Mangrove plants are specialised plants that grow in the tidal coasts of tropic and subtropic regions of the world. Their unique ecology and traditional medicinal uses of mangrove plants have attracted the attention of researchers over the years, and as a result, reports on biological activity of mangrove plants have increased significantly in recent years. This review has been set out to compile and appraise the results on antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity of mangrove plants. While the Web of Knowledge, Google Scholar, and PubMed were the starting points to gather information, other pieces of relevant published literature were also adequately explored for this purpose. A total of 29 reports on 17 plant species have been found to report such activities. While 19 reports were on the biological activity of the crude extracts, 10 reports identified the active compound(s) of various chemical classes of natural products including terpenes, steroids, and flavonoids. This review finds that antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity appears to be widespread in mangrove plants.
Mangrove forests are a special type of vegetation found in the coastal regions of the tropical and subtropical parts of the world. Global area that comprises mangrove forest is about 181000 square km. Majority of the mangrove forests is confined to the South East Asia and Australia, which accounts for 43% of the worldwide mangrove area (Table
Distribution of major mangrove forests around the world [
Region | Country |
---|---|
South and South East Asia | The Sundarbans, Bangladesh and India; Pichavaram, India; Balochistan, Pakistan; Estuarine mangroves, Thailand; Srilanka; The Philippines; East China, Taiwan; Japan; Malaysia; Borneo, Java and Eastern Indonesia |
Middle East | Arabian Peninsula; Red Sea; Gulf including Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman |
Australasia | Western and Eastern Australia; South Pacific Islands; Papua New Guinea; Solomons Island |
North and South America and the Caribbean | Florida and Bahamas, USA; Mexico; Puerto Rico; Eastern Venezuela; Trinidad; Guiana, Brazil |
Africa | North West of Africa stretching from Mauritania to Sierra Leone; West of Africa from Liberia to Nigeria; South West Africa from Nigeria to Angola; East of Africa from Somalia to Tanzania; Mozambique; Madagascar and South Africa |
Mangrove forests are still quite unfamiliar to a vast population due to their limited distribution. However, the people inhabiting areas near mangrove forests heavily depend on these forests to meet their needs including their healthcare. During the early stage of human civilization, mangrove forests drew very little or no attention. This is to some extent because of the difficulty to access these areas. As the population continued to grow, people had to find new and unexplored sources including mangrove forests. In some parts of the world, mangrove forests are over utilised. As a result, human establishment grew in close proximity of these forests. For example, the density of population near the Sundarbans is as high as >500 per sq km [
Like other terrestrial plants, many mangrove plants have ethnopharmacological relevance and have also been exploited by the local people in the search for remedies for various ailments. However, only a few of the mangrove plants have so far been included in any books listing medicinal plants. This may be due to the difficulty in collecting and identifying these plant species and lack of adequate information available about their uses. As a part of our INSPIRE Project, funded by the British Council, a recent visit to the Sundarbans and subsequent interviews with people living nearby villages have revealed that the local people use a number of plants from the Sundarbans to treat various medical conditions.
With the introduction of rapid and reliable screening methods, researchers around the world have picked plant species of various origins including mangrove plants in the search for new medicine. This review aims to compile and appraise reports on the antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity of mangrove plants.
Web of knowledge, Google Scholar, and PubMed were used to search for the published reports since 1950. Other relevant publications, for example, books and journal articles, were also consulted. A total of 57 mangrove species were searched for the activity. The results are presented in three different tables; Table
Antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity of mangrove plant species.
No | Plant name | Family | Plant part tested | Observed activity | Test method | Refs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Acanthaceae | Aqueous extract | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced in mice | [ | |
2 | MeOH fraction of leaf extract | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema, COX (1 and 2) and 5-LOX activity | [ | ||
3 | Myrsinaceae | Antinociceptive, Anti-inflammatory | Acetic-acid-induced, formalin-induced paw licking and hot plate test in mice | [ | ||
4 | MeOH extract of stem | Anti-inflammatory | Rat paw oedema and peritonitis models were employed for | [ | ||
5 | Avicenniaceae | MeOH extract of leaves | Anti-inflammatory | Freunds adjuvant-induced arthritis, carrageenan-, and formalin-induced rat paw oedema | [ | |
6 | Lecythidaceae | 98% | Anti-inflammatory | Inhibition of nitric oxide formation in RAW 264.7 cells by Griess assay Amount of lipid peroxidation by ferric thiocyanate method | [ | |
7 | Aqueous bark extract | Antinociceptive | Tail flick, hot plate, and formalin tests in rat | [ | ||
8 | Leguminosae | CH2Cl2 and acetone extracts, pure compounds | Anti-inflammatory | Inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 cell lines | [ | |
9 | Rhizophoraceae | EtOH extract of leaf and pneumatophore | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced in mice | [ | |
10 | Clusiaceae | EtOH extract of nut kernel | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan- and formalin-induced rat paw oedemas, cotton pellet implantation | [ | |
