Lignans of sesame: Purification methods, biological activities and biosynthesis – A review

• Biosynthesis, analysis and health benefits of Sesame lignans are reviewed.
• HPLC is the method of choice for qualitative and quantitative analysis of lignans.
• As a source of lignans Sesame remains as a neglected crop.
• Cell culture is a way out in advancing our knowledge on biosynthesis of sesamin.
• Genetic improvement of the sesame crop for sesamin is a potential area of research.

Lignans are a group of compounds consisting of dimers of phenyl propane units. They are found in diverse forms distributed in a variety of plants. Sesame lignans in particular are obtained from Sesamum indicum, a highly prized oilseed crop cultivated widely in many countries in the east. The plant is the main source of clinically important antioxidant lignans such as sesamin, sesamolin, sesaminol and sesamol. These lignans exhibit antihypertensive, anticancerous and hypocholesterolemic activities as well especially in humans due to which they have become compounds of tremendous research interest in recent times. Sesamin is synthesized from shikimic acid through phenylpropanoid pathway and metabolised into enterolignans which play a pivotal role in protection against several hormone related diseases. In this paper we present an overview of current status of research on sesame lignans with respect to the analytical methods employed, the biological activities and biosynthesis of sesame lignans.

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