A Comprehensive Review of Ethnomedicinal Uses, Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, and Toxicity of Prunus africana (Hook. F.) Kalkman from Africa

Table 3

Summary of biological/pharmacological activities of notable P. africana phytochemicals.

Phytochemical	Pharmacological effects	References
Ursolic acid	(i) In vivo inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity in scopolamine-induced cognitive-impaired Swiss albino mice to improve cognition and performance in a passive avoidance task	[41]
Quercetin and quercetin 3,30-dimethyl ether-40-glucoside	(i) In vitro downregulation of Bcl-2 resulting in PC-3 cells’ apoptosis	[39]
	(ii) In vivo inhibition of alpha-reductase enzyme activity to inhibit prostate inflammation	[16]
	(iii) Activates signalling pathways that regulate synaptic plasticity and long-term potentiation, ensuring neuronal integrity	[41, 49]
	(iv) Ameliorate neuroinflammation in AD
β-sitostenone	(i) In vivo anti-inflammatory, neuroprotective, and antioxidant properties	[41, 50]
	(ii) In vivo reduction of AChE, TNF-α, and corticosterone activities, and improves antioxidant enzymes’ activity
Chlorogenic acid	(i) In vivo inhibition of AChE activity in the frontal cortex and hippocampus based on ex vivo studies	[41, 51]
Apigenin	(i) In vivo anti-Alzheimer’s, antidiabetic, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties	[41, 52]
Catechin	(i) In vitro antioxidant activity	[53, 54]
Oleanolic acid	(i) Targets the AMPK in PC-3 cells in vitro to inhibit key metabolic pathways leading to apoptosis	[55, 56]
	(ii) Inhibits IFN-γ, nitric oxide synthase, and cyclooxygenase-2 in rat macrophages	[57]
	(iii) Induces phase-2 response by increasing heme oxygenase-1 and NADH-quinone oxidoreductase, to prevent cells’ damage from free radicals and electrophiles	[41, 57]
β-amyrin	(i) Exhibits in vitro cytotoxicity to PC-3 cells	[39, 58]
Atraric acid	(i) Possess antiandrogenic activity with antiproliferative effects against PC-3 cells	[39, 59]
Ferulic acid	(i) Promotes in vitro PC-3 cells’ apoptosis	[39, 58]
	(ii) In vivo inhibition of the alpha-reductase enzyme activity to reduce prostate inflammation	[16, 25, 59]
N-butylbenzene-sulfonamide	(i) Promotes apoptosis of PC-3 cells in vitro	[39, 59]
β-sitosterol	(i) Exhibits in vitro cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects against the PC-3 and LNCaP cells	[39, 59]
	(ii) Inhibits alpha-reductase enzyme activity, reducing prostate inflammation	[16, 37, 39]
Lauric acid	(i) In vitro inhibition of 5-α-reductase enzyme to prevent testosterone conversion to dihydrotestosterone	[39, 60]
Myristic acid	(i) In vitro antioxidant activity	[41, 42]
Flavonols	(i) In vitro antiproliferative activity against prostate cancer cells	[47]
Terpenoids	(i) Antimalarial activity by arresting P. falciparum growth and by inhibiting its biosynthesis of isoprenoids	[12, 61]
Tannins	(i) In vitro antimicrobial and antiparasitic activities to avert gastrointestinal diseases	[46]
Tannins	(i) In vitro antimicrobial activities against bacterial and fungal strains associated with skin infections	[23, 46, 61–64]
Tannins	(i) In vitro inhibition of Streptococcus pneumonia growth to alleviate respiratory disease	[23, 46, 61–64]
Tannins	(i) Possess in vitro antimicrobial and wound healing activities	[23, 46, 61–64]