Tulsi - A Review Based Upon Its Ayurvedic and Modern Therapeutic Uses - International Journal of Research and Review

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Tulsi - A Review Based Upon Its Ayurvedic and Modern Therapeutic Uses - International Journal of Research and Review
International Journal of Research and Review
                                                                                DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20210534
                                                                                                   Vol.8; Issue: 5; May 2021
                                                                                               Website: www.ijrrjournal.com
Review Article                                                                       E-ISSN: 2349-9788; P-ISSN: 2454-2237

     Tulsi - A Review Based Upon Its Ayurvedic and
                Modern Therapeutic Uses
     Shifali Thakur1, Shailja Choudhary2, Bhawna Walia3, Gitika Chaudhary4
             1,2,3,4
                       Shuddhi Ayurveda, Jeena Sikho Lifecare Pvt. Ltd. Zirakpur 140603, Punjab, India.
                                            Corresponding Author: Gitika Chaudhary

ABSTRACT                                                          therapeutical uses [5]. Tulsi (Ocimum
                                                                  sanctum L) is one of the most common herb
Herbal plants are considered as the most                          used in Indian traditional system and also
significant source of medicines. These herbal                     named as "Holy Basil", "Queen of Herbs"
plants are in practice from ancient times.                        [6,7].
                                                                         The name Tulsi comes from Sanskrit
Traditionally, all the parts of the plant are used
                                                                  word that means "the incomparable one" [8].
for curing various diseases. One of the most
important herbal plants is the Ocimum sanctum                     In Indian culture, it is worshiped very
also called tulsi. This plant is considered a                     religiously and known as "Vishnupriya".
sacred plant in Indian culture and used for holy                  The scientific name of Tulsi is Ocimum
purposes as well. The name Tulsi comes from                       sanctum (Linn) which belongs to the
Sanskrit word which means "the incomparable                       Labiatae family and the Ocimum genus is
one". Tulsi plant is not only used in ayurvedic                   derived from the Greek word ozo which
medicines but also used in other medicinal                        means to smell or having strong odor [9].
systems in Greek, Roman and Unani. Apart                          This plant has about 160 species in which
from this, the Tulsi plant possesses different                    Ocimum sanctum, Ocimum gratissimum,
therapeutical properties due to the presence of                   Ocimum canum, Ocimum basilicum,
several phytochemical constituents in its roots,
                                                                  Ocimum killimandscharicum, Ocimum
stem, fruit, and leaves due to the presence of
eugenol, vallinin, gallic acid, palmitic acid, oleic              ameicanum, Ocimum camphora and
acid, linoleic acid, and many more. These                         Ocimum miranthum are therapeutically
phytochemicals are extracted from the plant and                   important [10,11]. There are commonly three
used to cure various types of diseases. Tulsi is                  types of Tulsi that are considered the most
reported to have properties like anti-ulcer, anti-                i.e. Ocimum tenuiflorum (Krishna tulsi),
oxidant,      anti-inflammatory,       anti-cancer,               Ocimum sanctum (Rama Tulsi) and Ocimum
antidiabetic, anti-arthritic, analgesic, antistress,              gratissimum (Vana Tulsi) [12]. Numerous
anti-asthmatic, antifertility, immunomodulatory,                  phytochemical constituents isolated from
and neuroprotective activity.                                     this plant which are responsible for their
                                                                  medicinal value both in modern medication
Keywords: Ocimum sanctum, phytochemicals,
                                                                  system and traditional medication system
Eugenol, Tulsi, Ayurveda
                                                                  i.e. Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Greek and
INTRODUCTION                                                      Roman [13]. The presence of phytochemicals
        Plants are known for various                              may vary in this plant because of its
medicinal properties from ancient times.                          cultivation and harvesting procedure. In
The essential oils extracted from therapeutic                     Ayurveda, it is explained as "the elixir of
plants are safe, economical, effective and                        life" and believed to promote longevity. Our
easily available [1,2,3,4]. India is the home for                 review is focused on a detailed description
more than 8000 species of vascular plant out                      of Tulsi (Ocimum L) and its medicinal
of which 1748 are considered for their                            significance as per different medicinal

