ABSTRACT:
From ancient times mankind by virtue of their experience and experiments used to prepare medicine from plants as natural source for the treatment of various diseases. Plant parts were used as panacea as it has been mentioned in charaka samhita (a part of Ayurvedic System of medicine developed in the era of 3000-2000 BC). Plants not only cure the diseases but also can increase the prevention power (immunity) of human body. Therapeutically active components in plant are present most of the time in very low quantity. In recent times, focused on plant research has increased all over the universe and a large number of evidences have been collected to show immense potential of plants used in various pharmaceutical application. Therefore plant sources have become a key target to explore new pharmacologically active compounds and pharmaceutical excipients. Abelmoschus esculentus is growing widely throughout the tropical and temperate region in the world. It is traditionally used in Ayurveda, and Siddha and Unani. Its medicinal usage has been described in several diseases in all medicinal systems. Chemical groups such as cyanidin-3-glucoside; cyaniding-4- glucoside; 5, 7, 3', 4'-tetrahydroxy-4''-O-methyl flavonol -3-O-ß-D- glucopyranoside; quercetin are mainly believed to be responsible for its various therapeutic actions. It is used as hypoglycaemic, antimicrobial, hypolipidaemic, antioxidant, neuroprotective and antiulcer agents. It is also used as pharmaceutical agents such as suspending, binding agent and mucoadhesive agents. Immature fruits (pods) and seeds of the plant have been used for the formulation of microencapsulated drug delivery system and polysaccharide isolated from it. Therefore it is worthwhile to review its therapeutic properties to give an overview of its status to scientists both modern and ancient. This review also encompasses on the potential applications of the Abelmoschus esculentus (dharosh) plant in the pharmaceutical field due to its wide pharmaceutical activities.