Pappea capensis Eckl. & Zeyh. (Sapindaceae): Evaluation of its traditional and future potential uses

Abstract

Background: Pappea capensis has potential as a fruit plant on the basis of fruit size, palatability, yield, abundance and nutritional properties. But today, P. capensis it is a well-known medicinal plant throughout its distributional range, with local communities relying on its traditional materia medica for primary healthcare needs. The present review compiles existing information on traditional uses, chemical, pharmacological properties, and further use potential and applications of P. capensis.

Methods: Multiple searches on existing literature on the traditional, medicinal, phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of P. capensis were conducted in online databases such as Scopus, JSTOR, PubMed, Google Scholar and Science Direct as well as using pre-electronic literature sources obtained from the university library.

Results: This study showed that P. capensis is a multipurpose species used as food plant, source of firewood, timber and herbal medicine. Pappea capensis is used as medicinal plant against human and animal diseases in 11 countries, representing 55.0% of the countries where the species is indigenous. The chemical evaluation of the plant species revealed that it contains acids, alcohols, aliphatic, alkaloids, alkyl, amino acids, anthocyanidins, cardiac glycosides, cyanidins, cyclic esters, fatty acids, flavonoids, phenolics, phytol, phytosterols, saponins, tannins and terpenoids. The pharmacological evaluations showed that the crude extracts and phytochemical compounds isolated from the species demonstrated anthelmintic, antibacterial, antimycobacterial, antigonococcal, antifungal, anti-HIV, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antileishmanial, antioxidant, antiplasmodial, cardioprotective and molluscicidal.

Conclusions: Detailed ethnopharmacological evaluation of P. capensis focusing on its phytochemistry, pharmacological properties and toxicological evaluations, in vivo and clinical research are recommended.

Keywords: indigenous pharmacopeia, materia medica, Pappea capensis, traditional medicine, tropical Africa