Background
Olax subscorpioidea Oliv. (Olacaceae) is a woody shrub that is widely distributed in Africa. It has trado-medicinal importance and is used in the treatment of asthma, cancer, convulsion, diabetes, intestinal worm infections, jaundice, mental illnesses, neurodegenerative disorders, sexually transmitted infections, swellings and rheumatism, and yellow fever.
Aims
To review available literature on the phytochemistry, ethnobotany, pharmacology and toxicity of Olax subscorpioidea Oliv.
Methods
Published findings were searched in online databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, Pubmed, Google Scholar and other relevant sources, and the data were sorted by relevance. Combinations of keywords used in the search include Olax subscorpioidea, Olacaceae, Olax, Ewe Ifon, and African medicinal plants.
Results
The presence of alkaloids, anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, proanthocyanidins, saponins, tannins and triterpenes has been reported from O. subscorpioidea. Cytotoxic santalbic acid was isolated from the methanol extract of the seed of this plant, while GC-MS and HPLC analyses of the n-butanol and n-hexane extracts of the leaf revealed the presence of caffeic acid, quercetin, morin, rutin, n-hexadecanoic acid (palmitic acid), 7,10,13-hexadecatrienoic acid and methyl ester, hentriacontane, 9,17-octadecadienal (Z)-, 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-, squalene, nonacosane, octadecanoic acid. Bioactivity studies on this plant demonstrated its medicinal potential mainly as an analgesic, anthelmintic, anti-arthritic, antidepressant, antihyperglycaemic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimalarial and antimicrobial agent. Oral acute toxicity of the leaf extracts in rats appeared to be greater than 5,000 mg/kg body weight.
Conclusion
Published literature available to date on O. subscorpioidea provides some preliminary scientific basis for the ethnomedicinal uses of this plant. However, some ethnomedicinal uses have not been scientifically validated yet, and similarly, only a limited amount of information is available on properly isolated and identified phytochemicals from this plant that link to its bioactivitie
