Ethnobotanical uses and phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of Datura metel L.: A review

Abstract

Datura metel L., a recognized poisonous plant in the Solanaceae family, is widely distributed in the world. Traditionally, D. metel is used in many diseases, including neurological and heart diseases; fever; catarrh; pain; diarrhea; skin diseases; chronic bronchitis; asthma; digestive disorders; and so on. It possesses many important phytochemicals that can be used to treat various types of diseases. This review aims at summarizing the traditional uses, phytochemical, biological, and toxicological profiles of D. metel based on the database reports. For this, an up-to-date (till March 20, 2023) search was made in the databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Scopus, and MedLine, with relevant keywords for the published evidence. Findings suggest that the plant has many traditional uses, such as a cure for madness, epilepsy, psoriasis, heart diseases, diarrhea, mad dog bites, indigestion, etc. It possesses various important phytochemicals, including withanolides, daturaolone, datumetine, daturglycosides, ophiobolin A, baimantuoluoline A, and many others. D. metel has many important biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, insecticidal, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, analgesic, anti-pyretic, neurological, contraceptive, and wound healing capacity. In conclusion, the toxic plant, D. metel, can be considered a potential source of phyto-therapeutic lead compounds.

Keywords: Biological activities; Datura metel; Phytochemicals; Poisonous plant.

Graphical abstract

Fig. 1

Taxonomy of Datura metel.

Fig. 2

Different parts of Datura metel [(a) plant, (b) flower, (c) unripe green fruits, (d) ripe canary fruits, (e) mature black-seeds, (f) roots of D. metel].

Fig. 3

PRISMA analysis of database reports for Datura metel.

Fig. 4

Newly isolated seven daturglycosides (1–7).

Fig. 5

Possible anticancer mechanism of withanolides (Here withanolides increase oxidative stress and downregulating nuclear factor kappa light chain B (NF-kB), transcription factor signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3), heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) via phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways which results cytoskeletal and structural protein dysregulation; thus, decrease angiogenesis and increase cytotoxic activity against cancer cell).

Fig. 6

Chemical structure of some potential anticancer compounds of Datura metel.

Fig. 7

Proposed anti-inflammatory and analgesic effect of daturaolone (Through COX-1 and COX-2 and lipoxygenase inhibition it may inhibits prostaglandins and leukotrienes production thus reduce in inflammation).

Fig. 8

Anti-fertility activity of Datura metel (Here, ethanolic extract of D. metel showed sperm content lowering activity this might be the result of bioactive compound of this plant decreasing testosterone, luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). On the other hand, acetone seed extract on female mice showed 100 percent antifertility action with 2% extract concentration).

Fig. 9

Proposed toxicity mechanism of tropane alkaloids of Datura metel (Here, tropane alkaloids blockade the function of nicotinic and muscarinic receptors and neurotransmitter like acetylcholine (Ach) cannot bind with the targeted receptor which results anticholinergic syndrome).