Aesculus indica: an updated review on its pharmacognosy, phytochemistry and pharmacological profile

Figures & data

Table 1. Taxonomical classification

Phylum	Angiosperms
Class	Eudicots
Order	Sapindales
Family	Hippocastanaceae
Sub-family	Sapindaceae
Genus	Aesculus
Species	Indica

Figure 1. Aesculus indica tree and its parts.

Table 2. Chief constituents of A. indica with their biological activities

S. no	Phytoconstituent	Plant species	Model	Mechanism	Biological activity	Reference
1	Saponin [Aescin)	A. indica	Serous peritonitis induced by injection of formalin in rats/ Carrageenan in mice	Sensitization to Ca^2+ ions and reduction of activation of human endothelial cells	Anti-edematous	Sirtori et al., 2001
		A. indica	In vitro human saphenous veins	Increase secretion of prostaglandin F2α	CVI	Sirtori et al., 2001
		A. hippocastanum	Carrageenan-induced edema in rats	Activation of 5-HT2 receptors and decrease TNF-α IL-Iβ, PGE2 and COX-2	Anti-inflammatory	[45]
		A. hippocastanum	In vitro anti-obesity in mice	Reduced leptin, FT level and enhanced HDL-C concentration	Anti-obesity	[46]
		A. hippocastanum	Sulforhodamine B (SRB] assay	β-aescin sodium enhances TSP-1 expression and reduces PKC-α, phosphor-P38 [mitogen-activated protein kinase) and phosphor- ERK expression	Proliferation, migration and apoptosis	[47]
		A. hippocastanum	In vivo and In vitro	In vivo studies suggest that β-aescin inhibits colon cancer in rats, or in vitro suggests that β-aescin inhibits HT29 colon cancer cell proliferation and reduces Cdk2	Anti-cancer	[48]
2	Glucoside (Esculin]	A. indica	Neutrophil adhesion test and delayed type hypersensitivity	Increased lymphokines secretion and stimulate cell-mediated immunity	Immunomodulator	Chakraborthy et al., 2009
3	Flavonoid [Rutin)	A. indica	In vivo tail immersion and hot plate method	Inhibit prostaglandin synthesis Reduction of acetic acid-induced writhings	Anti-nociceptive effect	[40]
4	Quercetin	A. indica	In vitro DPPH and ABTS assay	Scavenging reactive oxygen species	Anti-oxidant	[11]
5	Mandelic acid	A. indica	In vitro DPPH and ABTS assay	Inhibit lipid oxidation	Anti-oxidant	[11]

Figure 2. Chief bioactive phytoconstituents isolated from A. indica.

Table 3. Patents on A. indica.

S. No.	Patent number	Title	Date	Reference
1	BG107944A	A process for obtaining β-aescin from Indian horse chestnut [A. indica]	31/07/2012	[49]
2	EP1489910B1	A new antiviral agent from Indian horse chestnut A. indica	11/04/2007	[50]

Mastuda H, Li Y, Murakami T, et al. Effects of aescins Ia, Ib, IIa and II b, from horse chestnut, the seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum L., on acute inflammation in animals. Biol Pharm Bull. 1997;20(10):1092–1095.

 Google Scholar

Avci G, Kucukkurt I, Akkol EK, et al. Effects of escin mixture from the seeds of Aesculus hippocastanum on obesity in mice fed a high fat diet. Pharm Biol. 2010;48(3):247–252.

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Wang XH, Xu B, Liu JT, et al. Effect of β-escin sodium on endothelial cells proliferation, migration and apoptosis. Vasc Pharmacol. 2008;49(4–6):158–165.

 Google Scholar

Patlolla JMR, Raju J, Swamy MV, et al. β-Escin inhibits colonic aberrant crypt foci formation in rats and regulates the cell cycle growth by inducing p21waf1/cip1 in colon cancer cells. Mol Cancer Ther. 2006;5(6):1459–1466.

 Google Scholar

Firdoos S, Khan AU, Ali F. Pharmacological investigation of aesculus indica aqueous-ethanol extract for its anti-nociceptive action. J Anim Plant Sci. 2018;28:610–615.

 Google Scholar

Zahoor M, Shafiq S, Ullah H, et al. Isolation of quercetin and mandelic acid from Aesculus indica fruit and their biological activities. BMC Biochem. 2018;19:1–14.

 Google Scholar

Singh B. A process for obtaining b-aescin from indian horse chestnut (aesculus indica). 2009.

 Google Scholar

Singh BK, Meenu R, Raja Z, et al. A new antiviral agent from Indian horse chestnut Aesculus indica. http://www.freepatentsonline.com.EPI1489910 html. 2004.

 Google Scholar