A review: secondary metabolites of Uvaria chamae p. Beauv. (Annonaceae) and their biological activities

Abstract

The primary metabolites are of major importance to plants, while the secondary metabolites are of medicinal value to man (Trease and Evans, 1989) and these can equally be obtained from various anatomical structures of plants (Fahn, 1974). Man has benefited from the presence of these chemicals by exploiting the plant products as sources of sustenance in a variety of ways. For example, many drugs today are of plant origin. Pharmacological history is abounding with examples such as quinine, aspirin, picrotoxin, reserpine etc., while many of the synthetic drugs are fashioned after natural plant products (Sofowora, 1982). The Annonaceae is a large family of shrubby aromatic plants composed of 112 genera with about 2,150 species (Mabberly, 1997) and grows to about 3.6 m to 4.5 m tall. Uvaria chamae P. Beauv., commonly known as "finger root" is a climbing shrub and is found in the tropical wet and dry forests of west and central Africa along coastal scrubland. It is found alongside water in marsh forest with Alchornea cordifolia, Thalia (Maranthaceae), Dracaena arborea, Cyrtosperma, Anthocleista vogeliana, ferns, Mussa endaiserteana, Mitragyna stipulosa, Cyclosaurus (Arbonnier, 2004; Bongers et al., 2005). The fruit carpel's are in finger-like clusters, the shape giving rise to many vernacular names translated as "bush banana" or the like implying wildness where in Igala is called Ayiloko, Hausa: Kaskaifi, Yoruba: Okooja and Ghana: Akotompo. The fruits are yellow when ripe and have a sweet pulp which are edible and widely eaten (Iwu, 1993). Uvaria chamae is an important medicinal plant. The secondary metabolites isolated from the plant and their biological activities are reviewed. Chemical Constituents The search for the concerned active compounds has led to isolation of the several flavonoids, alkaloids, annonaceous acetogenins and essential oils from different plant parts of U. chamae. The preliminary phytochemicals detected from different parts of the plant are listed in Table 1 which shows the phytochemical groups present or absent in different plant parts. The bioactive compounds present in the essential oils and flavonoids isolated from the plant are listed in Table 2 and 3. Essential oils The essential oil from the root bark and leaves of U. chamae showed the presence of different constituents (Table 2). The oil from the root contained a number of oxygenated benzylbenzoate derivatives and ethers. The oil from the leaf contains predominantly sesquiterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, monoterpene hydrocarbons as well as oxygenated ones (Ayedoun et al., 1999). Thymoquinoldimethyl ether, benzyl benzoate, chamanen, omethoxybenzylbenzoate, o-methoxybenzyl benzyl ether, and di-o-methoxybenxyl ether are the major components of the root oil (Park and Sutherland, 1969; Lasswell and Hufford, 1977a) while the oil from the leaf was dominated by 1-nitro-2-phenylethane (63.2%), linalool (9.9%), and germacrene D (6.6%) (Moses et al., 2013) as shown in Table 2. The bioactivities of the major constituents account for t...

Modeling current and future distribution patterns of Uvaria chamae in Benin (West Africa): Challenges and opportunities for its sustainable management

“…Uvaria chamae P. Beauv. (Annonaceae) is a WEP providing-species which occurs in tropical West and Central Africa within tropical dry and moist forests [ 10 , 11 ]. The species occurs at higher densities in gallery forests of the Guinean and Sudanese savannas on rocky, and cooler soils (in plains and valleys) in Senegal, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo [ 12 ].…”

Phytochemistry and Antimicrobial Activities of Crude and Diluted Leaves and Roots Extracts of Uvaria chamae on Selected Bacteria

“…In the light of modern medicine, Uvaria chamae plant parts and extracts has been proved by several researchers to be quite efficacious. Abu et al [5] showed that several researches on the biological contents and activities of secondary metabolites accumulated in Uvaria chamae and its plant parts in the light of modern medicine are truly biologically active and validates their claims in traditional system of medicine. Extensive literature on anti-inflammatory activity of Uvaria species showed that its extracts and isolates exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity through various established mechanism of action [6].…”

Aphrodisiac agents used in traditional medicine and their mechanism of action - A Review

“…This is apparent in causing increase in mount frequency, intromission frequency, erection frequency and penile erection while causing decreases in mount latency, intromission and post ejaculatory intromission. This showed that the extract and it fractions possess the potential for sexual libido and potency [12,80] . The chemical constituents of Uvaria Chamae include; pinostrobin, uvaretin, nantenine, chamanetin, nornatine and corydine as shown in Figure 28.0 [80] .…”

“…This showed that the extract and it fractions possess the potential for sexual libido and potency [12,80] . The chemical constituents of Uvaria Chamae include; pinostrobin, uvaretin, nantenine, chamanetin, nornatine and corydine as shown in Figure 28.0 [80] . Its aphrodisiac action could be ascribed to the presence of carotenoid, vitamins, flavonoids, minerals and amino acids such as cyanidin, gallic acid, hibisic acid, citric acid, kaempferol, quercetin-3-rutinoside and catching figure 30.0 [43,81,82] .…”