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International Journal of Bioassays ISSN: 2278-778X www.ijbio.com Review Article MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF MANGROVE PLANTS – AN OVERVIEW Revathi P1*, T Jeyaseelan Senthinath2, P Thirumalaikolundusubramanian3 and N Prabhu2 Department of Pharmacology1, Microbiology2 and Medicine3 Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre (SRM Group), Irungalur, Tiruchirapalli, India Received for publication: September 23, 2013; Revised: October 15, 2013; Accepted: November 17, 2013 Abstract: Perhaps the most important role of mangroves is that they protect vulnerable coastlines from wave action because they hold the soil together and prevent coastal erosion. Mangroves shield inland areas during storms and minimize damage. For example, learning from the 2005 tsunami in Asia, there were no deaths in the areas which had mangrove forests, compared to those areas without, which suffered massive causalities. Many species in the mangrove forest have medicinal value and it has been proved that these plants are antiviral and antibacterial in nature. Community participation is must to enhance mangrove habitats. Plant species in this ecosystem like Avicennia Marina, Sesuvium Portulacastrum and Suaeda Monoica have chemical properties that can kill vectors namely Anopheles, Culex and Aedes, which cause diseases such as malaria, filariasis and dengue fever. Keywords: Mangrove Plants, Medicinal Properties, Useful To Humankind INTRODUCTION Traditionally more than 100 numbers of mangroves and mangrove-associated plants were used for the treatment of diabetes, but only a very few number of plants are evaluated and documented (Bandaranayake, 2002). The antidiabetic activities of leaves of mangrove plants Rhizophora mucronata and Ceriops decandra had been documented and the gut perfusion studies on long Evans rats reported the mode of action of the leaves of Rhizophora mucronata in hypoglycemic conditions (Ramanathan et al., 2008; Nabeel et al., 2010; Gaffar et al., 2011). Some recent studies showed the medicinal value of mangroves and associated plants persist to provide invaluable treatment modalities, both in modern and traditional systems of medicine (Kathiresan and Ramanathan, 1997). The therapeutic applications of the black mangrove like Aegiceras corniculatum (Linn.) distributed in coastal and estuarine areas of India are well studied. Also, the ethnopharmacological consequence pointed out that the mangrove plants are traditionally used for the treatment of rheumatism, painful arthritis, inflammation, asthma antioxidant, free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, diabetes and hepatoprotective actions (Roome et al., 2008). However, there are no proper scientific reports available regarding the effects of Aegiceras corniculatum on Diabetes mellitus. Mangroves and associated plants provide a wide domain for therapeutic application in recent years, most yet to be explored. The leaves of A. corniculatum are reported that it have rich in flavonoids with proven antiinflammatory and antioxidant property (Banerjee et al., 2008; Gurudeeban et al., 2012). Evaluation of physiological and toxic effects, solvent used for extraction, route of administration and acute or chronic effect of A. corniculatum leave extract are quite diversified, which is encouraged by delineating the beneficial applications and confines various assessments. Alloxan is an oxygenated pyrimidine derivative which selectively destroys insulinsecreting beta-cells in the experimental animals, which results in alloxan diabetes (Lenzen, 2008). In general, the blood sugar level increased as expected in alloxaninjected animals, since alloxan causes a massive reduction in insulin release, by the destruction of the beta cells of the islets of Langerhans and inducing hyperglycemia (Bouwens and Rooman, 2005). Mangrove is mainly defined as an intertidal wetland ecosystem formed by a very particular association of animals and plants which multiply ornately in the coastal areas and river estuaries throughout the low lying tropical and sub-tropical latitudes. These wetland ecosystems are among the most productive and sundry in the earth and more than 80% of marine catches are directly or indirectly dependent on mangrove and other coastal ecosystems universally. They occupy large tracts along sheltered coasts, estuaries and in deltas where they are influenced by tides and widely different conditions of salinity and rainfall regimes. They are also found around coastal lagoons, communicating with the sea and where the effect of tides may be weak and the salinity very low. The term mangrove is also used to designate halophytic (salt loving) and salt resistant marine tidal forests comprising of trees, shrubs, palms, epiphytes, ground ferns and grasses, which are *Corresponding Author: Dr. Revathi P, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Tiruchirapalli, India. 