A Review on the Pharmacological Aspects of Terminalia chebula

Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae) is called the King of medicines in Tibet and is always listed first in the Ayurvedic materia medica because of its extraordinary powers of healing with a wide spectrum of biological activity. A number of chemical constituents have been isolated from the plant extract that include chebulin, ellagic acid, 2,4-chebulyl-D-glucopyranose, arjunglucoside I, arjungenin, chebulinic acid, gallic acid, ethyl gallate, punicalagin, terflavin A, terchebin, luteolin and tannic acid. The plant is an important constituent of an herbal formulation, contains the name TRIPHALA which is very popular traditional medicine for chronic disorder like diabetes, nervine disorder and epilepsy. The plant has been reported to possess various pleiotropic effects such as antioxidant, antidiabetic, renoprotective, hepatoprotective, immunomodulator and prokinetic effect. The study elucidates about various pharmacological effects exhibited by this multipurpose tree.