A Comprehensive review on antihyperglycemic phytochemicals from Western Ghats plant species and their mechanism of action

The Western Ghats (WG) is the house for ~5000 flowering plants and is one of the exceptional biodiversity and endemism hotspots among the world’s eight “hottest hotspots”. WG has also been considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. It holds a very high endemicity level by accommodating ~650 tree species where 352 trees are endemic. The flora of WG is also an extensive repository of medicinal plants. In an effort by the scientific community by screening and evaluating these medicinal plants, various vital phytochemicals with varied activities have been reported. This review focuses on the medicinal plant species, phytochemical compounds class, types of extraction methods, solvents used and phytoconstituents specific to the antihyperglycemic property. It also extends to bridge the information relating to the practical methods of phytochemicals extraction and evaluating compounds and validation based on various methods adopted in plants. The authors anticipate that this work may shed light on the researchers' methodologies from other regions that can be effectively adopted to WG plants to unearth the potential phytochemicals where they need further investigation and validation. The data reported and analyzed in this review also extrapolates on the phytoconstituents, efficacy and toxicity which have been extracted from the same plants found in other Asiatic regions.