The therapeutic value of alstonine: An updated review

•Alstonine is an indole alkaloid found abundantly in some traditional plants.•Alstonine has chemotherapeutic properties by acting as an intercalating agent and inducing apoptosis and DNA damage in cancer cells.•Alstonine also has antipsychotic properties, mostly through its ability to increase serotonergic transmission.•Alstonine's anxiolytic and antiplasmodial properties have been shown to involve inhibiting haloperidol-induced catalepsy and the subsequent mediation of mitochondrial apoptosis.