Abstract

PHARMACOLOGICAL PROPERTIES AND THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF SYZYGIUM CUMINI (JAMUN): A REVIEW

Meenakshi Kumawat*, Jyoti Damor, Jaya Kachchhwaha, Ayush Kumar Garg and Chandan Singh

Abstract

JAMUN (Syzygium cumini) commonly known as Black berry, Black plum, Jambul or Java Plum, is large evergreen, glabrous tree, it is distributed throughout India, Sri Lanka, Malaya, and Australia. Annually the trees produce oblong or ellipsoid fruits (berries). They are green when raw and purplish black when fully ripe. The ripe fruits are sweetish sour to taste. Studies have shown that the berries contain carbohydrates, minerals and the pharmacologically active phytochemicals like flavonoids, terpenes, and anthocyanins. The plant is rich in compounds containing anthocyanins, glucoside, ellagic acid, isoquercetin, kaemferol and myrecetin. The seeds are claimed to contain alkaloid, jambosine and glycoside jambolin or antimellin, which halts the diastatic conversion of starch into sugar. The vast number of literatures found in the database revealed that the extracts of different parts of jamun showed significant pharmacological actions. Jamun is a plant with known ethnomedicinal uses. Scientific studies have shown that the various extracts of Jamun possess a range of pharmacological properties such as antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antigenotoxic, anti-inflammatory, anti-ulcerogenic, cardioprotective, anti-allergic, anticancer, chemopreventive, radioprotective, free radical scavenging, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, anti-diarrheal, hypoglycemic and antidiabetic effects. Several dietary phytochemicals have been reported to have growth inhibitory and apoptotic effect on HeLa and other cervical cell lines.[1]

Keywords: JAMUN (Syzygium cumini) cardioprotective, cervical cell lines.