IJCRR

IJCRR - 4(3), February, 2012

Pages: 141-144

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ZIZIPHUS MAURITIANA : A REVIEW ON PHARMACOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF THIS UNDERUTILIZED PLANT

Author: Sukirti Upadhyay, Prashant Upadhyay, A K Ghosh, Vijender Singh

Category: Healthcare

Abstract:Ziziphus mauritiana is one of the underutilized herbs having potential to heal various ailments. It is reported in the ancient literature that whole plant as fruits, leaves , seed and root posses pharmacological activity . So this article is focused on potential and reported pharmacological activities of the whole plant.

Keywords: Ziziphus mauritiana , root , seed, fruit

Full Text:

INTRODUCTION
 Ziziphus mauritiana a tropical fruit tree species. It is a spiny, evergreen shrub or small tree up to 15 m high, with trunk 40 cm or more in diameter; spreading crown; stipular spines and many drooping branches. The fruit is of variable shape and size. It is oval, obovate, oblong or round, and it can be 1-2.5 in (2.5- 6.25 cm) long, depending on the variety. The flesh is white and crisp. When slightly unripe, this fruit is a bit juicy and has a pleasant aroma. The fruit's skin is smooth, glossy, thin but tight.It is the most commonly found in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. Originally native to India it is now widely naturalized in tropical region from Africa to Afghanistan and China, and also through Malaysia , Australia and in some pacific regions. It can form dense stands and become invasive in some areas, including Fiji and Australia and has become a serious environmental weed in Northern Australia. It is a fast growing tree with a medium life span that can quickly reach up to 10–40 ft (3 to 12 m) tall.

VERNACULAR NAMES:
English: Chinee apple, Chinese date, cottony jujube, Indian cherry, Indian jujube, Indian plum, jujube
Fijian: baer
French: jujubier, massonnier
Hindi: baher, bahir
Spanish: azufaifo africano

CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS:
It is a rich source of cyclopeptide alkaloids lupane and triterpenes. cyclopeptidmacrocycles of Ziziphus species showed interesting biological properties, including sedative, analgesic, antibacterial , antifungal and, antiplasmodial activity etc .It have 14-membered ring cyclopeptides to be the largest subgroup of alkaloid obtained, whereas only one 13-membered macrocyclic alkaloid isolated from this plant. These included the 4(14)-membered ring class: mauritineC, amphibine F and frangufoline the 5(14)-membered ring type: mauritines A and B. It also contain protein ,carotene and vitamin C. The fruit is eaten raw or pickled or used in beverages. It is quite nutritious and rich in vitamin C. It is second only to guava and much higher than citrus or apples. In India, the ripe fruits are mostly consumed raw, but are sometimes stewed. Slightly unripe fruits are candied by a process of pricking, immersing in a salt solution. Ripe fruits are preserved by sun-drying and a powder is prepared for outof-season purposes. It contains 20 to 30% sugar, up to 2.5% protein and 12.8% carbohydrates. Fruits are also eaten in other forms, such as dried, candied, pickled, as juice, or as ber butter. In Ethiopia, the fruits are used to stupefy fish.The leaves are readily eaten by camels, cattle and goats and are considered nutritious.In India and Queensland, the flowers are rated as a minor source of nectar for honeybees. The honey is light and of fair flavor.1

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Plant pacifies vitiated pitta, kapha, obesity, fever, burning sensations, cough, wound, skin disease, ulcers, stomatitis, diarrhea, sexual weakness, and general debility. Useful part : Fruit, Seed, Leaves, Root, Bark. 2 

PHARMACOLOGICAL REVIEW OF LITERATURE: The alcohol and aqueous extract of Z.mauritiana leaves stimulates cell-mediated immune system by increasing neutrophil function and phagocytic activity. 3 Free radical scavenging activity & inhibitory response of Ziziphus maurtiana seed extract exert on alcohol induced oxidative stress.4 Anticancer potential of aq. ethanolic extract of Ziziphus maurtiana was found against cancer cell liner by MTI assay. 5 Ziziphus maurtiana root exert antidiarrhoeal activity of in rodents . The antidiarrhoeal effect of the methanolic extract as evaluated exhibited a concentration dependent inhibition of the spontaneous pendular movement of the isolated rabbit jejunum and inhibited acetylcholine induced contraction of rat ileum. A dose dependent decrease of gastrointestinal transit was observed with extracts (25 and 50 mg/kg) which also protected mice against castor oil induced diarrhea and castor oil induced fluid accumulation, respectively.

