INTRODUCTION:

The natural medication background of medicinal products of natural plant sources is fundamental to the discovery of drug bearing leads. In the past, most pharmaceutical compounds have been of natural sources, and have been discovered in the form of natural plants, which is the same situation today in terms of drug discoveries. Most of the sources of drug discoveries have been found in plants, both common and less common in traditional applications, which is critical in modern studies. It assists in the restriction of the search to compounds that have a history of therapeutic application.^1,2

This review considers the two different species: Amaranthus viridis and Mikania micrantha. Amaranthus viridis is a genus of Amaranthaceae. Amaranthus viridis is a taxonomically complicated and highly variable genus, as such that tends to lead to confusion and misidentification in naming.Taxonomies tend to research tiny points; such as seed structure has discovered a distinctive viridis-type seed that has presented valuable information to differentiate species within this complicated genus. It has been shown that Amaranthus is becoming more scientifically relevant since 2017, as demonstrated by the increase in research on this drug.³

Mikania micrantha is a species of the Asteraceae family, which is also called mile-a-minute weed, or bitter vine. It is known as a fast-growing perennial vine which is an insecticide-resistant species of plant that is widespread in India, being widely distributed in the northeast and southwest parts of the country, including Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, yet is noted to be one of the worst weeds in the world in terms of invasion, since it can cover native plants very quickly and it has a massive reproductive output with a single stem capable of producing up to 20,000 to 40,000 seeds in a single season which are dispersed by the wind.⁴

Comparative analysis of A. viridis and M. micrantha can provide some significant conclusions on how various ecological pressures can influence the formation of the chemical profiles and therapeutic applications.⁵ A. viridis is a broad-spectrum resource utilizing generalized secondary metabolites to adapt to its ecological niche, whereas M. micrantha depends on specialized ones. Although different, both of them possess considerable, yet divergent, therapeutic potential both as based on traditional utilization and based on sound evidence of preclinical use. This review is of significance in realizing the peculiarities of standardizing and using each resource sustainably, in particular the conflict between the study of M. micrantha and the necessity of ecological management.⁶

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The present paper examines the pharmacological and problematic issues of A. viridis and M. micrantha. This was a study that entailed both literature reviews, field surveys, and lab analyses. The plants were chosen on their known medicinal use and their occurrence in the ethnobotanical databanks. There were ecological studies which provided samples. The researchers have identified the specimens by the use of botanical keys and reassured their identification through taxonomic literature.

A literature review on A. viridis and M. micrantha was also done as a form of data collection. The databases such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, and Google Scholar gave information about their phytochemical composition, medicinal applications, and the problems concerning their cultivation, conservation, and utilization. Data analysis of the obtained information involved qualitative and quantitative approaches to summarize the main findings and tendencies in the utilization of Cestrum species to obtain medicinal purposes. Limitations of the research may be the lack of access to specific geographic regions as well as the difference in the use of traditional medicines in different regions.

RESULTS:

Distribution, Morphology and Ecological Preferences:

Differences in the ecologies of the two plants have great influence on the ecological ways that they manage their resources.

A. viridis: It is an erect, annual herb with a height of up to 1 m, which has a thin and branched stem that is almost glabrous. It has ovate to rhombic-ovate, long-petioled leaves, and reproduces through small, dark-brown to black, reticulate seeds, 1 to 1.25 mm in diameter.It is now virtually cosmopolitan and can be found in temperate and tropical and subtropical environments, and also as a weed of cultivation, along roadsides and in disturbed soil around houses, up to an altitude of about 1200 m.⁹

M. micrantha: A perennial creeping vine or liana, M. micrantha is native to the Americas and has become an infamous intruder Alien Species in much of the world, often rated as one of the three worst weeds in the world, with a reproductive efficiency that is already staggering: it produces between 20,000 and 40,000 featherlike seeds annually and which are easily spread by winds. The extraction of its invasive, yet abundant biomass is a potential direction in both a Weed-to-Wealth strategy ¹⁰, which will control the ecological menace and at the same time capitalize on its potential as a medicine.

Figure 1: Amaranthus viridis

Figure 2: Mikania micrantha

Ethnopharmacological Uses and Traditional Medicine:

Traditional records confirm overlapping therapeutic applications for both species, particularly concerning inflammation and tissue damage.

