Gmelina arborea- an indigenous timber species of India with high medicinal value: A review on its pharmacology, pharmacognosy and phytochemistry.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE: Gmelina arborea Roxb.ex Smith, a fast-growing deciduous tree belongs to the family Lamiaceae, and is an important plantation species in many tropical areas around the world. The species is naturally distributed in semi-deciduous forests in tropical/subtropical regions of South East Asia. The tree is also an important medicinal plant in the Indian Systems of Medicine. The whole plant is used in medicine. It is astringent, bitter, digestive, cardiotonic, diuretic, laxative and pulmonary and nervine tonic. It improves digestion, memory, helps overcome giddiness and is useful in burning sensation, fever, thirst, emaciation, heart diseases, nervous disorders and piles. The roots are acrid, bitter-sweet in taste, stomachic, tonic, laxative, galactagogue and antihelmintic. The flowers are sweet, refrigerant, bitter, astringent and acrid, and are used in treating leprosy and skin diseases. The fruits are acrid, sour, sweet, refrigerant, bitter, astringent, aphrodisiac, trichogenous, alterant and tonic. Fruits are edible and also used for promoting hair growth and in treating anaemia, leprosy, ulcers, constipation, leucorrhoea and colitis. The leaves are a good fodder also. The major bioactive compounds extracted from different parts of G. arborea are arboreal, verbascoside, tyrosol, iridoids, phenylpropanoid glycoside, premnazole, martynoside, iridoid glycosides, balanophonin, gmelinol, isoarboreol apigenin, umbelliferone etc. AIM OF THE REVIEW: This review provides an insight into the medicinal aspects of G. arborea. It provides the latest information on phytochemistry, pharmacological activities and traditional uses of G.arborea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Information on G. arborea was gathered from various sources like textbooks, literature, databases such as PubMed, Science Direct, Wiley, Springer, Taylor and Francis, Scopus, Inflibnet, Sci-Finder and Google Scholar. RESULTS: Sixty-nine phytochemicals which include lignans, acylated iridoid glycosides, acylated rhamnopyranoses, flavonoids, flavones, flavone glycosides have been isolated. Many of them have been characterized for their pharmacological activity. Several researchers have identified bioactive phytochemicals like luteolin, iridoid alkaloids from the leaves, hentriacontanol and lignans such as arboreol, isoarboreol, arborone, gmelanone, gummadiol from the heartwood, flavon glycosides in roots. The extracts are reported to have wound-healing and antidiarrheal properties. Various studies demonstrated that G.arborea and its constituents possess several pharmacological activities like anti-oxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiulcer, analgesic, anti-nociceptive, anticancer and wound healing activities. CONCLUSION: G. arborea is a valuable medicinal plant used traditionally in the Indian Systems of Medicine (ISM - Ayurveda and Unani) to treat a wide variety of ailments. These phytochemicals are highly bioactive and exhibit various pharmacological activities. However, pharmacological activities of many compounds which have been identified, are yet to be understood.

Unusual amino acids and monofluoroacetate from Dichapetalum michelsonii (Umutambasha), a toxic plant from Rwanda.

In the course of our investigations on Umutambasha in order to identify its convulsant principles, small quantities of monofluoroacetate were observed in stem bark, leaves, and fruits of this plant newly identified as Dichapetalum michelsonii Hauman. Conclusive evidence for a monofluoroacetate presence came from its isolation from the freeze-dried extract of stem bark. Three free unusual amino acids, named N-methyl-α-alanine, N-methyl-ß-alanine, and 2,7-diaminooctan-1,8-dioic acid, described for the first time in a plant, and known trigonelline were also isolated from the stem bark of D. michelsonii. Structure elucidations were mainly achieved by spectroscopic methods (1H-NMR, 2D-NMR, MS) and by comparison with authentic references. These unusual amino acids were detected by a fast, reliable TLC analysis in all our batches of Umutambasha, suggesting that they could be used for identification purposes in case of human or livestock intoxications. Finally, EEG recordings and behavioural observations performed in mice suggested that the convulsive patterns produced by Umutambasha are the consequence of monofluoroacetate presence in D. michelsonii.

Assessment of the toxicity of the Brazilian pepper trees Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (Aroeira-da-praia) and Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (Aroeira-do-sertão).

