Sophoricoside: Bioactive Compounds from Sophora japonica, their Role in Disease Prevention and Treatment

Abstract

Herbal drugs and their derived products play an important role in human life due to their defensive nature against various diseases. The demand of herbal based products is continuously increasing in society due to their less toxicity and more value for health. Pure phytochemicals of plants have been placed in modern medicine due to their healthpromoting aspects as we know that some of the important modern medicines contain pure active chemicals obtained from plants, minerals and organic matter. A large number of drugs prescribed in modern medicine are derived from plants. Phytochemicals are present in various herbs, fruits, vegetables, oils, and seeds. Sophora japonica is a tree native to China and Korea also called a Japanese pagoda tree or Chinese scholar tree. Sophoricoside is an isoflavone glycoside present in the Sophora japonica plant. Sophoricoside has been known for its estrogenic activity, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic and immunomodulatory activity. In the present review paper, we have collected all the information of sophoricoside and summarized its pharmacological activities, pharmacokinetics, analytical techniques and biotransformation method in a very concise manner. This article aims at providing an overview of the pharmacological effects of sophoricoside and its mechanisms of actions in various diseases. Databases namely Medline, PubMed, Google and Science direct were searched to collect the data for this review. The present review will be helpful to the scientists of the Botanical, Medicinal and Pharmaceutical field for the discovery and development of new novel medicines from sophoricoside.