Karanjin in Preclinical In Vivo Models: A Systematic Review of Therapeutic Efficacy, Mechanistic Pathways, Pharmacokinetics, Safety and Formulation Strategies

Karanjin is a furanoflavonoid which is isolated from the seeds of South Asian traditional plant known as Pongamia pinnata . In recent years, it has been reported to exert various pharmacological effects in preclinical studies across models of inflammatory, metabolic, dermatologic, skeletal, neurological and cancer. Previous studies have mainly investigated activities rather than testing whether efficacy is connected to causal mechanism, systemic exposure, reproducibility, and safety. This systematic review aimed to analyse in vivo therapeutic potential, mechanisms, pharmacokinetics, safety profile and formulation strategies along with translational gaps needed for clinical evaluation. The literature review was conducted through databases like PubMed, Web of Science, ProQuest and Scopus up to 30 March 2026, and the data was obtained for systematic analysis. 16 studies met the eligibility criteria, and the data was synthesised qualitatively by disease domain, with study design, sample size, dosing, mechanistic pathways and reporting transparency. The review was conducted in accordance with PRISMA 2020 and was registered in the PROSPERO (CRD420261422803). The risk of bias (RoB) was evaluated through SYRCLE’s RoB tool for the in vivo studies. Therapeutic benefits were reported in models of various diseases such as inflammatory, neurological, cancer, metabolic, skeletal, gastrointestinal, respiratory, and dermatological but most domains were represented by single studies and mechanistic depth varied substantially. All the studies included in this review reported at least one beneficial result, yet most domains contained only one or two small studies. Only the acute-lung-injury study used an in vivo pathway perturbation to test causal involvement of TLR4, otherwise most other mechanistic claims arose from downstream biomarkers or accompanying cell experiments. No efficacy study quantified plasma or target-tissue karanjin in the same animals. Oral pharmacokinetic evidence indicated that there was a strong relationship between dose and systemic exposure but short elimination half-life and limited oral absorption. The acute and subacute toxicity study also suggested that there was acceptable short-term safety in experimental animals. Overall, from this systematic review, karanjin appears to be a promising multitarget preclinical drug candidate for future use, but needs further efficacy testing, better mechanistic proof, optimisation of pharmacokinetics, safety testing and ARRIVE-compliant reporting before clinical translation can be seriously considered.