Bacosides: a pharmaceutically important compound

Bacoside is a phytocompound found in Bacopa monnieri (BM) which is very useful to treat various disorders like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, cancer, ulcer, bronchitis, asthma, and a number of other diseases. It is a tetracyclic triterpenoid saponins-dammarane; various types of bacosides are present in the plant BM which includes bacoside A, bacoside B, bacopaside and bacopasaponin. Due to its pharmaceutical importance, there is an increase in demand for this plant which is leading towards the extinction of the plant. In natural conditions production of bacoside is low due to various environmental factors and species variations. Production of bacoside is time-consuming and not feasible, when exploiting conventional methods. Production of bacoside can be enhanced by using biotechnological approaches such as cell suspension culture, shoot culture, root culture and hairy root culture. By providing essential media, nutrients and optimum growth conditions production of bacosides can be improved. Bioreactors can also be used for the large-scale production of bacosides as they provide a suitable environment for growth of the plant. Therefore, in this review chemistry of bacosides, biosynthesis, pharmaceutical applications and production enhancement strategies have been discussed.