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                                                 Vol.8; Issue: 5; May 2021
Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

systems. Botanical Classification and                        has small phyllotaxy and petiole is 2-5 cm
vernacular names of Ocimum sanctum is                        long, slender and pubescent. The leaves of
given below in table no. 1 [14] and table no. 2              the plant mainly possess medicinal property.
[15].
                                                             They are also pubescent on both sides with
                                                             small glands. The stomata are present on the
     Table 1: Botanical Classification of Ocimum sanctum     lower surface but also rarely present on the
Taxonomic Rank                   Taxon
Kingdom                          Plantae                     upper surface of leaf. The flowers of this
Division                         Magnoliophyta               plant consist of verticillaster inflorescence
Class                            Magnoliopsida
Order                            Lamiales                    with varying color from purple to pink.
Family                           Lamiaceae                   Flowers are simple or branched raceme 5-
Genus                            Ocimum
Species                          Ocimum sanctum
                                                             30cm of height, bracts sessile, ovate,
                                                             caduceus, hermaphrodite, pedicel 1-4 mm
        Table 2: Vernacular names of Ocimum sanctum          long, spreading or slightly curved.
Vernacular Names
English                        Basilie, Sweet Basil          Flowering started after 136 days and
Hindi                          Besil, Tulsi, Jangli tulsi    continue up to 195 days and their seeds
Chinese                        Loh lahk, Yu heung choi
Middle East , North Africa     Dohsh, Schadjant, Vasub       matures after 259 days. Fruit having 4-dry,
Armenia                        Shahasbram, Rehan             1– seeded nut lets covered in the persistent
Bulgaria                       Bosilek
Burma                          Laun, Pinzainpinzin
                                                             calyx; long up to 1.5mm, rugose brown,
Denmark, Greenland             Basilikum                     outer pericarp does not turn into
Netherlands, South Africa      Baziel, Koningskruid          mucilaginous in water. It produces small
England                        Basilie, Sweet Basil
Finland, Sweden, Norway        Basilika                      seeds which are reddish black in colour.
France                         Basilic sacre, Herbe royale   Stem are green in newly born plant and
Georgia                        Rekhani, Rehan
Germany                        Indisches Basilikum           become woody when getting older. The
Iceland                        Basilika                      roots of the Ocimum sanctum contains
Italy
Japan
                               Basilico
                               Bajiru, Kami-meboki
                                                             various essential oil like eugenol [16,17,18,19].
Cambodia                       Che tak, Mareah proeu         Plant is shown in figure 1.
Korea                          Naruk-pul, Yanggajuk
Northeast of Thailand          Saphaa, Phak i tou thai
Malaya                         Kemangi, Selasi jantan
Nepal                          Tulsi patta, Bavari phul
Sri Lanka                      Madurutala, Mudura tulla
Spain                          Alfabega, Albacar
Swedish                        Basilika, Basilkaort
Vietnam                        Nhu tia, Cay hung que
Assam , North-East India       Tuloxi, Tulasii
West Bengal                    Tulsi, Kalotulsi, Kural
Himachal Pradesh               Tulsi, Niyan Posh
Gujarat                        Sabje, Talasi
 Karnataka                     Karitulasi,, Tulasiya
 Kerala                        Pachcha, Kunnakam
North-eastern India            Mayangton, Naoshek lei
Maharashtra                    Sabja, Tulasa
Orissa                         Dhala tulasi, Karpura
Punjab                         Tulsi
Tamilnadu                      Tiruttizhai, Tiviragandam
Andhra Pradesh                 Oddhi, Rudrajada
Kashmir, North India           Tulsi, Janglitulsi

Botanical Description
         Ocimum sanctum belongs to the                                   Figure 1. Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum)

family Lamiaceae/Labiate. Tulsi is an erect,
branched, fragrant plant with height reaches                 Geographical Distribution
upto 30-60cm when completely mature. The                             O. sanctum is extensively distributed
leaves of Tulsi are simple, inverse,                         in tropical and subtropical parts of Asia. The
elliptical, ovoid, dense or acute with entire                plant is indigenous to the Indian
margin. The leaves grow up to 5cm long. It                   subcontinent including the Himalayas,
                                                             Malaysia, Caribbean, Pacific and other parts

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                                               Vol.8; Issue: 5; May 2021
Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

of Africa. In India it is cultivated in almost               oil of OS leaves. The other phenyl
every state [20]. Due to some holy believes it               propanoids derivatives are ociglycoside
is present around the temples and places of                  or        eugenyl-           β-D-glucoside,
worship. Till now there is no data available                 ferualdehyde,       citrusin     C     and
regarding specific habitats where the species                dehydrodieugenol were extracted from
has been found naturally [21,22].                            the leaf part of the OS plant [29].

