Santhaseelan Henciya ^a,b, Prabha Seturaman ^c, Arthur Rathinam James ^a,
Yi-Hong Tsai ^d, Rahul Nikam ^d, Yang-Chang Wu ^d,e,f,g,h,
Hans-Uwe Dahms ^b,i,*, Fang Rong Chang ^d,i,j,k,l,*

^a Department of Marine Science, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli,
Tamil Nadu, India
^b Department of Biomedical Science and Environment Biology, College of Life Science, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
^c Department of Microbiology, Annai College of Arts & Science, Kumbakonam,
Tamil Nadu, India
^d Graduate Institute of Natural Products, College of Pharmacy, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
^e Chinese Medicine Research and Development Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
^f School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, China Medical University,
Taichung, Taiwan
^g Research Center for Chinese Herbal Medicine, China Medicinal University, Taiwan
^h Center for Molecular Medicine, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan
ⁱ Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources,
National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
^j Center for Infectious Disease and Cancer Research, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
^k Cancer Center, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
^l Research Center for Environmental Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

 

Prosopis is a commercially important plant genus, which has been used since ancient times, particularly for medicinal purposes. Traditionally, Paste, gum, and smoke from leaves and pods are applied for anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial purposes. Components of Prosopis such as flavonoids, tannins, alkaloids, quinones, or phenolic compounds demonstrate potentials in various biofunctions, such as analgesic, anthelmintic, antibiotic, antiemetic, microbial antioxidant, antimalarial, antiprotozoal, antipustule, and antiulcer activities; enhancement of H⁺, K⁺, ATPases; oral disinfection; and probiotic and nutritional effects; as well as in other biopharmaceutical applications, such as binding abilities for tablet production. The compound juliflorine provides a cure in Alzheimer disease by inhibiting acetylcholine esterase at cholinergic brain synapses. Some indirect medicinal applications of Prosopis spp. are indicated, including antimosquito larvicidal activity, chemical synthesis by associated fungal or bacterial symbionts, cyanobacterial degradation products, “mesquite” honey and pollens with high antioxidant activity, etc. This review will reveal the origins, distribution, folk uses, chemical components, biological functions, and applications of different representatives of Prosopis.

 

Keywords: medicinal application, natural product, Prosopis, secondary metabolite