1597 Int. J. Bioassays, 2013, 02 (12), 1597-1600 Revathi et al., associated in stands or groves (Bandaranayake, 2002). Mangroves are usually found only in tropical climates, as they need consistently warm conditions for development and survival and South India is the best place in India for the establishment of the mangroves. In countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia etc, mangroves provided safety for people, a function often invaluable in a region long prominent for its piracy and capturing forays. Furthermore, mangroves typically border streams and river mouths sites, which were particularly favorable for settlement because of accessibility and availability of fresh water (Banerjee et al., 2008; Gurudeeban et al., 2012). Mangroves are woody, specialized types of trees of the tropics that can live on the edge where rainforests meet oceans. Found on sheltered coastlines and river deltas, they grow in brackish wetlands between land and sea where other plants cannot grow. Highly stressful habitat involving daily changes in pH of soil and water, humidity, salinity, temperature and tidal cycles may be possible reasons for many of these plants to synthesize a large number of different bioactive phytochemicals, many of which have been found to have extensive use in industry and human health care. Due to their medicinal values, different parts of these plants have been used for ages by the local people as folk medicine for curing many diseases (Bandaranayake, 1998). True mangroves are mainly limited to intertidal areas between the high water levels of neap and spring tides. Plant species from true mangroves belong to at least 20 different families. The uses of mangroves are often quoted in scientific and popular articles (Bandaranayake, 1998; Vannucci, 1989) and fall in two major categories, 1. 2. Very important ecological functions such as control of coastal erosion and protection of coastal land, stabilization of sediment and natural purification of coastal water from pollution. Apart from prawn fisheries, many other species of economic importance are also associated with crabs, shrimp, oysters, lobsters and fish. Traditionally, the mangroves have been exploited for firewood and charcoal and their uses include construction of dwellings, furniture, boats and fishing gear and production of tannins for dying and leather production. Mangroves provide food and a wide variety of traditional products and artifacts for mangrove dwellers. The mangrove leaves are useful contributors to the nutrient system of the mangrove environment. It is known that mangrove leaves contain www.ijbio.com sufficient amounts of minerals, vitamins and amino acids, which are essential for the growth, and nourishment of marine organisms and livestock. Mangrove foliage plays an important role in the formation of detritus, which is utilized by several estuarine and marine detritovorous organisms and mangrove leaves make a superior fodder due to their high salt and iodine content and have numerous mangrove plants are been used in folklore medicine, and recently, extracts from mangroves and mangrovedependent species have proven activity against human, animal and plant pathogens but only limited investigations have been carried out to identify the metabolites responsible for their bioactivities. The major families and genus of mangroves having wide medicinal properties are Acanthaceae (Acanthus hirsutus, Acanthus ilicifolius); Myrsinaceae (Aegiceras corniculatum); Avicenniaceae (Avicennia officinalis); Lecythidaceae (Barringtonia racemosa), Leguminosae (Caesalpinia mimosoides); Rhizophoraceae (Ceriops decandra); Clusiaceae (Calophyllum inophyllum); Euphorbiaceae (Excoecaria agallocha); Arecaceae (Nypa fruticans); Pandanaceae (Pandanus foetidus); Fabaceae (Pongamia pinnata, Derris scandens); Tamaricaceae (Tamarix indica); Convolvulaceae (Ipomoea imperati, I. pes-caprae) and Sterculiaceae (Heritiera littoralis) Chemistry of mangroves: The common chemical; constituents present in the mangroves are aliphatic alcohols and acids, amino acids and alkaloids, carbohydrates, carotenoids, hydrocarbons, free fatty acids including polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), lipids, pheromones, phorbol esters, phenolics, and related compounds, steroids, triterpenes, and their glycosides, tannins, other terpenes. The additional newer components like gums and glues to alkaloids and saponins and other substances of interest to modern industry and medicine. Chemicals such as amino acids, carbohydrates and proteins, are products of primary metabolism and are vital for the maintenance of life processes, while others like alkaloids, phenolics, steroids, terpenoids, are products of secondary metabolism and have toxicological, pharmacological and ecological importance. Heterocycles are those molecules having rings composed of carbon and one or more heteroatoms chiefly nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur. They can be unsaturated or aromatic heterocycles or saturated heterocycles and are usually be five or six membered. They exist either as ‘independent’ rings or fused normally to benzene rings. Alkaloids, chromenes, coumarins, flavonoids, xanthones etc belong to this general class. 