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Health benefits and biological activities of spiny monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa Lam.): An African indigenous fruit tree.
Aremu, Adeyemi Oladapo; Moyo, Mack.
Affiliation
  • Aremu AO; Indigenous Knowledge Systems Centre, Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, North-West University, Private Bag X2046, Mmabatho, 2790, North West Province, South Africa; School of Life Sciences, College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus), Private Bag X54001, Durban, 4000, South Africa. Electronic address: Oladapo.Aremu@nwu.ac.za.
  • Moyo M; Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban, 4000, South Africa. Electronic address: mackm@dut.ac.za.
J Ethnopharmacol ; 283: 114704, 2022 Jan 30.
Article de En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-34601082
ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Spiny monkey orange (Strychnos spinosa Lam.) is an African endemic fruit tree that is widely consumed by humans and animals for its nutritional value. In folk medicine, different parts of S. spinosa are widely used for the management of the health and well-being of humans and livestock.

AIM:

We provide a critical appraisal on the ethnobotanical uses, nutritional and pytochemical as well as the biological activities of S. spinosa.

METHODS:

Articles were mined from online databases such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct, SciELO and SpringerLink. We captured research outputs that aligned with the scope of the review.

RESULTS:

Strychnos spinosa remains a commonly consumed fruit due to its high nutritional (e.g. carbohydrates, crude protein and fats) content and energy. In folk medicine, different parts of S. spinosa are prescribed as remedy for diverse medical conditions especially for treating malaria, diabetes, snakebites, skin-related conditions and sexually transmitted infections in humans as well as sleeping sickness in livestock. Together with essential oils, more than 25 compounds have been profiled using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and approximately 45 compounds have been isolated and structurally elucidated using diverse spectroscopic techniques such as UV-visible, Infrared (IR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy (MS). Strychnos spinosa exerts varying degrees of biological activities against different microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) and parasites (plasmodia, trypanosomes and ticks) responsible for many diseases in humans and livestock. Furthermore, low to moderate enzyme-inhibitory effects of S. spinosa extracts suggest its ability to mitigate pains, inflammations and diabetics as well as snakebite venom. Increasing evidence from the in vivo studies support the use of the plant as a popular remedy for managing diabetics in folk medicine. The low cytotoxic effect of the plant extracts against different cell lines could be an indication of its relative safety.

CONCLUSION:

Strychnos spinosa exhibits various health-promoting benefits due to its diverse nutritional and phytochemical constituents. Given that the majority of the existing evidence on these aforementioned therapeutic properties and safety are in vitro-based, the clinical significance of these results remain limited.
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Texte intégral: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Base de données: MEDLINE Sujet principal: Extraits de plantes / Médecine traditionnelle africaine / Strychnos Type d'étude: Systematic_reviews Limites: Animals / Humans Langue: En Journal: J Ethnopharmacol Année: 2022 Type de document: Article

Texte intégral: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Base de données: MEDLINE Sujet principal: Extraits de plantes / Médecine traditionnelle africaine / Strychnos Type d'étude: Systematic_reviews Limites: Animals / Humans Langue: En Journal: J Ethnopharmacol Année: 2022 Type de document: Article