BLIGHIA SAPIDAI. Constituents of the fresh fruit

Abstract

I. Constituents of the fresh fruit Blighia saijidn (Sapindaceae) is a tropical tree, the fruit aril of which is edible and reported to reduce the blood sugar content (K r o n e r and H o l t , 1956). T h e fruit (average 10 cm X 5 cm; wt. 11 7 g) has a spongy pericarp constituting the major portion (63 per cent) of the fruit and the pericarp is also reported to have medicinal properties (F o x and M i 11 e r , 1960). During recent investigations in this laboratory with the saponin-bearing fruits (Mi t r a et al., 1965; N i g a m et al., 1963), a number of hitherto unreported triterpenoids have been isolated and as an extension of the scheme of work, chemical examination of the constituents of Blighia saijida fruit pulp has been carried out. Hederagenin had been isolated from the B. sapidn husk saponin (P u 1 m e r and S n e t t o , 1963) and the presence of hypoglycines in the aril (von H o 1 t and L e p p l a , 1958) had been evaluated as the blood sugar lowering agent. T h e component fatty acids of the kernel fat and the analysis of the meal protein have recently been published (U c c i a n i et al., 1964).

The use of plants in the traditional management of diabetes in Nigeria: Pharmacological and toxicological considerations

“…Cabbage tree Sapo (Y), Akpakoro or Uvuru (I), Putaa (H) SS c , SE b , SW r 111 mg/kg ethanolic root extract decreased blood glucose levels in alloxaninduced diabetic rats (Okokon et al, 2012); Alpha amylase inhibitory effects of the hydro-alcoholic extract of the leaves and stem bark as well as hypoglycaemic effect of 1 g/kg of the stem bark in alloxan-induced diabetic rats (Olubomehin et al, 2013) Anti-microbial, (Onocha et al, 1995) Gastrointestinal upsets (Tchacondo et al, 2011) 20 Anthocleista vogelii Planch. (Chen et al, 1957) Hypoglycin A, Hypoglycin B (Hassall et al, 1954); Glycyl-L-alanine, γ-Lglutamyl-trans-α-L-(carboxy cyclopropyl) glycine, Glyclyglycine, Diglycylglycine (Fowden and Smith, 1969); Blighinone, Stigmasterol and its fructoside, Oleanolic acid, Hederagenin and its glucosides (Garg and Mitra, 1967) Hypoglycin A and B in the unripe fruit, although responsible for the hypoglycemic effect can lead to death due to severe fatty acid degeneration and glycogenolysis (Hassall et al, 1954;Sherratt, 1986) 32 Bridelia ferruginea Benth.…”

Bioactive micro-constituents of ackee arilli (Blighia sapida K.D. Koenig)

“…The following administration (four weeks) from 100 to 400 mg/kg bodyweight of methanolic extract of Blighia sapida leaves reduced blood glucose level at all doses used and prevented oxidative stress and dyslipidemia in alloxan-induced diabetic rats (Oloyede et al 2014). A great part of the research on the ackee fruit has been focused on the study of hypoglycin A (HGA) and B (HGB), but studies regarding the presence of other phytochemical groups are scarce (Benkeblia and López 2015, Garg and Mitra 1967, Antwi et al 2009, Dossou et al 2014. Additionally, little is known about the chemical changes occurring during the ripening process of the fruit.…”