ReviewThe genus Anogeissus: A review on ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and pharmacology
Graphical abstract
Introduction
Anogeissus (Combretaceae) includes eight species namely, A. acuminata, A. bentii, A. dhofarica, A. latifolia, A. leiocarpus, A. pendula, A. rivularis and A. sericea which are listed in Table 1 along with their authorities and synonyms which are used in the referred articles (Scott, 1979, The Plant List, 2013). Among the eight species, seven are native of Asia and one is native of Africa, all plants have wild status (Scott, 1979). General synonyms for the plants of Anogeissus are ghatti tree, button tree, axlewood tree and chewing stick tree (Ezuruike and Preito, 2014; Khare, 2007, Salau et al., 2013, Taiwo et al., 1999). Plants of this genus are widely used as ethnomedicines by the tribes and communities of Asia and Africa (Adebayo and Krettli, 2011; Ezuruike and Preito, 2014; Gairola et al., 2013, Jain et al., 2005, Marwah et al., 2007, Meena and Yadav, 2010b, Raju and Reddy, 2005). In India, gum (ghatti gum) obtained from A. latifolia is used after delivery in the form of laddu to get rid of backpain and to cure damaged tissue (Jain et al., 2005, Meena and Yadav, 2010a). A. acuminata, A. latifolia, A. pendula, A. sericea is used in gastric disorder, skin diseases, wound healing, diabetes, diarrhoea, dysentery, cough and burns (Jain et al., 2005, Meena and Yadav, 2010b, Mishra, 2015a, Murthy and Madhav, 2015, Raju and Reddy, 2005, Ray et al., 2011, Roy and Chaturvedi, 1986, Shrivastava and Kanungo, 2013, Shukla et al., 2013, Sikarwar et al., 2008, Tailang, 2014). A. acuminata is used for treating diabetes in Thailand (Zaruwa et al., 2012). In Oman, A. dhofarica is used for healing wounds and as antiseptic (Marwah et al., 2007). A. leiocarpus is used for treating malaria, helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis, diabetes, dysentery and healing wounds in Africa (Adebayo and Krettli, 2011, Asase et al., 2005; Ezuruike and Preito, 2014; Maiga et al., 2005, Okpekon et al., 2004).
The various ethnomedicinal uses led the researchers to explore the phytochemistry of the plants of Anogeissus genus. The presence of many bioactive secondary metabolites was revealed such as alkaloids, anthraquinones, essential oils, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, steroids, tannins, terpenoids and xanthones which are responsible for the pharmacological activities (Barku and Grace, 2013; Elegami et al., 2002; Govindarajan et al., 2005, Hungund and Pathak, 1971, Mann et al., 2008a, Mann et al., 2008c, Mann et al., 2014, Manosroi et al., 2011, Marwah et al., 2007, Mishra and Padhy, 2013, Mishra et al., 2015, Olutayo et al., 2011, Parvathi et al., 2009b, Salau et al., 2013, Zaruwa et al., 2009). Chopra et al., (1956) reported that the phytochemistry was first studied in 1929 of A. latifolia and the presence of tannins was revealed. Further, investigation uncovered that gum ghatti contains galactose, uronic acid and pentose. It contains 50% pentosan and 12% of galacturonic acid (or galactose) and on hydrolysis with sulphuric acid it yielded L-arabinose and an aldobionic acid (Hanna and Shaw, 1941, Hanna et al., 1939). Later, many bioactive constituents were isolated from A. acuminata, A. latifolia and A. leiocarpus such as gallic acid, ellagic acid, glycosides of ellagic and flavellagic acid such as 3,3’-di-O-methylellagic acid-4’-β-D-xyloside and 3,4,3’-tri-O-methylflavellagic acid-4’-β-D-glucoside alongwith quercetin, rutin, castalagin, anolignan A, B, C, anogeissinin and others (Attioua et al., 2011, Deshpande et al., 1976, Lin et al., 1991, Ndjonka et al., 2012b, Ndjonka et al., 2013, Reddy et al., 1965a, Reddy et al., 1965b, Rimando et al., 1994b, Shuaibu et al., 2008a). Around 55 bioactive compounds were isolated from the genus and majority are phenolic compounds.