The presence of some of the phytochemicals in the root extract may be responsible for the observed effects, and also the basis for its use in traditional medicine as antidiarrhoeal drug. 6 Chronic alcohol ingestion is known to increase the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby leading to liver damage. Pretreatment of rats with 200, 400 mg/kg body weight of aqueous leaf extract of Z.mauritiana resulted reduced the morphological changes that are associated with chronic alcohol administration .Rat liver administered with only alcohol resulted in severe necrosis, mononuclear cell aggregation and fatty degeneration in the central and mid zonal areas which was a characteristic of a damaged liver. 7 Ziziphus maurtiana aqueous ethanol seed extract exert hypoglycemic activity in alloxan induced diabetic mice. 8 The aqueous extract of Ziziphus maurtiana leaf lowers cholesterol and triglycerides level in serum & liver of rats Aqueous extract of Ziziphus maurtiana leaf can be used for the prevention and treatment of fatty liver, atherosclerosis and other diseases associated with high levels of cholesterol and triglyceride. Pretreatment was found to confer more protection than co-treatment, hence pretreatment should be preferred. 9 The methanolic extract of Z.mauritianastem bark was evaluated for its antiulcer activity using two models. Models are ethanol induced gastric ulcers model and aspirin induced gastric ulcer model in mice. It was found that the methanolic extract of stem bark have significant antiulcer activity in dose dependent manner where 3 different oral doses prepared (100 mg/kg of body weight, 250 mg/kg of body weight and 500 mg/kg of body weight). Evaluation was done on both models comparing with reference standard ranitidine (80 mg/Kg/ p. o.). The above result shows that Z.mauritianastem bark probably contains some active ingredients that could be developed for above mentioned abnormal condition as have been claimed by traditional system of medicine. 10 The antimicrobial effects of ethanolic extracts of leaves of two species of genus Ziziphus were determined against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicans. S. pyogenes was the most susceptible followed by E. coli while S. aureus was the least susceptible. 11 Investigation of the MeOH extract that alkaloids isolated exhibited potent antiplasmodial activity against the parasite Plasmodium falciparum with the inhibitory concentration (IC50) ranging from 3.7 to 10.3 μM. Compounds 2 and 3 also demonstrated antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis with the MIC of 72.8 and 4.5 μM, respectively. 12 The aqueous, methanolic and saponin extracts of Zizyphus mauritiana bark were screened for spermicidal activities against human spermatozoa.Saponin extract is found to be more active to cause immobilization then aqueous and methanolic extract.13.

CONCLUSION
Thus from traditional and reported activities of Z.mauritiana it may be concluded that this herb has great potential as antimicrobial , hepatoprotective , anticancer , contraceptive and antidiarrhoel agent other activities mentioned in the literature have to explore for further development of potential medicinal agent.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge Prof R L Khosa conveyer of GBTU for encouragement in doing research work.

References:

1. www.ayurvedicmedicinalplants.com

2. http://commons.wikimedia.org

3. Wadekar R.Effect of Ziziphus maurtiana lea.f extract on phagocytosis by human neutrophills. Journal of Pharmacy Research 2008;1 (1).

4. Bhatia A and Mishra T ,Free radical scavenging activity and inhibitory responces of ziziphus maurtiana seed extract on alcohol induced oxidative stress. An international forum for Evidence Based Practices 2009,;( 1): 8

5. Mishra T , Kullar N and Bhatia A.Anticancer potential of Aqueous ethanol seed extract of Ziziphus maurtiana against cancer cell lines and Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma. Evidence Based Complementary And Aleternative medicines 2011;.2011:11.

6. Dahiru D, Sini J.M.and John Africa L Antidiarrhoeal activity of Ziziphus maurtiana root extract in rodents. African Journal of Biotechnology 2006; 5 ,10.

7. Dahiru D , Obidoa O. Evaluation of the Antioxidant Effects of Z.mauritianaLam. Leaf Extracts Against Chronic EthanolInduced Hepatotoxicity in Rat Liver Afr J Tradit Complement Altern Med 2007 ; 5(1): 39–45

8. Bhatia A and Mishra T ,Hypoglycemic activity of Ziziphus maurtiana aqueous ethanol seed extract in alloxan induced diabetic mice.Pharmaceutical biology 2010; 48,604.

9. Dahiru D, Obidoa O,Effect of aqueous extract of Ziziphus maurtiana leaf on cholesterol and triglycerides level in serum & liver of rats administered alcohol.2009, Pakistan j of nutrition , 2009:1884-1888.

10. Panchal S, Panchal K, Vyas N, Modi K, Patel V, Bharadia P, Pundarikakshudu K. Antiulcer Activity of Methanolic Extract of Z.mauritiana stem Bark International Journal of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemical Research,2010 2(3): 6-11.

11. M. E. Abalaka1, S. Y. Daniyan1 and A. Mann2 M. E. Abalaka1, S. Y. Daniyan1 and A. Mann Evaluation of the antimicrobial activities of two Ziziphus species (Z.mauritianaL. and Ziziphus spinachristi L.) on some microbial pathogens. African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology 2010. 4(4): 135-139.

12. Panomwan P., Kanlaya L., Samran P., Palangpon K., Apichart S, Somsak R and Sunit S .Antiplasmodial and antimycobacterial cyclopeptide alkaloids from the root of Ziziphus mauritiana ,Phytochemistry 2011,72 : 909-915 .

13. Dubey R, Dubey K, Sridhar C, Jayaveera K N. Sperm immobilization activity of aqueous, methanolic and saponins extract of bark of Ziziphus Mauritiana.Pelagia Research Library.Der Pharmacia Sinica, 2010 , 1 (3): 151-156.