Phytochemical constituents of Ocimum                    4. Neolignans: The methanolic extracts of
sanctum                                                    OS plant possess to have neolignans
        The leaves of Ocimum sanctum                       constituents consist of Tulsinol A to
reported to be a rich source of volatile oil               Tulsinol G which are formed by
containing eugenol (71%) and methyl                        polymerization of eugenol content [29].
eugenol (20%) content. The volatile oil also
consists of carvacrol and sesquiterpine                 5. Terpenoids: The terpenoids reported in
hydrocarbon caryophyllene. The other                       OS plant are sesquiterpenoids (β-
chemical constituents present are phenolics,               caryophyllene      and      4,5-    epoxy-
flavonoids, terpenoids and fatty acids. The                caryophyllene), abietane diterpenoid
seeds of plant are enriched with fixed oil                 (carnosic acid), ursane triterpenoids(
(18-22%), polysaccharides mucilage and β-                  ursolic acid, urs- 12-en-3 3β,6β,20β-
sitosterol. Linoleic acid is considered as the             triol-28-oic acid and oleane triterpenoids
main content present in seed oil [23]. The                 (oleanic          acid,          β-Amyrin-
                                                                              [8]
other chemical constitutes present are:                    glucopyranoside) .The most abundant
1. Phenolics: The phenolic content found                   constituent found by HPTLC and
    in OS plant consist of chlorogenic acid,               UPLC-ESI-MS/MS is ursolic acid [30].
    vanillic acid, ocimumnaphthanoic acid,                 Other terpenoids constituents isolated
    caffeic acid and menthylsalicylic                      were β-caryophyllene, elemene, α-
    glucoside that are extracted from the                  humulene, α-caryophyllene, germacrene,
    aerial parts of the plant [24]. The other              trans-    -α-bergamotene        and    5β-
                                                                                   [31].
    chemical constituents present was                      hydroxycaryophyllene
    confirmed by HPLC which comprises of
    gallic acid ethyl ester, protocatechuic             6. Coumarins: There are three coumarins
    acid, 4-hydroxynbenzoic acid, gallic                   constituents extracted from tulsi plant
    acid methyl ester, vanillin and 4-                     named aeculetin, aesculin and ocimarin
    hydroxybenzaldehyde [25,26].                             [32].

2. Flavonoids: Flavonoids are considered                7. Steroids: he steroid components present
   as the main constituents which consist of               are β-sitosterol, β-sitosterol-3-Oβ-D-
   methoxy flavonoids and their glycosides                 glucopyranoside,     stigmasterol  and
   (cirsimartin, isothymusin, luteolin), C-                campesterol which are extracted from
   glycosides       flavonoids     (vicenin,               the stem and leaves of OS [33].
   isovitexin, isoorientin and orientin) of
   the OS plant [27]. The other flavones                8. Essential oil: The essential oil extracted
   detected using atmospheric pressure                     from leaves of OS plant is mainly
   chemical ionization mass spectrometry                   composed of terpenoids which include
   (APCI-MS) are cirsumaritin, crisilineol,                phenolic     acid,    esters,    aliphatic
   isothymusin,       gardenin,    apigenin,               aldehydes, bicyclic terpenoids, acyclic
                             [28].
   eupatorin and salvigenin                                monoterpenoids and sesquiterpenoids.
                                                           The chemical composition varies from
3. Phenyl propanoids Eugenol is the                        region to region depend upon its
   main component found in the essential                   cutivation,     harvesting,       climatic

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                                         Vol.8; Issue: 5; May 2021
Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