Modern pharmacological evaluations were carried out of crude extracts and also of isolated compounds. Crude extracts of A. acuminata, A. latifolia and A. leiocarpus revealed antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, wound healing, antiulcer, anti-diabetics, hepatoprotective, hypolipidemic effects (Arunadevi et al., 2010, Barku and Grace, 2013, Govindarajan et al., 2004a, Govindarajan et al., 2004b, Govindarajan et al., 2006, Ichor and Ekoja, 2011, Kaushik et al., 2015, Kudi and Myint, 1999, Marwah et al., 2007, Mishra et al., 2015, Patil and Gaikwad, 2010, Pradeep et al., 2009, Salau et al., 2015b, Shuaibu et al., 2008a, Shuaibu et al., 2008b, Shuaibu et al., 2008c, Subramaniam et al., 2012, Vonthron-Sénécheau et al., 2003, Zaruwa et al., 2009, Zaruwa et al., 2012). The compounds isolated from A. leiocarpus have revealed potent antimicrobial and antiparasitic activity while compounds from A. acuminata and A. pendula possess HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitory and neuroprotective activity respectively (Arunadevi et al., 2010, Ndjonka et al., 2012b, Ndjonka et al., 2013, Rimando et al., 1994b, Shuaibu et al., 2008c).
More detailed literature is available on latifolia, leiocarpus and acuminata. On bentii, dhofarica, pendula, sericea, rivularis very little or no data is available regarding their ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological evaluations. Major reason behind this could be overexploitation of plants. Literature supports this as A. sericea have been overexploited for commercial purpose (for making agricultural implements and furniture) (Meena et al., 2013, Rajendrakumar and Kalavathy, 2010). A. dhofarica has been assigned the status of ‘vulnerable (VU)’ and A. bentii of ‘endangered (EN)’ due to development, agriculture (livestock farming), biological resource use (wood harvesting), recreational activities and potential climate change (The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, 2015, Patzelt, 2014).
Therefore, the aim and need of the present review is to provide a current state of knowledge of the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemistry and pharmacological investigations that proves their therapeutic potential along with toxicological studies of the species of Anogeissus genus which directs the future research opportunities.
Section snippets
Botanical characterisation and distribution
Most Anogeissus species are trees or shrubs; leaves alternate or opposite, short petiolate, entire pubescent when young; flowers in dense globose heads on short axillary and terminal peduncles, solitary or racemose; fruits numerous, small, two winged or four ribbed, packed horizontally into dense cone like heads (Scott, 1979) (Fig. 1).
Species of Anogeissus are distributed in Asia (South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia) and Africa continents. Among all the species, A. latifolia (India, Nepal,
Phytochemistry
The genus Anogeissus is characterised by the presence of phenolic compounds like tannins and flavonoids. Table 3 and Fig. 2 summarises the isolated bioactive compounds from the different species.
Toxicity
A. latifolia: LD50 through intraperitoneal route was found to be 500 mg/kg of plant parts excluding roots and 375 mg/kg of stem bark extracted with 50% ethanol in albino mice (Bhakuni et al., 1971). Acute oral toxicity was evaluated of aqueous extract of stem bark but no signs of toxicity were observed up to 2000 mg/kg in rats (Subramaniam et al., 2012). Similarly, LD50 was found to be >3000 mg/kg for stem bark and leaf petroleum ether extracts, chloroform stem bark extract and methanol leaf
Pharmacological activities
In the Anogeissus species, A. acuminata, A. dhofarica, A. latifolia, A. leiocarpus, A. pendula, A. sericea are reported to be used as traditional medicine. An overview of the modern pharmacological investigations performed on several crude extracts and isolated compounds from the mentioned species are described below.
Discussion and future prespectives
The present review summarised the ethnomedicinal uses, phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of Anogeissus species. In spite of the fact that Anogeissus genus includes eight species which are distributed in Asia (India, Nepal, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Combodia, Laos, Veitnam, South China and also in Oman and Yemen) and Africa continents as discussed earlier, we conclude that only two species as latifolia and leiocarpus are broadly studied in modern pharmacology due to the
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