Introduction

Terminalia arjuna, commonly known as arjuna, belongs to the family Combretaceae. Its bark decoction is used in the Indian subcontinent to treat angina, hypertension, congestive heart failure, and dyslipidemia, based on the observations of ancient physicians for centuries.1 According to estimates by the World Health Organization, more than 75% of the world's population is still dependent on medicines derived from plants, often obtained by healers.2 Arjuna is a powerful herb that has been widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for a very long time. Due to its strong cardiotonic and cardioprotective effects, it is mainly used to treat heart disease.3 Since ancient times, people have used the therapeutic powers of the bark of the arjuna tree to treat a variety of ailments.4 Arjuna is a remarkable herb that promotes a healthy heart and eases the effects of anxiety and uncertainty.5 It improves heart health and controls heart rate.6 The minerals abundant in arjuna help prevent bone loss and improve bone mineral density. Due to its ulcer-protective activity, it is an effective treatment for ulcers, especially peptic ulcers.7 It effectively treats bleeding disorders because it regulates bleeding.8 It benefits more from frequent urination and polyuria because it reduces the frequency of urination. It has strong astringent properties and controls leukemia.9

This herbal combination has been shown to be effective in Ayurvedic practices for common cold and flu symptoms such as sneezing and runny nose. It also relieves body aches, headache, cough and fever, improves appetite and body immunity. This formulation provides the combined actions of an antipyretic, analgesic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory and diuretic, thereby relieving the symptoms associated with the common cold.10 Terminalia arjuna Wight & Arn. (Comretaceae) is a plant with important medicinal potential. Traditionally, the plant is used in the processing of various foods. T. arjuna is a very good cholesterol-lowering, lipid-lowering, anticoagulant, antihypertensive, antithrombotic, antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial agent. Different parts of the plant have been studied. on the presence of plant components and pharmacological activity. Many useful plant components have been isolated from T. arjuna. Triterpenoids are mainly responsible for the cardiovascular properties.11 Ancient Indian physicians used the powdered bark of Terminalia arjuna Wight & Arn. to relieve "hritshool" (angina) and other cardiovascular conditions. Its stem bark has glycosides, large amounts of flavonoids, tannins and minerals. Flavonoids have been found to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and lipid-lowering effects while glycosides are cardiac stimulants, making Terminalia arjuna unique among currently used herbal medicines.12

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Plant Description

Arjuna is a medium-sized deciduous tree that grows up to 20 meters tall. The tree sheds its skin and its wood becomes wood after it completes the peeling. Arjuna leaves are oblong, simple, leathery and grooved. Arjuna flowers grow in spikes and are white. Arjuna fruit has 5-7 wings and is ovate or oblong. Arjuna flower season starts from April to May.14

Chemical Constituents

Arjuna is a member of the family Combretaceae (commonly known as "Arjuna") is a well-known medicinal plant and is found throughout India. Its different aspects have been studied by different researchers and it has been studied for a long time. The tannin content varies from 15–18% in the bark obtained from the lower branches to 20–24% in the dried bark obtained from the stem. Arjuna bark has a mixed tannin form that includes both hydrolyzed tannins and condensed tannins.18 Epicatechol, epigallocatechol, (+) catechol, (+) gallocatechol and ellgic acid are the tannins that have been reported. From the stem bark, flavonoids such as arjunolone, arjunone and baicaleine have been identified. There have also been reports of the triterpenoid chemicals arjune-tin, arjungenin, arjunglucoside I and II, and terminoic acid from the bark. Arjunosides I and II, terminic acid, oleanolic acid, arjunic acid and other triterpenoids are among those found in the roots. In addition, the fruit contains 7 to 20% tannins. A pentacyclic triterpene glycoside, arjunoglucoside III, has been reported in fruit along with hentriacontane, myristyl oleate and arachidic stearate.19 Two new pentacyclic triterpenoid glycosides, isolated from the bark of Terminalia arjuna, have been characterized as olean-3α,22β-diol-12-en-28-oic-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→4)- β-D-glucopyranoside 1 and olean-3β,6β,22α-triol-12-en-28-oic acid-3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1→4)-β-D-glucopyranoside 2 on muscle by department of spectroscopy data analysis and chemical research.20 The non-phenolic fraction of the alcohol extract from the root bark of Terminalia arjuna generated two novel triterpenoid glycosides, arjunoside III and arjunoside IV along with arjunglucoside I and arjunetine. The structure of arjunoside III was established as the 28-β-D(+)-glucuronopyanoside of arjunic acid by a study of its chemical and spectral data (1H and 13C NMR) Arjunoside IV was found to be 3- O-α- L(−)-rhamnoside of arjunic acid.21 Cooper EL (2005) CAM et al. Root of Terminalia alata produced three novel glycosides: 3,3`-di-O-methylellagic acid 4-O-beta-D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->4)- beta - D-glucopyranosyl-(1-->2)-alpha-L-arabinopyranoside (1), 5,7,2'-tri-O-methylflavanone 4'-O-alpha-L-rhamnopyranosyl-(1-- > ; 4)-beta-D-glucopyranoside (2), and 2alpha,3beta, 19beta,23-tetrahydroxyolean-12-ene-28-oic acid 3-O-beta-D-galactopyranosyl-(1-->3) - beta -D-glucopyranoside-28-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (3). Compounds 2 and 3 exhibited antifungal activity.22

