Re-exploring an Epicentre Spice with Immense Therapeutic Potentials: Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)

Abstract

Background: Spices are mostly used as additives in food regularly to enhance the taste and flavour. From ancient times, the plant of Piperaceae family contributes a large variety of species to the spices section, from which Piper nigrum is one of the widely used spices worldwide in culinary and as a medicinal agent. Piper nigrum is known as the king of spice due to its impactful constituent ‘piperine’. Objective: To report a comprehensive view on the botanical description, traditional and culinary use, phytochemistry, pharmacological activity, and toxicology of P. nigrum. Methods: Literature searches were carried out in various databases, such as PubMed, SciFinder, and Google Scholar for peer-reviewed research literature about traditional and culinary use, biologically active compounds and distinctive pharmacological activities along with toxicology of P. nigrum. Results: The main outcomes from the search are the bioactive compounds responsible for various pharmacological activities, such as alkaloids, glycosides, terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, tannins and anthraquinones. Apart from its traditional uses, it is accounted for the treatment of numerous diseases worldwide. Pharmacologically, the plant has been investigated for antioxidant, antimicrobial, digestive, antidiarrheal, anticancer, neuroprotective, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic, hepatoprotective, antihypertensive, antithyroid and antiasthmatic activities. Black pepper showed no toxic effect up to 250 times more than their usual amount. Conclusion: The overall review suggests that P. nigrum is not just a commonly utilized spice but also at the same time utilized as a traditional plant with immense therapeutic potentials. The review also suggests that limited work has been reported on the neuropharmacological activity of P. nigrum. So, scientific evaluation of its neuroprotective effect can be a thrust area for the research.