1Department of Biotechnology, Kulliyyah of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, 25200 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
2Department of Microbiology, School of Applied Sciences, Federal Polytechnic Institute, Nasarawa, Nigeria
3Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Kulliyyah of Pharmacy, International Islamic University Malaysia, 25200 Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Received 30 July 2014; Revised 25 September 2014; Accepted 25 September 2014; Published 25 December 2014
Academic Editor: Thomas Efferth
Copyright © 2014 Md. Sanower Hossain et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.As aboriginal sources of medications, medicinal plants are used from the ancient times. Andrographis paniculata is one of the highly used potential medicinal plants in the world. This plant is traditionally used for the treatment of common cold, diarrhoea, fever due to several infective cause, jaundice, as a health tonic for the liver and cardiovascular health, and as an antioxidant. It is also used to improve sexual dysfunctions and serve as a contraceptive. All parts of this plant are used to extract the active phytochemicals, but the compositions of phytoconstituents widely differ from one part to another and with place, season, and time of harvest. Our extensive data mining of the phytoconstituents revealed more than 55 ent-labdane diterpenoids, 30 flavonoids, 8 quinic acids, 4 xanthones, and 5 rare noriridoids. In this review, we selected only those compounds that pharmacology has already reported. Finally we focused on around 46 compounds for further discussion. We also discussed ethnobotany of this plant briefly. Recommendations addressing extraction process, tissue culture, and adventitious rooting techniques and propagation under abiotic stress conditions for improvement of phytoconstituents...