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Anticancer Activity

The active components of the cancer cell line detected were gallic acid, ethyl gallate and flavone luteolin. Previously only gallic acid was known in this plant.23

Arjuna bark, the main component of Arjunarishta, has been shown in animal experiments to be useful in reducing tumour growth. More research is need to determine their effectiveness in treating cancer in humans, though.24

There have been reports of T. arjuna's anti-cancer properties. Pestalotiopsis terminaliae, an endophytic fungus, was isolated from T. arjuna leaves and tested for the ability to produce taxol (anticancer drug). The fungus generated a considerable amount of taxol. BT220, H116, Int 407, HL 251, and HLK 210 human cancer cells were strongly cytotoxic to the fungal taxol isolated from an organic extract of the fungal culture in an in vitro apoptosis experiment.25

Arjunic acid, arjungenin, and their glycosides, arjunetine and arjunglucoside II, have been isolated from the bark of T. arjuna. Arjungenin and its glucoside showed moderate free radical scavenging activity while all compounds showed no effect on superoxide release from PMN cells. Furthermore, arjungenin also showed a stronger inhibitory effect on hypochlorous acid production from human neutrophils, which suggests that it is a very good cardioprotective drug during respiratory oxyburst.26

After TA was administered orally to rabbits for 12 weeks, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) levels increased, and heat shock protein was also induced72 (HSP72). A scientific foundation for the putative therapeutic benefit of TA in ischemic heart disease is provided by the prevention of in vivo ischemia-reperfusion, injury-induced oxidative stress, tissue injury of the heart, and hemodynamic effects in the rabbit hearts treated with TA.27

In an experiment, on the extract of T. Arjuna cultured human peripheral blood cells, the impact of a bark extract from T. arjuna (TAE) on the modulation of adriamycin (ADR)-induced micronuclei production was investigated. The development of micronuclei was significantly reduced when cells were pretreated with TAE prior to receiving ADR therapy. These results demonstrate that TAE protects DNA against ADR-induced damage.28

Human normal fibroblasts (WI-38), osteosarcoma (U2OS), and glioblastoma (U251) cells were grown in vitro with the help of acetone and methanol extracts of T. arjuna. Both extracts suppress the development of transformed cells at doses of 30 g and 60 g mL-1. The tumour suppressor protein, p53, was increased in U2OS but not in U251 or WI-38 cells after extract treatment. It appears that the bark extract of T. arjuna contains elements that can cause growth arrest of transformed cells by p53-dependent and -independent pathways because p21WAF1 was only increased in transformed cell.29

Cheng HY, Lin CC, Lin TC (2002) says,Casuarinin, a hydrolyzable tannin isolated from the bark of Terminalia arjuna Linn. (Combretaceae), was investigated for its antiviral activity on herpes simplex type 2 (HSV-2) in vitro. Results showed that the IC(50) of casuarinin in XTT and plaque reduction assays Thus, the selectivity index (SI) (ratio of CC(50) to IC(50)) of casuarinin was 25 and 59 for XTT and plaque reduction assays, respectively. Casuarinin continued to exhibit antiviral activity even added 12 h after infection.30

Casuarinin, a hydrolyzable tannin isolated from the bark of Terminalia arjuna L. (Combretaceae), was investigated for its antiproliferative activity in human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells. The results showed that casuarinin inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 by blocking cell cycle progression in the G0/G1 phase and inducing apoptosis. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that casuarinin increased the expression of p21/WAF1 concomitantly as the MCF-7 cells underwent G0/G1 arrest.31

GIT and Cardiovascular Activity

Rose J, Treadway S says, the body needs constant nutrition to ensure the normal functioning of the cardiovascular system. However, 60 million Americans have cardiovascular disease (CVD), which includes many diseases of the heart and blood vessels such as chronic venous insufficiency and high blood pressure.32

Aqueous extract of Terminalia Arjuna in gastric ulcer induced by H.pylori LPS in rats, and it can be concluded that the aqueous extract shows activity against gastric and gastric ulcer.33 Nagar A, Gujral VK, Gupta SR et al. studied The inhibitory effect of alcohol and aqueous extracts of TA stem bark was evaluated on 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) of Human reductase, lipoprotein lipase (LpL), and lipid peroxidation in rat liver and heart homogeneity (wistar). H2O2-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation patterns were observed by confocal microscopy and found to be reduced.34 Dwivedi S, Aggarwal A, Aggarwal MP, Rajpal S (2005) et al. studied that powdered bark of Terminalia arjuna, a native plant, has been shown to have antianginal, decongestant, and lipid-lowering. The role of T. arjuna in ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was evaluated. After 1 and 3 months of follow-up, patients receiving adjuvant T. arjuna showed a significant reduction in IMR in improved condition.35

Conclusion

It is thus concluded that T. Arjuna has diversified uses in complimentary, Traditional alternative, medicine and ethnopharmacology. The review is ideal for the researchers in these fields and to lay foundation stone for futher use of T. Arjuna in therapeutics.

Source of Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Acknowledgment

The Authors AGN and RKD thank the Hon. President Shri. R. S. Yadav, CAYMET for his kind support and providing necessary laboratory facilities.