    conditions. The major phytochemicals                    embers. There are many stories regarding
    present in essential oil are eugenol or                 the Tulsi, but the well-known comes from
    methyl eugenol and methyl chavicol                      Shiva Purana. Once Indra and Bri haspati
    which     is   responsible    for   the                 went to meet lord Shiva at the Kailash
    antimicrobial and anthelmintic property                 mountain and their way was blocked by a
    [34].
          The other constituents present in                 sage. The sage was Shiva himself. Lord
    essential oil are, β-caryophyllene, β-                  Shiva transforms his look with tangled hair
    caryophyllene oxide and germacrene D                    and a resplendent face just to test Indra and
    [35].
                                                            Bri haspati. Indra did not recognize the lord
                                                            Shiva and got furious that the man was not
9. Fixed oil (non-volatile oil): The fixed                  moving out their way. To move him out of
   oil isolated from OS seeds constitute                    his way Indra threatened him with his
   18.22% which is mainly composed of                       thunderbolt. Lord Shiva became infuriated
   linoleic acid (66.1%), which possess                     upon this deed and got angry. Due to his
   anti-inflammatory,          hypotensive,                 anger, his third eye got opened to kill Indra
   chemopreventive            anticoagulant                 but at the same, the Bri haspati recognized
   properties [36]. The other constituents                  lord Shiva. He requested Shiva to pardon
   present are stearic acid (2.1%), oleic                   Indra. Lord Shiva was convinced by Bri
   acid (9.0%), palmitic acid (6.94%) and,                  haspati and propelled the fire from his eye
   α-linolenic acid (15.7%) which are                       towards the ocean. The collision of fire and
   extracted from the leaves of OS leaves                   ocean took the form of a boy who was
    [37].
                                                            named Jalandhara. Jalandhara grew up
                                                            powerful and become a king of demons by
10. Fatty acid derivatives: The fatty acid                  Guru Sukra. He got married to Vrinda, who
    derivatives extracted from the roots and                was the daughter of demon Kalanemi.
    leaves of the OS plant are cerebrosides.                Bhrugu made him against Lord Vishnu as
    Also, palmityl glucoside and sanctumoic                 well as other gods. A battle occurred
    acid present in OS leaves are responsible               between Jalandhara and Vishnu which
    for mosquitocidal property [38].                        reminded inconclusively. Influenced by the
                                                            bravery of Jalandhara, Vishnu asked him in
Traditional and Modern View on plant                        ksira sagara and as accepted by lord Vishnu,
A. Folk View of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum)                      in the absence of all gods got defeated by
           Tulsi    (Ocimum       sanctum)      is          Jalandhara. Devas did not want to be
considered a medicinal plant from ancient                   governed by Jalandhara. The Devas
times. The literature indicates that the                    consulted with sage Narada to meet
medicinal use of plants is as old as 4000-                  Jalandhara. But he illustrated the beauty of
5000 BC. The natural herbal preparation of                  Kailasa in his visit. Sage Narada then
medicines was firstly done by the Chinese.                  continued to describe Shiva's residence and
In India, the Tulsi plant was formulated into               the beauty of goddess Parvati [42]. Listening
medicine between 3500-1600 BC. Later the                    to this Jalandhara disguised himself as Shiva
therapeutic uses were studied and recorded                  and went to Parvati just to trick her. Parvati
empirically by the ancient physicians [39].                 identified him and endeavored to strike him
           The plant is a part of religious belief          but Jalandhar ran away. After this Parvati
around the world, especially in India.                      went to Lord Vishnu and requested him to
Although there is no literature available on                trick Vrinda just like Jalandhar does. Vrinda
basil in the Bible [40], the plant is said to               was very virtuous to Lord Vishnu for the
have grown at the site of Christ's crucifixion              restoration of Jalandhara's destruction by
[41].
      It is mainly sanctified in Hindu Folklore.            Shiva. Hearing this, Vrinda embraced
The plant is known to be the manifestation                  Jalandhara who is Vishnu in reality. When
of the goddess, Tulsi was raised from her                   Vrinda realized the fact she cursed Lord

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Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

