Table 4.

Pharmaceutical properties of fenugreek.

Pharmaceutical Properties	Plant Part	Effects	Model	Reference
Hypoglycaemic	Seed	Fenugreek improves peripheral glucose utilization and tolerance	Non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients	[4]
		Improvement in glycaemic control among patients with mild type 2 diabetes mellitus	Patients with type II diabetes	[18]
		Dialyzed fenugreek seed extract was comparable to that of insulin	Alloxan-induced diabetic mice	[19]
		Improves glucose control as well as decreasing insulin resistance	Double-blind placebo study	[20]
		Fenugreek seed polyphenols improved insulin signalling and sensitivity compared to metformin-treated rats	Fructose-fed rats	[21]
		Reduction in serum glucose and an increase in liver glycogen	Type 2 diabetic rat	[22]
		Concurrent administration of fenugreek increased the bioavailability of metformin	Rat animal model	[23]
Hypocholesterolemic	Seed	Reduction in total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL)	Hypercholesterolemia patients	[8]
		Lower blood lipids, total cholesterol, and triglycerides without affecting the high-density lipoprotein	Patients with coronary heart disease	[8]
		18 to 20% reduction in plasma and liver cholesterol	Ethanolic fenugreek seed-extract-fed rats	[25]
		Lower LDL, total cholesterol, and triglycerides	Fenugreek-seed-powder-treated newly diagnosed type II diabetes patients	[27]
Immunomodulatory	Seed	Stimulatory effect on the body and organ weight, haemagglutinin titre, quantitative haemolysis assay, late-type hypersensitivity response, plaque-forming assay, phagocytic activity, and capacity of macrophages	Swiss albino mice treated with aqueous fenugreek extract	[29]
		Stimulation of the humoral immunity and has anti-inflammatory properties	Mice treated with ethanolic fenugreek extract	[30]
		Regulates the expression of pro-inflammatory marker and immunoregulator marker M1 and M2, respectively	THP-1 macrophages	[31]
		Elevation of the CD4+ and CD8+ values	Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats	[32]
Antimicrobial	Seed, Leaves and Stem	Methanolic extract had antibacterial affect, but the aqueous extract did not show any activity. The magnitude of effects differs with the plant parts and species of microorganism, as well as the extraction solvent used	Well diffusion involving E. coli, P. aeruginosa, and B. cereus, and various fungal strains	[26,34]
Anticancer	Seed	Potent cytotoxic effect of whole extract compared to purified compound	Prostate cancer cell lines, breast cancer cell lines, and pancreatic cancer cell lines	[35]
		Selective cytotoxicity effect of fenugreek extract	T cell lymphoma	[36]
		Alcoholic fenugreek extract showed in vitro cytotoxicity	IMR-32, a neuroblastoma cell line, and HT29, a cancer cell line	[37]
		Decrease in cell viability and early apoptotic changes	MCF-7 cells, a breast cancer cell line	[38]
		Anti-metastatic effect, induced the inhibition of cell migration and increase in late apoptosis, upregulation of p53	MCF-7 and SK-BR3 breast cancer cell lines	[39]
		IC50 at 25 μg/mL, better pancreatic tissue, higher survival rate	BXPC-3 pancreatic cancer cell line and albino mice	[40]
Antioxidative	Seed	Radical scavenging activity	Biochemical assay	[41]
		Protective effects on lipid peroxidation and enzymatic antioxidant	Cyclophosphamide-treated mice	[42]
		Highest superoxide and free radical scavenging due to high phenolic compound	NBT assay and H2O2 scavenging	[43]
		Positive effect in the regulation of hepatic enzymes	12-month-old mice	[44]
		Increase in antioxidant radical scavenging activity	DPPH and ABTS assays	[11]
Hormonal effects	Seed	Larger pain reduction and duration of pain decreased	Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial	[45]
		Reduction in lower abdominal pain	Patients with primary dysmenorrhea	[47]
		Improvement in bone structure and strength	Ovariectomised Wistar rats	[48]
		Increase in milk production	Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats	[49]
		Modulation of the insulin/GH/IGF-1 axis, stimulation by insulin, and oxytocin secretion	Pregnant Sprague–Dawley rats	[50]
Fat metabolism	Seed	Helps to speed up weight reduction by improving digestion and metabolism	Fat-induced obese rat	[52]
		Suppresses hunger by increasing the sense of fullness, which aids weight loss	Fat-induced obese rat	[52]
		Accelerating cholesterol metabolism and reversing cholesterol transport, as well as blocking 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase in serum and liver	In vivo	[53]
Neuroprotective effects	Seed	Fenugreek-saponins-inhibited apoptosis and acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity	Rats	[55]
		Substantial neuroprotective impact	Aluminium-chloride-induced neurotoxicity mouse	[29]
		Avoiding rotational behaviour and restoring SNC (substantia nigra compact) neuron and MDA (malondialdehyde) levels	Trigonella-fed mouse	[56]