A. viridis Ethnomedicinal Profile: The whole plant has been used as an emollient and vermifuge. Decoctions of the entire plant are used in treating dysentery and general inflammation.The leaves (fresh or as dried powder) are prepared as poultices to treat inflammations, boils, abscesses and hemorrhoids topically.¹¹ The root juice has also been used traditionally to treat pain (analgesic) and fever (antipyretic) in traditional systems of medicine.

Mikania micrantha Ethnomedicinal Profile: Traditional uses focus on wound care and anti-infective. The leaf juice is used as a folk remedy, primarily in the treatment of ulcers, the healing of wounds, and the treatment of other skin infections, but is also used systemically to treat fever, jaundice, dysentery, rheumatism and colds and has been employed as a hemostatic agent.¹²

The overlap between the application of the two species in traditional medicine, namely, the use of the two species to treat pain, inflammation, and topical wounds in various cultures, strongly suggests that these medicinal effects are mediated by reliably expressed and widespread bioavailable phytochemicals, which is likely to be associated with the phenolic and flavonoid contents.¹³

Comparative Phytochemical Composition and Metabolites: The general defense and specialized allelopathy are contrasting since the chemical diversity of these plants is the basis of their medicinal potential.

A. viridis Phytochemical Profile: the given species is abundant in nutritional and general protective compounds. Flavonoids such as quercetin, rutin, isoquercitrin, kaempferol, and naringenin, phenolic acids including gallic acid and trans-cinnamic acidwere found in large amounts according to a quantitative analysis of extracted samples: a total phenolic content of 16.4mg catechin/g and a total flavonoid content of 5.28mg quercetin/g.¹⁵The concentration of phenolics and flavonoids in A. viridis has been shown to increase under environmental stress, such as drought, necessitating environmental control for standardized medicinal sourcing.¹⁶

Mikania micrantha Phytochemical Profile:

The chemical profile is dominated by specialized metabolites linked to its aggressive ecology. The key classes are sesquiterpene lactones (STLs), diterpenes glucosides, flavonoids and other terpenes and phenols. Some of the major compounds present in the essential oil are Linalool and 𝛼-pinene.¹⁷Key compounds within the essential oil include Vanillic acid, Resorcinol, Caffeic acid and Mikanin, which are powerful bioactivities.¹⁸Crucially, the phytochemical composition of M. micrantha varies significantly depending on the geograph in which it thrives.¹⁹

Table 2. Key Phytochemical Constituents

Plant Species	Key Phytochemical Classes	Specific Bioactive Molecules/Markers
Amaranthus viridis	Flavonoids, Phenolic Acids, Alkaloids (high content), Amino Acids, Minerals²⁰	Quercetin, Rutin, Gallic acid, Trans-cinnamic acid, Zinc ²¹
Mikania micrantha	Sesquiterpene Lactones (STLs), Terpenoids, Phenolics, Diterpenes, Allelochemicals²³	Dihydromikanolide, Caffeic Acid, Linalool, Eupalitin

Therapeutic Potential:

Amaranthus viridis:

The leaves and the entire plant have enormous medicinal values. This plant has high potential regarding its use as a functional food and medicinal agent because of its high concentration of biological stimulating compounds. Its main therapeutic application is due to its properties as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.²¹ Preclinical evidence indicates that it could be used as a promising option to treat hypercholesterolemia and cardiovascular risk factors. Moreover, its extracts stimulate wound healing in animal models, which have potential in topical use.²²

Mikania micrantha:

This plant is a powerhouse for wound healing and antimicrobial applications.²³ M. micrantha, although an invasive weed, has high therapeutic potential, but particularly in increased tissue repair.²⁴Its extracts are also reported to be very potent in wound healing in diabetic models, and also it shows some potential in being used as an anti-diabetic agent by blocking key carbohydrate-digesting enzymes and has also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-dermatophytic effects thus it is a good candidate to be used in topical dermatological applications.²⁵ Its products have also been proposed to have potential side effects of being used as neuro-curative agent against dementia.^26,27

DISCUSSION:

Current scenario:

Although their traditional application has been thoroughly proven by substantial preclinical evidence, the current results regarding the research position of both A. viridis and M. micrantha are well-established at the stage of pre-clinical research. The major barrier of translational medicine is clear absence of human clinical trials meaning all the efficacy claims are not validated in humans thus this of itself poses a major barrier to pharmaceutical development of A. viridis and M. micrantha is that it is highly invasive so the pharmaceutical development must be tied with ecological control initiatives in line with avoiding adverse effects on humans.²⁸

Variability, Standardization, and Formulation Issues:

Significant to the transition of the two species to validated therapies after preclinical testing is the elimination of critical challenges of standardization of phytochemical variability. In the case of A. viridis, environmental-related content changes (e.g., increased phenolics under the drought stress) require these species to be grown under controlled conditions to maintain the phytochemical composition of M. micrantha essential oil constant.In the case of M. micrantha, the variability of its phytochemical composition is too much dependent on geographic area to rely on the existing fundamental pharmacognostic parameters (the values of ash and extractive) to achieve uniform sourcing.²⁹

Insufficient Safety and Toxicological Assessment:

This lack of full toxicology information is a serious threat to the clinical development of both plants.