Vishnu that somebody would seize his wife                    derived from the five elements. In Ayurveda
(which was later done in Ramayana) and                       "Doshas" shows the activity of physical,
also become the stone. Just honoring his real                emotional and mental characteristics.
devotee, he accepted the curse and appears                   According to Ayurveda, the medicine works
as the stone named Saligrama sila in the                     on the dynamic state to maintain balance
Gandika river in Nepal. In the end, Vrinda                   between body, mind and environment. Tulsi
stepped into the fire to immolate herself.                   reduces    Kapha      (Water    and    earth
When Jalandhara came to know about his                       component) and Vata (Air component)
wife's death, he became angry and turn into                  Dosha (disorder) and increases Pitta (Fire
a battlefield. Hence Jalandhara was killed                   and water component) [49]
by Lord Shiva. Hid soul merged with Shiva
just like Vrinda's soul had merged with                      Properties of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) [50]
Parvati. Vrinda is as late named as Tulsi                    Abhiyantar Pachansansthan (                 –
because of her faithfulness and her denotion                 पI            ): It works on the GIT, Dipana
towards lord Vishnu. In her suffering, Tulsi                 (appetizer), Pachana (digestive), Jwaraghna
ended up her life and Lord Vishnu affirmed                   (antipyretic), Krimighna (wormicidal) and
that she would be "worshipped by women                       also kills the parasites.
for her faithfulness" [43,44]. Thus in
                                                             Satambhikaran (               ): Used for the
Hinduism, it may be considered as the
                                                             treatment of chronic fever
symbol of love, eternal life, purification,
and protection. Also, it is used in burial                   Dashemani           Shwasaharni       (
ceremonies for purification [45].                                        ): Used as an anti-asthmatic
                                                             medicine.
B. Ayurvedic View on Tulsi (Ocimum                           Sondrayavardhak (                ) It enhance
sanctum)                                                     beauty and also used in beauty products.
       Tulsi is also called "the elixir of life"             Raktavah Sansthan (                      ): It
because it promotes longevity. Every part of                 increases the blood circulation and
the plant. It possesses some therapeutic                     Raktashodhak (Blood purifier).
property and is also used in the Ayurveda                    Taapkaram ( Iप            ): Used for the
and Siddha systems of medicines. Tulsi is                    treatment of malaria and severe fever.
considered as the earliest herbs known to
humanity, which act as a medicine for the                    C. Modern View
prevention and cure of many diseases                                 The use of Herbal medicines is in
mainly common cold, headache, cough, flu,                    practice since ancient times. People prefer
earache, fever, colic pain, sore throat,                     herbal medicines over allopathic medicines
asthma, hepatic diseases, malaria fever,                     due to their fewer side effects and are
wound insomnia, arthritis, digestive                         considered as safest medicines as compared
disorder, night blindness and influenza. The                 to allopathic medicines [51,52]. To meet the
intake of the leaves of Tulsi recover lesions                demand of people, adulteration rises in the
and act as memory enhancer [46,47]. Rasa                     herbal drug industry which ultimately
panchak of Tulsi is given in Table No. 3 [48].               affects the health of people. The major
                                                             drawback of allopathic medicines is that it
      Table 3: Rasa Panchak of Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum)
Sanskrit/English               Sanskrit/English              generally works on suppressing the
Virya/Potency                   Katu/Astrigent               symptoms of the disease while Ayurveda
Vipak/Metabolic property       Katu,Tikt/Astringent,bitter
Guna/Physical property         Laghu,Ruksha/Light,Dry
                                                             medicines work on holistic approach. The
Rasa/Taste                     Tikt,Katu/Bitter,Astrigent    holy plant Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum) contains
                                                             various therapeutic properties and is used in
Action (Karma) of Tulsi: Doshas are the                      various Ayurveda products which are
mind-body type and there are 3 main doshas                   available in the market to treat various
Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, each of which is

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Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

diseases and      also    used in       cosmetics            was conducted in a mice model where it
preparation.                                                 was found that the oil extracted from the
                                                             seeds of o. sanctum possesses anti-
Reported Therapeutic Uses of Ocimum                          arthritic activity against turpentine oil-
sanctum                                                      induced joint pain [57].
        There are several reports on the use             5. Anti-pyretic activity: The fixed oil of
of natural materials sources like plants,                    OS was tested against typhoid-
bacteria, fungi, yeast and honey. Ocimum                     paratyphoid       A/B        vaccine-induced
sanctum is also considered as a wide source                  pyrexia in rats and it was found that the
for the modern or herbal formulation.                        oil extracted from the plant exhibit
Various studies (like in-vivo, in-vitro) have                antipyretic activity.
been done for the therapeutical uses of                  6. Antitussive: It was reported that the
Tulsi. Those reported studies are shown                      aqueous and methanolic extracts of the
below:                                                       OS plant showed antitussive activity
1. Analgesic: It was reported that the oil                   when studied in guinea pigs [58].
    extracted from Ocimum sanctum plant                  7. Hepatoprotective: It was reported that
    possesses analgesic activity. This study                 the leaf extract of the O. sanctum plant
    was carried out in mice using acetic                     possesses significant hepatoprotective
    acid-induced writhing methods, tail                      activity      when        studied     against
    flick, tail clip and tail immersion. From                paracetamol-induced          liver   damage
    the results, it was clear that the                       against albino rats [59].
    inhibitory activity of the oil is due to the         8. Anti-stress: It was reported that the
    combined         inhibitory    effect     of             leaves of O. sanctum possess antistress
    acetylcholine,          histamine       and              activity when studied in rabbits [60].
    prostaglandin [53].                                  9. Anti-plasmodial: It was studied that the
2. Anti-oxidant: The experimental study                      root and leaf extract of O. sanctum
    on streptozocin-induced diabetic rats                    showed antiplasmodial activity because
    showed the antioxidant activity of O.                    of the presence of ethanolic extract
    sanctum. It was reported that the leaves                 mainly flavonoids, phenols, saponins,
    of this plant contain hydroalcoholic                     alkaloids, glycosides proteins, resins,
    extract which is responsible for the anti-               steroids, triterpenenoids [61].
    oxidant property. When the leaves of O.              10. Memory Enhancer: To study the
    sanctum        were       provided     with              antidementia and anticholinesterase
    streptozocin-induced diabetic rats for 30                activity, the aqueous and alcoholic
    days, it was found to improve the                        extract of the leaves of O. sanctum were
    activity of antioxidant enzyme catalase                  studied in rats. Atropine, cyclosporine,
    and reduce the plasma level of                           and electroshock were used to activate
    thiobarbituric acid in the vital organs                  dementia. It was reported that the
    like kidneys and liver [54].                             inactive restraint was used to assess
3. Anti-ulcer: It was reported that the O.                   memory [62].
    sanctum plant possesses to have                      11. Immunomodulatory: It was studied
    antiulcer activity against histamine,                    that leaves of O. sanctum increase the
    aspirin, reserpine, serotonin aspirin                    RBCs,       WBCs        hemoglobin       and
    indomethacin in rats [55]. The experiment                antibodies production without affecting
    was performed in Wistar rats where it                    other biochemical activities when tested
    was found that the aqueous extract of o.                 in mice [63].
    sanctum protects against ethanol-                    12. Chemopreventive: It was reported from
    induced gastric ulceration [56].                         various studies that the oil extracted
4. Anti-arthritic: In order to find out the                  from seeds of O. sanctum showed
    anti-arthritic activity, the experiment                  chemopreventive         activity      against

