Traditional Uses, Pharmacological Efficacy, and Phytochemistry of Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori. -A Review.

Moringa is a sole genus of Moringaceae family with 13 species distributed in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Among them, Moringa peregrina is one of the species which has wide range of traditional, nutritional, industrial, and medicinal values. The plant parts are used in folk medicine for many human health care purposes including diabetes, wound healing, disinfectant, fever, constipation, muscle pains, slimness, burns, labor pain, hypertension, malaria, stomach disorder, asthma, skin problems, and to expel a retained placenta. In addition to medicinal value, M. peregrina has cultural, spiritual, and religious connections with the native people of Arabian Peninsula. M. peregrina plant parts were tested for many pharmacological activities viz, antioxidant, anti-microbial, anti-diabetic, anti-spasmodic, hypertension, hepatotoxicity, lipid lowering activity, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and memory disorders. Few active molecules belong to the class isothiocyanate, flavonoid, triterpenoid, phytosterol, polyphenol, and glycoside were also isolated, identified and reported for anti-microbial, anti-oxidant, anthelmintic, anti-mutagenic, neuroprotective, anti-cancer, anti-hypertensive, anti-diabetic, anti-infective, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, herbicidal, lipid lowering potential, anti-trypanosomal, and cytotoxic activities. So, the aim of the present review is to provide comprehensive information from recognized sources on the traditional uses, pharmacological efficacy and phytochemistry of the desert medicinal plant, M. peregrina. The information provided in this review will be very useful for further studies to develop novel therapeutic drugs.

Toxicity of essential oil from Indian borage on the larvae of the African malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae.

BACKGROUND: Essential oils are currently studied for the control of different disease vectors, because of their efficacy on targeted organisms. In the present investigation, the larvicidal potential of essential oil extracted from Indian borage (Plectranthus amboinicus) was studied against the African anthropophagic malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. The larvae of An. gambiae s.s laboratory colony and An. gambiae s.l of wild populations were assayed and the larval mortality was observed at 12, 24 and 48 h after exposure period with the concentrations of 3.125, 6.25, 12.5, 25, 50 and 100 ppm. FINDINGS: Larval mortality rates of the essential oil was entirely time and dose dependent. The LC50 values of the laboratory colony were 98.56 (after 12h) 55.20 (after 24 h) and 32.41 ppm (after 48 h) and the LC90 values were 147.40 (after 12h), 99.09 (after 24 h) and 98.84 ppm (after 48 h). The LC50 and LC90 values of the wild population were 119.52, 179.85 (after 12h) 67.53, 107.60 (after 24 h) and 25.51, 111.17 ppm (after 48 h) respectively. The oil showed good larvicidal potential after 48 h of exposure period against An. gambiae. The essential oil of Indian borage is a renowned natural source of larvicides for the control of the African malaria vector mosquito, An. gambiae. CONCLUSION: The larvicidal efficacy shown by plant extracts against An. gambiae should be tested in semi field and small scale trials for effective compounds to supplement the existing larval control tools.

In vitro antibacterial potential of some Vitex species against human pathogenic bacteria.

OBJECTIVE: To study the antibacterial activity of the leaf methanol extracts of five different species of Vitex namely, Vitex altissima (V. altissima), Vitex diversifolia (V. diversifolia), Vitex negundo (V. negundo), Vitex peduncularis (V. peduncularis) and Vitex trifolia (V. trifolia). METHODS: Antibacterial assay was carried out by using disc diffusion method, determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) against five strains of Gram-positive and seven strains of Gram-negative human pathogenic bacterial strains. RESULTS: The results of antibacterial activity of Vitex species showed that the extracts possessed a broad spectrum of antibacterial activity. The V. peduncularis possessed the highest activity against all the microorganisms screened. It produced a zone of inhibition ranged between (11.000 ± 0.577) and (22.670 ± 0.667) mm and the MIC values were from 62.5 to 1 000.0 µg/mL and the MBC values were from 125.0 to 2 000.0 µg/mL. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the present study, V. peduncularis is recommended for the isolation of antibacterial molecule responsible for the activity against the tested human pathogenic bacterial strains.

Larvicidal activity of fatty acid methyl esters of Vitex species against Culex quinquefasciatus.

The larvicidal activity of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) extracts of Vitex altissima, Vitex negundo and Vitex trifolia was studied against early fourth-instar larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus. The fatty composition was analysed by gas chromatography. The highest percentage of lauric acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linolenic acid were recorded in V. negundo. The highest percentage of linolenic acid was recorded in V. trifolia. The FAME extract of V. trifolia showed the highest larvicidal activity with an LC50 value of 9.25 ppm followed by V. altissima (14.82 ppm) and V. negundo (18.64 ppm).

Chemical constituents and larvicidal property of the essential oil of Blumea mollis (D. Don) Merr. against Culex quinquefasciatus.

The essential oil from the leaves of Blumea mollis was extracted and the chemical constituents and the larvicidal against Culex quinquefasciatus effects studied. The analyses of gas chromatography (GC) and GC-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) revealed that the leaf essential oil of B. mollis contained 39 compounds, and the major chemical compounds identified were linalool (19.43%), gamma-elemene (12.19%), copaene (10.93%), estragole (10.81%), Allo-ocimene (10.03%), gamma-terpinene (8.28%) and Allo-aromadendrene (7.44%). The essential oil had significant toxic effect against early fourth-instar larvae of C. quinquefasciatus with LC50=71.71 and LC90=143.41 ppm. The results could be useful in search of newer, safer and more effective natural larvicidal agent against C. quinquefasciatus.

Differential larvicidal efficacy of four species of Vitex against Culex quinquefasciatus larvae.

The early fourth instar larvae of Culex quinquefasciatus, reared in the laboratory were used for larvicidal assay with leaf extracts of Vitex negundo, Vitex trifolia, Vitex peduncularis and Vitex altissima. The methanol extracts of the four species possessed varying levels of larvicidal nature. The highest larvicidal activity was found with the extract of V. trifolia (LC(50) = 41.41 ppm) followed by V. peduncularis (LC(50) = 76.28 ppm), V. altissima (LC(50) = 128.04 ppm) and V. negundo (LC(50) = 212.57 ppm).