anantmool is a combination of two words that is Anant + mool (Anant means eternal and mool means root) so Anantmool means "the external root" 5 . Various scientific studies demonstrated that H. indicus has been assigned to different families. Banerjee et al. stated that H. indicus belongs to the Periplocaceae family, Efloras et al., demonstrated the herb belongs to Asclepiadaceae family and The Plant List 2020 assigned it under the Apocynaceae family. But now H. indicus has belonged to Apocynaceae following phylogenetic classification 6-8 . H. indicus has two varieties black and white. The Black variety is known as Krishna Sariva and the white one is known as Sariva 9 . It includes various phytochemical compounds like Hemindicusin, Coumarinolignoids, Hemidesmin-1, Hemidesmin-2, 2-hydroxy-4-methoxy benzoic acid (HMBA), 2- hydroxy-4-methoxy benzaldehyde (MBALD), 4-hydroxy-3- methoxy benzaldehyde (vanillin), 3-hydroxy-4-methoxy benzaldehyde (isovanillin), lupeol acetate, hindicusine and di- Oacetylhindicusine and β-amyrin palmitate 10 that possess various potential activity like anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, Analgesic, antipyretic, hepatoprotective, antileprotic, anti-acne, antimicrobial, anti-carcinogenic, antithrombotic, anti- hyperlipidaemic, anti-nociceptive, anti-venom and wound healing activity. All parts of Hemidesmus indicus have been considered as a crude drug but the root part of the plant displays a wide range of medicinal, biological and phytopharmaceutical properties 11 . Initially, the herb was employed under the name of Smilax aspera for some time 12 . H. indicus is considered as one of the Rasayana plant of Ayurveda. This herbal plant is utilized in the markets of the USA in the forms of polyhedral formulations as oils or creams and as oral tablets 13 . Many types of research on the herb H. indicus have to be potentially tapped in a commercial way for the production of medicinal products 14 . This review paper aims to provide whole information on the general basis, phytochemical and reported therapeutical studies of plant H. indicus. Taxonomy and vernacular names 15 of H. indicus are given in Table 1 and 2 respectively. Table 1: Vernacular names for H. indicus English Indian Sarsaparilla Hindi Magrubu Kannada Namada-beru Sanskrit Anantmul Tamil Arakkam Assamese Anantamul Bengali Anantamul Gujarati Upalsaari Konkani Uparsal Malayalam Nannaari Manipuri Anantamul Marathi Anantavel Oriya Suguddimalo Telugu Sugandhi Others False Sarsaparilla, Kir Magalie, Indian Sarsaparilla