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Shifali Thakur et.al. Tulsi - a review based upon its ayurvedic and modern therapeutic uses.

    subcutaneously            injected        20                shown that fixed oil of OS decrease high
    methylcholanthrene                   induced                serum lipid concentration and show
    fibrosarcoma tumors in Swiss albino                         cardioprotective and antiatherogenic
    mice.       It    was        injected     20                actions against hyperlipidemia when
    methylcholanthrene                   induced                tested in high fat(HF) rat [73].
    fibrosarcoma tumors in Swiss albino                     20. Antifungal: It was studied that the
    mice. It was found that the survival rate                   linalool and methyl chavicol content
    of mice was enhanced and tumor spread                       extracted from the essential oil of tulsi
    rate delayed in seed oil supplemented                       leaves showed antifungal property
    mice which showed its chemopreventive                       against clinically isolated dermatophytes
    property [64,65].                                            [74].

13. Antidepressant and Antianxiety: The
    ethanolic extract of O. sanctum were                    CONCLUSION
    tested in swiss mice. It was found that                         Herbal plants are used in Indian for
    the      plant        extract      possesses            treating and curing various disease because
    antidepressant and antianxiety properties               of their high value. Tulsi (Ocimum
    and can act as a therapeutic drug against               sanctum) is considered a holy plant. It is
    these disorders [66].                                   mainly used for medicinal purposes and also
14. Antiemetic: It was reported that the                    as an herbal tea. It is used in Ayurveda,
    leaves of Tulsi possess antiemetic                      Sidha, greek, roman and Unani medicinal
    properties and used to treat vomiting                   systems. It was reported in various research
    diarrhea [67].                                          studies that the Ocimum sanctum plant
15. Anti-fertility: The tulsi leaves were                   contain therapeutical properties including
    reported to have antifertility property.                antiulcer,      antistress,      antifertility,
    The experimental study was carried out                  antiasthmatic, analgesic, antidiabetic, anti-
    in albino rats where the model was                      inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial
    treated with benzene extract of tulsi                   and neuroprotective activity. Conclusively
    leaves for 48 days. Results showed a                    from various repeated scientific studies that
    decrease in sperm count and sperm                       the Tulsi plant has great medicinal
    motility [68,69].                                       importance and is used worldwide to treat
16. Anti-inflammatory: The presence of                      various diseases.
    fatty acids in the tulsi plant possesses
    anti-inflammatory activity. The main                    Acknowledgement: None
    fatty acid responsible for the anti-
    inflammatory activity is linoleic acid                  Conflict of Interest: None
    which is capable of blocking the cyclo-
    oxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways                     Source of Funding: None
    [70].

17. Antithyroidic: It was reported that the                 REFERENCES
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