The present study aimed to assess the preclinical toxicity of two plants commonly used to treat "stomach ailments" in Brazil: Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi (S) and Myracrodruon urundeuva Allemão (M). In male rats, chronic treatment (83 days) with both pepper trees (17.6 and 13.8 mg/kg, S and M, respectively) has been shown to decrease hematocrit. However, a reduction in the number of red blood cells and hemoglobin was only seen following administration of S. terebinthifolius. None of the plants caused anatomopathological alterations following chronic treatment, and mating ability and fertility were not affected. Both pepper trees showed moderate toxicity following acute and chronic treatment by gavage, particularly S. terebinthifolius. Moreover, bone malformations were induced in fetuses, and a slight delay in recovery time of the postural reflex was observed in pups from female animals treated (18 days) with S. terebinthifolius. Given these results, a better assessment of the risks and benefits of the internal use of these plants is necessary, especially when used by women of childbearing age.

Pharmacological properties of Datura stramonium L. as a potential medicinal tree: an overview.

India has a great wealth of various naturally occurring plant drugs which have great potential pharmacological activities. Datura stramonium (D. stramonium) is one of the widely well known folklore medicinal herbs. The troublesome weed, D. stramonium is a plant with both poisonous and medicinal properties and has been proven to have great pharmacological potential with a great utility and usage in folklore medicine. D. stromonium has been scientifically proven to contain alkaloids, tannins, carbohydrates and proteins. This plant has contributed various pharmacological actions in the scientific field of Indian systems of medicines like analgesic and antiasthmatic activities. The present paper presents an exclusive review work on the ethnomedical, phytochemical, pharmacological activities of this plant.

Isolation, identification, and characterization of compounds from acer rubrum capable of oxidizing equine erythrocytes.

OBJECTIVE: To identify compounds in Acer rubrum that cause hemolysis or oxidation of equine erythrocytes and determine whether these toxins are found in other Acer spp. SAMPLE POPULATION: Equine erythrocytes. PROCEDURE: Washed erythrocytes were incubated with extracts and fractions of Acer spp that were separated by thin layer chromatography. Methemoglobin and hemolysis were measured spectrophotometrically. Compounds within Acer spp fractions associated with cell oxidation or hemolysis were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. RESULTS: Erythrocytes incubated separately with either A. rubrum, A. saccharum, or A. saccharinum extracts had increased methemoglobin formation, compared with extract-free control samples. Two Acer spp fractions had toxic effects on erythrocytes in vitro. A major component of the Acer fraction that caused a significant amount of methemoglobin formation was identified as gallic acid. An amount of gallic acid equivalent to that found in A. rubrum extract significantly increased methemoglobin, compared with extract-free control erythrocytes, but caused less methemoglobin formation than A. rubrum extracts did. A potential co-oxidant, 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydroxy-6-methoxy-4H-pyran-4-one, was found in the A. rubrum extract and may have been responsible for increasing methemoglobin formation. A second A. rubrum fraction caused methemoglobin formation and significant hemolysis. A. saccharum and A. saccharinum extracts caused hemolysis but less than the A. rubrum extracts did. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Oxidants in A. rubrum are also found in A. saccharum and A. saccharinum, and the ingestion of A. saccharum and A. saccharinum poses a potential threat to horses.

Neuronal vacuolation of the trigeminal nuclei in goats caused by ingestion of Prosopis juliflora pods (mesquite beans).

Three groups of 6 goats each were fed a ration containing 30, 60, or 90%, on a dry matter base, of Prosopis juliflora pods. A control group of 4 goats ingested only the basic ration. Two hundred and ten days after the start of the experiment 3 goats that ingested 60% pods in and 4 that ingested 90% had mandibular tremors, mainly during chewing. All animals were killed after 270 d of ingestion. No gross lesions were observed. Histologic lesions were characterized by fine vacuolation of the pericaryon of neurons from the trigeminal nuclei. Occasionally neurons of the oculomotor nuclei were also affected. Wallerian degeneration was occasionally observed in the mandibular and trigeminal nerves. Denervation atrophy of the masseter, temporal, hypoglossus, genioglossus, styloglossus, medial pterygoid and lateral pterygoid muscles was seen. The clinical signs from feeding the P juliflora pods were caused by a selective toxicity to neurons of some cranial nerve nuclei.