Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medical Research 2(3): 1-11, 2017; Article no.JOCAMR.32212 SCIENCEDOMAIN international www.sciencedomain.org Review of the Ethno-medical, Phytochemical, Pharmacological and Toxicological Studies on Dissotis rotundifolia (Sm.) Triana Oduro Kofi Yeboah 1 and Newman Osafo 1* 1Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Authors OKY and NO designed the study, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author OKY managed the literature searches and author NO proof read the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/JOCAMR/2017/32212 Editor(s): (1) Francisco Cruz-Sosa, Metropolitan Autonomous University Iztapalapa Campus Av. San Rafael Atlixco, Mexico. Reviewers: (1) Pamela Souza Almeida Silva, Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil. (2) Michael B. Adinortey, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sciencedomain.org/review-history/18453 Received 14 th February 2017 Accepted 28 th March 2017 Review Article st Published 1 April 2017 ABSTRACT Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Dissotis rotundifolia (Sm.) Triana, commonly called ‘pink lady’, is employed in West and Eastern African folkloric medicine for managing a number of infections including dysentery, cough and sexually transmitted infections. The review aims at highlighting the traditional benefits, ethno-medical, phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological importance of the plant. Materials and Methods: Excerpta Medica database, Google Scholar, Springer and PubMed Central, were the electronic databases used to search for and filter primary studies on Dissotis rotundifolia . Results: This summary of relevant pharmacological, phytochemical and toxicological data from primary studies on D. rotundifolia gives a telling indication of its potential therapeutic benefits as a chemotherapeutic agent and possibly as a source of compounds with contraceptive potential. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]; Yeboah and Osafo; JOCAMR, 2(3): 1-11, 2017; Article no.JOCAMR.32212 Conclusion: This concise review on D. rotundifolia will be relevant in identification of areas of further research with the focus of identifying biologically active compounds which hold prospect in therapy. Keywords: Dissotis rotundifolia; ethno-medicine; phytochemistry; pharmacology; toxicology. 1. INTRODUCTION indicated in Table 1 and has been documented in a handful of research articles. Aside its medicinal The creeping herb Dissotis rotundifolia (Sm.) value, the bright pink flowers, ovate, fleshy Triana, commonly called ‘pink lady’, is an leaves and prickly fruits of the herb makes it important part of the folkloric medicine in most useful in landscape. The slender, creepy nature parts of West and East Africa. It is used in the of the herb makes it an excellent ground-cover treatment of various ailments such as diarrhea, though it will be an annual in non-tropical or non- dysentery, conjunctivitis, sexually transmitted subtropical zones [8]. infections, cough, relieving symptoms of stomach ache [1], dysentery, hookworm infestation [2,3], 3. TAXONOMY AND LOCAL NAMES fibromyalgia, infertility [4] and Trypanosomiasis [5]. In tropical Africa, the whole plant is used in 3.1 Classification the treatment of rheumatism and yaws [3,6]. A number of studies have led to the establishment Dissotis rotundifolia belongs to the Kingdom of the anti-inflammatory [4], antioxidant [7], anti- Plantae, the subkingdom Tracheobionta and the infective [3] and anti-ovulatory effects [4] of the super division of Spermatophyta. It is in the herb. These studies have also led to the division Magnoliophyta and belongs to the class characterization of certain secondary metabolites Magnoliopsida. It is classified under the subclass that may serve as probable source of lead Rosidae and the order Myrtales. It belongs to the compounds for future drug development. family melastomataceae, the genus Dissotis and However, to the best of the knowledge of the the species is rotundifolia (Fig. 1). authors, no review exists on the reporting of the phytochemical composition, biological and pharmacological activities of this perennial herb which has called for the need to compile all available data on D. rotundifolia . This review therefore seeks to highlight the folkloric significance, phytochemical composition, biological and pharmacological activities of D. rotundifolia . This review will also aid future studies aimed at isolation, purification and characterization of the various bioactive compounds responsible for the reported biological and pharmacological activities of the plant. 