ABSTRACT

Ocimum sanctum L. syn Ocimum tenuifl orum L. (Mint family: Lamiaceae), commonly known as “Holy Basil” in English, “Tulsi” in Hindi and Sanskrit is a bushy fragrant plant found in the semitropical and tropical regions of the world (Chopra et al., 1982). The plant is grown all over India for

Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 105 Tulsi in Indian Tradition ................................................................................................................ 106 Cancer Preventive and Therapeutic Properties .............................................................................. 107

Chemopreventive Effects ...................................................................................................... 108 Prevention of Oral Carcinogenesis ........................................................................... 108 Prevention of Gastric Carcinogenesis ....................................................................... 108 Prevention of Liver Carcinogenesis .......................................................................... 110 Prevention of Skin Carcinogenesis ........................................................................... 110

Antineoplastic Activities ....................................................................................................... 111 Antitumorigenic and Antiangiogenic Activities ................................................................... 113 Radioprotective Effects ......................................................................................................... 114

Protection against Radiation-Induced Sickness and Mortality ................................. 114 Protection against Radiation-Induced Chromosome Damage and Stem Cell Death ......................................................................................... 114 Enhancement of Bone Marrow Radioprotection and Reduction in

Late Toxicity of WR-2721 ......................................................................... 115 Prevention of Radiation-Induced Lipid Peroxidation and Restoration

of Glutathione and Activity of the Antioxidant Enzymes .......................... 115 Protective Effect Against High-Dose 131I Exposure .................................................. 116 Nonprotection Against Radiation, Cisplatin or Withaferin-Induced Tumor Cell Kill .......................................................................................... 116 Ocimum Flavonoids, Orientin and Vicenin Protect Against Radiation-Induced

Ill Effects without Interfering with Tumor Cell Kill .................................. 116 Eugenol in Radioprotection ...................................................................................... 117 Clinical Trials with Tulsi as a Radioprotector .......................................................... 118

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 118 Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................... 119 References ...................................................................................................................................... 119

its medicinal and religious purposes in houses, temples, and gardens. It is also grown on commercial basis in vast stretches of farm lands to cater to the herbal, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries (Sathyavathi et al., 1987; Gupta et al., 2005). There are two main morphotypes of Tulsi, the purple leafed or dark variety, commonly known as the Shyama or Krishna Tulsi (Figure 7.1a) and the green or light-colored leafed variety known as Rama Tulsi or Sri Tulsi (Figure 7.1b). Rama Tulsi is regularly used for worshiping and is the more common of the two (Chopra et al., 1982; Sathyavathi et al., 1987; Rastogi and Mehrotra, 1993; Singh and Hoette, 2002; Gupta et al., 2005). A third type, commonly known as Vana Tulsi (or forest Tulsi), is O. gratissimum (Sathyavathi et al., 1987) (Figure 7.1c).