Traditional uses and pharmacological activities of the genus leea and its phytochemicals: A review

OBJECTIVES: Plants have been used as traditional medicine (TM) since ancient times and TM remains an effective treatment option in the primary health care system in developing countries, including Bangladesh. There are several reasons to use plants as TM, which are cheaply and easily available and have a cultural heritage of their uses across generations. Leea, a genus of the Vitaceae family, possesses a large number of medicinal plants. In this review, the literature data on the traditional uses and pharmacological activities of Leea species and their phytochemicals are compiled. All the information was collected from the scientific databases. RESULTS: Leea species are endemic that have opened a promising research field to identify new leads against different diseases. Leea contains approximately 70 species, which are widely distributed throughout the Northern and Eastern Australia, South and Southeast Asia and parts of Africa. The Leea plants are used traditionally in different ailments such as fever, diarrhea, dysentery, joint pain, rheumatism, diabetes, bone fracture, body ache, wound, sexual disorders, and so on. The majority of the Leea species are the medicinal plants, which have anticancer, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, cardiovascular, and CNS activity. Moreover, phytochemicals such as flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, terpenoids, steroids, volatile oils, alkaloids, proteins, quinine derivatives, tannins, saponins, and many other organic compounds have been reported in the Leea species (Leea indica, Leea macrophylla, Leea asiatica, Leea aequata, Leea rubra and Leea guineensis). The presence of phytochemicals and the in vitro and in vivo biological activities reported of these plants support their use as TM. Though original research articles related to the Leea genus are available, supportive reviews on phytochemicals and pharmacological activities remain scarce. CONCLUSION: Leea species are used as TM in different ailments and have a real interest in their diverse pharmacological properties. Also, Leea species contain a remarkable number of bioactive compounds. This review has provided a comprehensive report on the plants of Leea genus to identify its therapeutic potential and future prospects for betterment research. However, chemical and biological investigations of several species of Leea genus remain unexplored. Therefore, further studies on these species are necessary, especially regarding pharmacological properties, isolation of the compounds and mechanism of action for the development of new drugs.