• Dr. RUCHIKA SHARMA
• Dr. Shiromani Mishra

Medicinal Plants Used in Liver Diseases: A Comprehensive Review of Their Phytoconstituents and Hepatoprotective Potential Abstract Liver disease doesn't get talked about with the same urgency as heart disease or diabetes, yet viral hepatitis, alcoholic and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, drug-induced hepatotoxicity, cirrhosis, and jaundice (Kamala) between them account for an enormous and still-growing burden of illness, and conventional medicine still has surprisingly little to offer once liver damage has set in. Ayurveda took a different approach centuries ago, building up a working pharmacopoeia of single herbs, or Ekala Dravya, that classical authors grouped as Yakrit-uttejaka (hepatostimulant), Kamalahara (anti-jaundice), Pittahara, or Rasayana (rejuvenative) drugs. This review works through seven of the better-known ones — Daruharidra (Berberis aristata), Bhoomyamalaki (Phyllanthus niruri/amarus), Haritaki (Terminalia chebula), Kutaki (Picrorhiza kurroa), Yashtimadhu (Glycyrrhiza glabra), Kalmegh (Andrographis paniculata), and Punarnava (Boerhavia diffusa) — looking at how each is described in the classical Samhitas and Nighantus, what its Rasa Panchaka (taste, potency, and action profile) tells us, what compounds it actually contains, and what the modern pharmacological literature says about whether it protects the liver at all. Put together, the picture that emerges is fairly consistent: most of the hepatoprotection traces back to a handful of mechanisms — antioxidant activity, hepatocyte membrane stabilisation, anti-inflammatory suppression, and a broadly choleretic or detoxifying action — carried by alkaloids, lignans, tannins, iridoid glycosides, triterpenoid saponins, and diterpene lactones depending on the plant. Some of these drugs (Kutaki and Bhoomyamalaki, in particular) now have decent clinical trial support behind them; others rest mostly on animal studies and centuries of use. Both are worth taking seriously, but they are not the same thing, and this review tries not to blur that distinction.

Hepatoprotective; Ayurveda; Yakrit Roga; Kamala; Daruharidra; Bhoomyamalaki; Haritaki; Kutaki; Yashtimadhu; Kalmegh; Punarnava; Phytoconstituents

"Medicinal Plants Used in Liver Diseases: A Comprehensive Review of Their Phytoconstituents and Hepatoprotective Potential", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no.c82-c101, September-2026, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609210.pdf

"Medicinal Plants Used in Liver Diseases: A Comprehensive Review of Their Phytoconstituents and Hepatoprotective Potential", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.13, Issue 9, page no. ppc82-c101, September-2026, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2609210.pdf