SANSEVIERIA HYACINTHOIDES (L.) DRUCE: A REVIEW OF ITS BOTANY, MEDICINAL USES, PHYTOCHEMISTRY, AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES

Sansevieria hyacinthoides is a succulent perennial herb widely used as herbal medicine. This study is aimed at providing a critical review of the botany, biological activities, phytochemistry, and medicinal uses of S. hyacinthoides . Documented information on the botany, biological activities, medicinal uses, and phytochemistry of S. hyacinthoides was collected from several online sources which included BMC, Scopus, SciFinder, Google Scholar, Science Direct, Elsevier, PubMed and Web of Science. Additional information on the botany, biological activities, phytochemistry, and medicinal uses of S. hyacinthoides was gathered from pre-electronic sources such as book chapters, books, journal articles, and scientific publications obtained from the university library. This study showed that the leaf sap, leaves, rhizomes, roots, and whole plant parts of S. hyacinthoides are used as ethnoveterinary medicine, magical purposes, to dilate birth canal and as herbal medicine for fever, respiratory problems, intestinal parasites, worms, rheumatism, swellings, skin infections, sexually transmitted infections, hemorrhoids, toothache, diarrhea, stomach problems, insect and snake bites, earache, and infections. Phytochemical analyses revealed that the leaves, rhizomes, and roots are characterized by alkaloids, flavonoids, and steroids. Pharmacological research revealed that S. hyacinthoides crude extracts have anthelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities. Future ethnopharmacological research should focus on carrying out detailed phytochemical, pharmacological,


Anthelmintic activities
McGaw et al. [54] evaluated anthelmintic activities of hexane, ethanol, and waterleaf extracts of S. hyacinthoides on the mortality and reproductive ability of the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in two different assays. Water extract exhibited activities at a concentration of 1 mg/ml and 2 mg/ml after the 7 days incubation period [54].

Antifungal activities
Sultana et al. [25] evaluated antifungal activities of methanol and n-hexane rhizome extracts of S. hyacinthoides as well as compounds isokaemferide, β-sitosterol, and daucosterol isolated from the species against Candida albicans using the disc diffusion method with kanamycin as a positive control. The methanol and n-hexane extracts were active with MIC values of 11.0 mg/ml and 12.0 mg/ml, respectively, and compound isokaemferide was active with MIC value of 9.0 mg/ml [25]. Nielsen et al. [57] evaluated antifungal activities of methanol leaf and rhizome extracts of S. hyacinthoides against C. albicans and Microsporum audouinii using the microbroth dilution method with nystatin as a positive control. The rhizome and leaf extracts exhibited MIC values of 156.3 μg/ml and 312.5 μg/ml, respectively, against both fungi species in comparison to MIC value of 19.5 μg/ml exhibited by the control [57]. Akhalwaya [94] and Akhalwaya et al. [95] evaluated antifungal activities of aqueous and dichloromethane:methanol (1:1) leaf and rhizome extracts of S. hyacinthoides against C. albicans, Candida glabrata, and Candida krusei using the microtiter plate dilution assay with amphotericin B (0.01 mg/mL) as a positive control. The extracts exhibited activities with MIC values ranging from 0.5 mg/mL to >8.0 mg/mL [94,95].

Antioxidant activities
Aliero et al. [102] evaluated the antioxidant activities of acetone and methanol leaf and root extracts of S. hyacinthoides using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. The leaf extracts showed activities at 1 mg/ml exhibiting over 80% DPPH activity, while acetone and methanol extracts from the roots at 0.75 mg/ml exhibited 91.4% and 92.8% DPPH scavenging activities, respectively [102]. Tkachenko et al. [103] evaluated the antioxidant activities of leaf extracts of S. hyacinthoides by assessing their in vitro effects against protein damage in equine erythrocytes using the carbonyl derivatives content of protein oxidative modification (OMP) assay. The extract efficiently inhibited the formation of ketonic derivatives of OMP showing potential in protecting the protein groups and reducing the protein carbonyl content [103]. Tkachenko et al. [104] evaluated the antioxidant activities of leaf extracts of S. hyacinthoides by assessing their in vitro effects against protein damage in equine erythrocytes using the OMP assay. The extracts reduced the concentration of ketonic derivatives of OMP when compared to untreated erythrocytes by 13.4% [104]. Similarly, Tkachenko et al. [105] evaluated the antioxidant activities of leaf extracts of S. hyacinthoides by assessing the level of 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as biomarkers of lipid peroxidation in equine erythrocyte suspension induced by treatment of the leaf extracts. The leaf extracts resulted in a significant increase of 29.7% of TBARS concentration in erythrocytes. These results suggest that S. hyacinthoides has a promising antioxidant and prooxidant potential.

CONCLUSION
The present review summarizes the botany, medicinal uses, phytochemistry, and pharmacological properties S. hyacinthoides. From a chemical, pharmacological, and toxicological point of view, S. hyacinthoides has not received any major emphasis. At present, there is not yet enough data on ethnopharmacological evaluations on the species that can be correlated with its medicinal applications. Therefore, detailed phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological studies of S. hyacinthoides are recommended.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author would like to express his gratitude to the National Research Foundation, South Africa and Govan Mbeki Research and Development Centre, University of Fort Hare for financial support to conduct this study.

AUTHOR'S CONTRIBUTIONS
The author declares that this work was done by the author named in this article.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The author declares that there are no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.