Phytopharmacological Potentials and Micropropagation of Aegle marmelos – A Review

Aegle marmelos, a popular medicinal plant and is used in traditional medicine to treat numerous ailments. Aegle marmelos are reported to have a wide spectrum of pharmacological properties. Its medicinal usage is well-documented in in different traditional medicine such as the Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and other conventional medical systems. Whole parts of the plant are rich in secondary metabolites, which impart miraculous medicinal uses to the plant. The bioactive constituents isolated from lupeol, sitosterol, amyrin, flavanoids (mainly rutin), coumarins, including aegeline, marmesin, umbelliferone etc. The extracts of different parts of plant used as antimicrobial, hepatoprotective, antidiabetes, analgesic, antipyretic, diuretic, immunomodulators, nephroprotective, antioxidant and cytotoxicity activities. Employment of techniques such as cell and tissue culture would provide means of rapid propagation and conservation of the plant species and, from the point of view of phytochemistry, give scope for enhancement of the quality and quantity of the bioactive secondary metabolites occurring in the plant. However, more advanced research is warranted to determine the activities of bioactive compounds in vitro and in vivo, establish their underlying mechanisms of action and commence the process of clinical research. This review consists all the updated information about secondary metabolites, medicinal properties and tissue culture studies on Aegle marmelos.