11 | (Pure compounds tested) | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan-induced hind paw oedema, cotton pellet granuloma and granuloma pouch techniques, in normal and adrenalectomized rats | [ | ||
12 | Euphorbiaceae | (Pure compounds tested) | Anti-inflammatory | Suppression of the expression of NF- | [ | |
13 | Arecaceae | MeOH extract of leaf and stem | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced in mice | [ | |
14 | Pandanaceae | MeOH extract of leaf | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced in mice | [ | |
15 | Fabaceae | 70% EtOH extract of leaf | Antinociceptive and antipyretic activity | Hotplate and tail flick, acetic acid writhing and Randall-Selitto nociceptive tests in mice and brewer’s yeast-induced pyrexia in rats | [ | |
16 | 70% EtOH extract of leaf | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenin, histamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and prostaglandin E-2-induced hind paw edema, kaolin-carrageenan and formaldehyde-induced hind paw oedema, cotton pellet granuloma models of inflammation | [ | ||
17 | 70% EtOH extract of seed | Antinociceptive, Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan-induced hind paw oedema and Randall-Selitto nociceptive test in rat | [ | ||
18 | PE, CHCl3, acetone and EtOH extracts of seed | Antinociceptive, Anti-inflammatory | [ | |||
19 | 70% EtOH extract of seed | Anti-inflammatory | Bradykinin and PGE-1-induced inflammation, histamine and 5-HT-induced inflammation | [ | ||
20 | Tamaricaceae | 80% MeOH extract of root | Antinociceptive, Anti-inflammatory | Acetic-acid-induced in mice, using carrageenan induced rat paw oedema | [ | |
21 | Fabaceae | CHCl3 extracts of leaf and root and pure compounds | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan-induced paw oedema in rats | [ | |
22 | Aqueous extract of stem and pure compounds | Anti-inflammatory | Eicosanoid inhibition | [ | ||
23 | EtOH extract of whole plant | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced and hot plate test in mice | [ | ||
24 | MeOH-water extract of leaf | Anti-inflammatory | Mouse ear oedema induced by croton oil, arachidonic acid, cotton pellet-induced granulomas, inhibition of Phospholipase A(2) purified from | [ | ||
25 | Convolvulaceae | MeOH extract and two fractions of aerial part | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced and formalin test in mice | [ | |
26 | Pure compounds | Antinociceptive | Acetic-acid-induced and formalin test in mice | [ | ||
27 | Crude extract and pure compounds | Anti-inflammatory | Inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis | [ | ||
28 | Crude extract | Anti-inflammatory | Carrageenan-induced paw oedema and ear oedema induced in rats by arachidonic acid or ethyl phenylpropiolate, inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis | [ | ||
29 | Sterculiaceae | Pure compounds | Anti-inflammatory | Nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory effects using RAW 264.7 macrophage cells | [ |
Analgesic, anti-inflammatory compounds from mangrove plants.
No | Pure compound related to the observed activity | Refs |
---|---|---|
5 | The anti-inflammatory activity of methanolic extract of | [ |
8 | Mimosol D, taepeenin D, taepeenin L, ( | [ |
10 | Calophyllolide | [ |
11 | Dehydrocycloguanandin and calophyllin-B | [ |
12 | Agallochaol K, agallochaol O, agallochaol P, agallochaol Q, | [ |
21 | Ovaliflavanone and lupinifolin | [ |
22 | 3- | [ |
26 | Glochidone, betulinic acid, | [ |
27 | Eugenol and 4-vinyl-guaiacol | [ |
29 | Ergosterol peroxide, 6- | [ |
From the search, 29 hits were found with different mangrove species reporting one or more of these activities: antinociceptive, anti-inlfammatory, and antipyretic activity (Tables
The diterpenoids reported by Yodsaoue et al. [
Mimosol D, an anti-inflammatory diterpene from the roots of
Agallochaol O, an anti-inflammatory diterpene from the stems and twigs of
Eugenol, an analgesic and anti-inflammatory compound, from
Plants often produce secondary metabolites under stressful conditions. Therefore, it is not surprising that mangrove plants, facing various ecological and environmental stresses, biosynthesise a wide range secondary metabolites of potential medicinal importance. The present literature survey has revealed that mangrove plants contain a wide range of compounds showing antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory and or antipyretic activity (Tables
Pain itself is not any disease. It is manifested in certain disease or pathological conditions. Use of natural products in the management of pain goes back to thousands of years. Use of poppy by various civilizations or the use of willow bark to cure fever led to the isolation of morphine and salicylic acid, respectively [
It must be stressed that there are no or a few reports available on the possible mechanisms of action of the extracts or isolated compounds from the mangrove plants. However, exploring the methods applied in the published reports on evaluation of antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and/or antipyretic activity of mangrove plants [
A wide range of methods were adopted by different research groups for the study of antinociceptive activity of mangrove plants. All these methods can be summed up to two major mechanisms, that is, centrally acting and peripherally mediated pain sensation. Different mangrove plants were able to inhibit pain sensation of both types. Therefore, it is possible to find opioid analgesics as well as analgesics in mangrove plants that act by inhibition of inflammatory pathways responsible for pain. Only in few cases, plants were investigated by methods that represent both of the mechanisms. Interestingly, articles that report the isolation of active compounds used methods representing peripherally acting pain sensation.
This review has revealed that antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic activity appears to be widespread among mangrove plants, and thorough and systematic phytochemical and pharmacological studies are much needed to discover new antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic medicinal entities from mangrove plants.
A part of this study was supported by an INSPIRE grant (no. SP_137, 2011–2013) from the British Council.