Phytochemistry, bioactivity: suggestion of Ceratonia siliqua L. as neurodegenerative disease therapy

Abstract

Carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua L.) is one of the most widespread medicinal plants in the Mediterranean area. Traditionally, it was cultivated for its ethnopharmacological benefits and, more especially, for the seeds, which served as unit of measurement of jewelers "carat." Hence, in the last half-century, numerous studies reported a wide range of phytoconstituents contained in all parts of Ceratonia siliqua such as phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, alkaloids, glycosides, proteins and minerals. This review article unveils the phytochemical constituents, bioactivity and pharmacological studies of Ceratonia siliqua. Recent studies have shown that the extracts of this plant exhibit an antioxidant, antidiarrheal, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic activities and also hepatoprotective and antiproliferative effects. In this review, we provide a summary of the most interesting data related to bioactivity and therapeutic potential of Ceratonia siliqua in a way to suggest possible future studies that may use Ceratonia siliqua as an undeniable natural alternative for neurodegenerative diseases treatment.

Effect of feeding carob (Ceratonia siliqua L.) pulp powder to broiler chicken on growth performance, intestinal microbiota, carcass traits, and meat quality

“…Furthermore, the presence of biomolecules such us phenolic compounds, flavonoids, tannins, and anthocyanins in carob pods may have beneficial effects on human and animal health. Numerous studies reported that the extracts of carob exhibit an antioxidant, antidiarrheal, antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic activities, and also hepatoprotective and antiproliferative effects ( Custodio et al, 2011 ; Kotrotsios et al, 2012 ; Lakkab et al, 2018 ; Ben Ayache et al, 2020 ). Carob and carob byproducts have been studied previously as a local alternative feed and to prevent and treat diarrhea and as anthelmintic in geese ( Sahle et al, 1992 ), broiler chicken ( Ortiz et al, 2004 ), fish ( Fadel et al, 2017 ), quail ( Calislar and Kaplan, 2017 ) and sheep ( Saratsi et al, 2020 ) diets.…”

Phytochemistry and Pharmacology of Ceratonia siliqua L. leaves

“…Parkinson's disease is characterized by tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, and postural instability (Daviaud et al, 2013;Gaki and Papavassiliou, 2014). Phytochemical compounds of Ceratonia siliqua parts display several neuropharmacological effects mostly related to oxidative damage in body system (Lakkab et al, 2018). Custodio et al, (2015) reported the leaf and stem bark samples had strong activity against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE).…”

D-Pinitol—Active Natural Product from Carob with Notable Insulin Regulation

“…Modern research followed traditional knowledge and dozens of studies were published to date about dozens of medicinal activities of Carob’s various products, including its extracts and single natural products. Consequently, many review articles that summarize the research articles can also be found [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. However, one of the best review articles about Carob’s composition has been published by K. Rtibi et al, where they focus on Carob-derived treatments of the gastrointestinal tract [ 11 ].…”