Toxicity Status of A. viridis: Although acute and subacute studies (up to 2000mg/kg, and 600mg/kg, respectively) indicated no apparent toxicity, chronic feeding studies indicated adverse effects. The experiment with female rats at high dose 1250 mg/kg/day demonstrated the increased caecal weight, growth of urinary protein, and histological injury of renal damage, namely, the increased renal calcification and hyperplasia of epithelial cells of the pelvis, preventing the determination of a No-Untoward-Effect Level (NOEL) in A. viridis in chronic animal unsustainable models.³⁰

Mikania micrantha Toxicity Status:

The toxicity aspect is hazardously incomplete with M. micrantha. Recent studies categorically request the undertaking of urgent research to ascertain its safety profile in experimental animals prior to any clinical trial being morally justified.³¹ Since the plant is based on highly reactive allelochemicals and sesquiterpene lactones as a competitive advantage, genotoxicity, systemic toxicity and possible dangerous damage evaluation of chronic organs is obligatory.³² The existence of these strong substances implies a possibility of hepatic or genotoxicity, which should be completely measured. Recent evidence indicates it has potential as neuro-curative agent on dementia due to its compounds and presents further urgency of safety assessment.

Translational Gap: The Absence of Clinical Trials:

The major challenge that makes it impossible to confirm the two plants is the overall absence of human trials. There is no human clinical evaluation of Mikania micrantha.³³ There is also no scientific support in humans of the core traditional uses of A. viridis, which include its analgesic, antipyretic uses. This translational barrier translates to the fact that there are no human clinical evaluations of the efficacy of M. micrantha itself in terms of safety, pharmacokinetics, effective dosage, and long-term therapeutic utility.

FUTURE PROSPECTS:

Future research in these plants should no longer focus on testing raw extracts, but on how to isolate and optimize specific therapeutic molecules that enable its known and proven anti-inflammatory and wound-mending benefits.³⁴ Scientists can then modify these active compounds or create synthetic versions to ensure they are safer and more effective drugs.For instance, M. micrantha, in particular, has the immediate potential of standardized topical therapy against fungal infections. Also, with biotechnology, these plants can be utilized to produce derivative biomass of cheap and safer therapeutic proteins to serious diseases like cancer or diabetes. To make them a stable source, A. viridis will have to be cultured in controlled environments, such as greenhouses.³⁵Importantly, the invasive aspect of M. micrantha will need to be converted to an advantage of So-called Weed-to-Wealth programs. This is to harvest the high quantities of weed biomass to process into industrial products, including plastic composites. This therapeutic use has to be incorporated in ecological management, such as the substitution of the weed with native species, such that the drug development is beneficial, not at war with the environmental management.

CONCLUSION:

Amaranthus viridis and Mikania micrantha prove to be important sources of pharmacologically active substances justifying the core conventional applications in cases of inflammation, pain, and metabolic ailments. A. viridis is a valid target in developing anti-hyperlipidemic and anti-inflammatory drugs, whereas M. micrantha presents a highly sophisticated mechanism of complex tissue repair, which places it well-positioned in developing therapeutic approaches to diabetic wound healing.

The scientific validation is, however, not complete. The future development requires overcoming high phytochemical variability by using markers to standardize it, finding resolutions to the serious safety issues (including chronic renal outcome of A. viridis and the overall safety of potent allelochemicals in M. micrantha), and launching serious human clinical trials. In the case of M. micrantha, its special status demands that any effort to develop the drug should be within the context of sustainable model of use that converts the economic and ecological threat of the invasive weed into a marketed and standardized medical product.

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Received on 12.12.2025 Revised on 19.01.2026

Accepted on 23.02.2026 Published on 22.04.2026

Available online from April 24, 2026

Res.J. Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics.2026;18(2):212-216.

DOI: 10.52711/2321-5836.2026.00029

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Creative Commons License.

Current Status of Medicinal Plants Amaranthus viridis and Mikania micrantha: A Review