Ethno-medicinal, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Ocimum Lamiifolium Hochst. ex benth.: A systematic review

Abstract

Background
Ocimum lamiifolium Hochst. ex Benth. (Lamiaceae) is popular in Ethiopia and oth-er parts of East Africa for its traditional use to treat different ailments. Some of the plant’s phytochemical constituents were studied along with its various pharmaco-logical effects.
Objective
This study aimed to critically review the ethnomedicinal, biological effects, and phytochemical reports on O. lamiifolium.
Methods
To retrieve literature data, search engines such as Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct were employed and the keywords for the literature search included Ocimum lamiifolium, ethnobotany, essential oil, phytochemical, and biological evaluations.
Results
The ethno-medicinal reports indicated that the plant is well-known for the treat-ment of febrile illness, malaria, cough, infections, pain, wounds, and as an insect repellant. Phytochemical studies show the leaf part contains flavonoids and is rich in essential oils. The biological study reports illustrated that both the extracts and essential oils possessed generally low to moderate anti-microbial effects while the extracts showed a promising anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect, hepato-protective, anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic effects, anti-protozoal, insecticidal, and anti-proliferative activities. The toxicological studies on the plant are limited.
Conclusions
The promising anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of O. lamiifolium might sug-gest that the medicinal plant need be studied further as an alternative medicine. Moreover, several traditional claims about the plant including use to treat high blood pressure, gastric pain, cough, skin diseases and wounds have not been sci-entifically substantiated yet and such research may be suggested.