Secoiridoid Amarogentin from ‘Gentianaceae’ with their Health Promotion, Disease Prevention and Modern Analytical Aspects

Background: Plant-based products and their derivatives have been widely used in the medicine, nutraceuticals, and the cosmetic and pharmaceutical field for a very long time. A large number of important drugs of modern medicine have also been derived from the plant's sources. Plant products specifically the pure phytochemical also known as ‘biomarkers’ have been used in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Biomarker compounds are pure phytochemical and they are mainly responsible for various pharmacological activities of plant material and examples of biomarker are Amarogentin, Vasicine, Hyoscyamine and Paclitaxel. Methods: Various literature databases were searched to collect important information about Amarogentin in this review. Ethnomedicinal uses, pharmacological activities, phytochemical aspects and modern analytical tools of amarogentin were presented and discussed. Further, all the collected information’s were categorized into different section as per the need of the manuscripts. Moreover, data were also presented in the graphical abstract, Figures and Table section too. Results: Swertia chirata (S. chirata) is a common plant of Gentianaecae family which is mainly known for their bitter taste. Gentiopicroside, amarogentin, swertiamarin, isovitexin and isogentisin are some important phytoconstituents of S. chirata. Decoction, infusion, pastes and juice of S. chirata are basically used in the medicine. Various Pharmacological activities such as hypoglycemic, antimicrobial, antimalarial, antihepatotoxic, anticarcinogenic, antioxidative and anti-inflammatory have been reported in the literature for S. chirata plant. Amarogentin, a bitter secoiridoid glycoside of S. chirata has been well known for antibacterial, anticholinergic anti-lieshmanial, chemopreventive, antihepatitis and anticancer activities. Conclusion: Information provided in the present paper regarding phytochemistry, pharmacological uses and analytical aspects including bioavailability will be beneficial to various disciplines of biological science. Development of plant tissue culture-based approaches is also needed for the proper conservation of S. chirayita plants in the future.