Work

Drug-Development Potential of Muntingia calabura L.: A Systematic Review of Ethnopharmacological Use, Pharmacological Potency, Preclinical Evidence, and Plant-Mediated Nanotechnology

Year: 2026

Type: review

Abstract: : Muntingia calabura L. (Muntingiaceae) is a fast-growing tropical food–medicine species, whose edible fruits and traditionally used leaves, flowers, and bark contain diverse phenolic and flavonoid constituents and have been investigated for metabolic, inflammatory, and other pharmacological activities. Previous reviews have largely cataloged its traditional uses, phytochemistry, and reported bioactivities, but have not systematically examined the strength, quantitative potency, internal validity, and translational maturity of the evidence. This systematic review therefore evaluated the drug-development potential of M. calabura across four interconnected domains, namely ethnopharmacological use, in vitro and in silico pharmacology, preclinical in vivo and ex vivo evidence, and plant-mediated nanotechnology. PubMed, Scopus, and ScienceDirect were searched for primary English-language studies published from January 2015 to December 2025 following PRISMA 2020. The review protocol was not prospectively registered in PROSPERO or any other registry. No meta-analysis was performed because of substantial methodological heterogeneity. Quantitative findings were summarized descriptively as medians and ranges, and mammalian studies were assessed using the SYRCLE risk-of-bias tool. Among 107 included studies, 2 were ethnobotanical surveys, 56 investigated in vitro or in silico pharmacology, 36 evaluated preclinical in vivo or ex vivo effects, and 13 examined plant-mediated nanotechnology. No eligible controlled human studies were identified. Carbohydrate-hydrolyzing enzyme inhibition emerged as the most consistent pharmacological signal, with median IC 5 0 values of 50.72 μg/mL for α-glucosidase and 61.43 μg/mL for α-amylase, although potency varied markedly among plant parts, extraction systems, and assays. Preclinical studies reported glucose-lowering, lipid-modulatory, anti-inflammatory, and organ-protective effects, but methodological safeguards against bias were incompletely reported, extract standardization was inconsistent, and pharmacokinetic and long-term safety evidence was lacking. M. calabura should therefore be regarded as a source of pharmacological leads and biofunctional nanomaterials, rather than as a clinically validated treatment. Keywords: Muntingia calabura , ethnopharmacology, plant-mediated nanotechnology, preclinical evidence, SYRCLE, drug development

Source: Drug Design Development and Therapy

DOI: 10.2147/dddt.s641651