2. HISTORICAL PERSPECIVE Fig. 1. The leaves and flowers of Dissotis rotundifolia (Adapted from plant breeding in Dissotis rotundifolia has been used in its native st range for a wide range of medicinal purposes as the 21 century – University of Georgia) Table 1. Ethnopharmacological use of Dissotis rotundifolia Part Value References Leaves Dysentery [9,10] Leaves Stomachache, diarrhoea, cough, stop abortion, conjunctivitis, [10] circulatory problems and veneral diseases Leaves Bilharzias [2] Fresh aerial parts Malaria [11] Leaves Tuberculosis [12] Roots and leaves Wound, Asthma, Boil, Abscess, Gonorrhea [13] Leaves Diarrhoea [10,13] Leaves Sinusitis and bronchitis [14] 2 Yeboah and Osafo; JOCAMR, 2(3): 1-11, 2017; Article no.JOCAMR.32212 Table 2. Vernacular names of Dissotis rotundifolia No. People Vernacular name References 1 English Pink Lady [15,16,17] 2 English Spanish Shawl [18] 3 Benin Ebafo [10,19] 4 Yuroba Awede [19,20] 5 Igbo Nkpisi-nku [19,20] 6 Kimboza Kinzasu [13] 7 Liberia Rockrose [21,22] 8 Diola é soso [21,22,23] 9 Mankanya ba poti [21,22] 10 Biafada mandafnade [21,22] 11 Kissi yσng ч̃ [21,22] 12 Koranko legbe [21,22] 13 Loko εbowa [21,22] 14 Mende febungi [21,22] 15 English Trailing dissotis [24] 16 Cook Islands Creeping Melastoma [25] This plant is known across tropical West and D. rotundifolia ). D. rotundifolia also has two kinds East Africa and other parts of the world by of anthers: feeding anthers and pollinating several names some of which have been noted anthers [27]. As with other plants of in this review (Table 2 above). the Melastomataceae family, the flowers of D. rotundifolia are herkogamous with the style 4. ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY often longer than the stamen [28]. The herkogamous nature of the flowers and the Dissotis rotundifolia is native to tropical West poricidal nature of the anthers promotes Africa though it can be found in other parts of the outcrossing. Before anthesis, the anthers are world (Australia’s Virtual Herbarium). It is very folded up with their ends protected from the common in Nigeria and Western Papua New stigma making self-pollination rarely likely. Guinea where they thrive in brown clay soil However, self-pollination may occur if the anther especially along river banks. According to unfolds and the ends touch the stigma causing Porembski et al. [26] the herb can also be found the pollen to dehisce. This implies that D. on rock outcrops, in the bottom of sandy rotundifolia is self-compatible [8] though it can depressions, and may also grow as weed also set seed by agamospermy [28]. alongside roads and in waste spaces in its native range. 6. CHEMICAL COMPOSITION 5. PHARMACOGNOSTIC DATA Plants are useful components in ethno-medicine and proper screening of phytochemical Dissotis rotundifolia is a versatile perennial compositions can yield useful products of slender creeping herb with ascending stems up pharmaceutical significance [1,3]. Quantitative to 40 cm high. It roots at the nodes and is phytochemical analysis of the root and leaves by produced from seeds and stolon. The leaves are Aja et al. revealed the presence of flavonoids, ovate to ovate-lanceolate or suborbicular, 1.5-7.0 phenols, polyphenols, alkaloids, tannins, cm long, 0.8-4.0 cm wide, 3-nerved, both cyanogenic glycosides, anthocyanin, saponins, surfaces sparsely to densely pilose, margins sapoginin and anthraquinone [20]. Abere et al. ciliate and more than a little but not too crenuate, had also previously reported on the presence of apex acute, base truncate to short-attenuate and alkaloids, cardiac glycosides and saponins [3]. In petioles are 0.5-2.5 cm long. Like other species the study by Aja et al. it was also identified that, in the family Melastomataceae, D. rotundifolia the root sample contained high levels of these has poricidal anthers and pollen dehisces phytochemical constituents than the leaves with from the anthers (Botanical description of the exception of anthocyanin and saponins [20]. 3 Yeboah and Osafo; JOCAMR, 2(3): 1-11, 2017; Article no.JOCAMR.32212 D. rotundifolia has been shown to contain chloroform and free alkaloids, precipitated by by appreciable amount of ascorbic acid [7,14]. Off or the addition of excess ammonia and extracted detected an ascorbic acid amount of 0.31 ± 0.02 with chloroform, on silica gel-G, activated by (mg/100 g) [7], an amount significantly lower than heating at 110°C for 30 minutes was developed the amount detected by Okeri and Alonge, 90.40 with the solvent system methanol: chloroform ± 0.38