1598 Int. J. Bioassays, 2013, 02 (12), 1597-1600 Revathi et al., Alkaloids are nitrogenous bases (usually heterocyclic), and are structurally the most diverse class of secondary metabolites. The manifold pharmacological activities have always excited man’s interest, and selected plant products containing alkaloids have been used as poison for hunting, murder and euthanasia as euphoriants, psychedelics, stimulants and medicine. The phenolic compound embraces a vast range of organic substances, which are aromatic compounds with hydroxyl substituent and some possessing antibiotic properties. Most are polyphenolic and flavonoids form the largest group which occurs widely in the plant kingdom. However, phenolic quinones, lignans, xanthones, coumarins and other classes exist in considerable numbers. In addition to monomeric and dimeric structures, there are three important groups of phenolic polymers - lignins, black melanin pigments of plants, and the tannins of woody plants. Plant polyphenols are economically important because they make major contributions to the taste and flavor and color of our food and drink. It has been recognized for some time that several classes of flavonoids play a significant role in many physiological processes and show antioxidant and fungicidal activity and are natural antihistamines. Flavonoid, and flavonol-lignan derivatives inhibit lipid peroxidation and are potent quenchers of triplet oxygen. A variety of modifications of the flavonoid skeleton lead to a large class of compounds that includes isoflavones, isoflavonones and chalcones, some isoflavones are now been marketed as therapeutic agents for menstrual disorders. Polyhydroxylated chalcones such as those found in Pongamia pinnata, which are biosynthetic intermediates between cinnamic acids and flavonoids also show considerable antioxidant activity. Anthocyanins, are pigments, which occur as glycosides (often glucosides), hydrolysis of, which provides colored aglycones, known as anthocyanidins. Medicinal Applications: Medicinal plants continue to provide valuable therapeutic agents, both in modern medicine and in traditional systems. Mangroves are woody plants growing at the interface between the land and sea in tropical and subtropical latitudes, where they exist under conditions of high salinity, extreme tides, strong winds, high temperatures, and muddy, anaerobic soils. Mangroves have highly developed morphological and physiological adaptations to the extreme conditions of their environment. Thus, it is possible that the mangroves contain a bioactive compound that may be of potential use in the long-term treatment of diabetics and other major disorders and diseases (Goksel and www.ijbio.com Mehmet, 2008; Kathiresan and Bingham, Kathiresan, 2000). 2001; Why mangrove not used directly as food source? Mangrove plants are not commonly used directly as a food source, probably due to the high levels of tannins and other distasteful chemicals. There is processing of the hypocotyls of some species as a food source (eg, Avicennia marina). This process is common knowledge to many coastal groups, but is unknown to people from coastal areas. It was suggested that this is because indigenous diet was culturally determined and when migrated into new areas; not necessarily experiment with new foods, but in the case of the coastal village people from India, sea level changes isolated them on the island and there was a major change from fresh water to marine as the Gulf flooded (Alongi, 2002). Numerous mangrove plants are used in folklore medicine. Extracts from mangroves and mangrovedependent species have proven effective against human, animal and plant pathogens, but only limited investigations have been carried out to identify the metabolites responsible for their bioactivities (Roome et al., 2011). Skin disorders and sores – including leprosy – may be treated with ashes or bark infusions of certain species of mangrove. Reported to be an astringent, emmenagogue, expectorant, hemostat, styptic and tonic, red mangrove is a folk remedy for angina, asthma, backache, boils, constipation, convulsions, diarrhea, dysentery, dyspepsia, elephantiasis, eye ailments, fever, fungal infections, headaches, hemorrhage, inflammation, jaundice, kidney stones, lesions, malaria, malignancies, rheumatism, snakebites, sores, sore throat, syphilis, toothache, tuberculosis, ulcers and wounds (Rahman et al., 2011). A cure for throat cancer by gargling with extract of mangrove bark has been reported by many scientists. More information on the chemical constituents of these plants is needed, not only for the discovery of new drugs, but because such information may be of use to those interested in "deciphering" the value of folklore remedies. The mangroves are found in all over the world where the importances of folk lore applications get varied depends upon the utilization of such plants for medicinal applications. The distribution of such mangrove plants all over the world is depicted in Table 1. The uses of mangroves falls into two categories, firstly the use of the mangrove ecosystem as a whole or its conversion to other uses, and secondly, the use of products from the mangrove ecosystem. Traditionally, people have used mangroves for the 1599 Int. J. Bioassays, 2013, 02 (12), 1597-1600 Revathi et al., benefit of the local community, but increasing populations have led to an increasing non-sustainable abuse of the resources. Mangroves are used in flavouring agents, textiles, mats, paper, housing, baskets, boats and tapa cloth and also used as staple food. The indigenous people of Australia and Sri Lanka use extracts from mangrove plants as valuable sources of dyes. Table.1: Distribution of major mangrove forests around the world (Sarker et al., 2010) Region South and South East Asia Middle East Australasia North and South America and the Caribbean Africa Country The Sundarbans - Bangladesh and India; Pichavaram – India; Balochistal – Pakistan; Estuarine mangroves – Thailand; Srilanka; The Phillippines, East China – Taiwan; Japan; Malaysia; Eastern Indonesia – Borneo and Java Arabian Peninsula; Red Sea; Gulf (Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman); Western and Eastern Australia; South Pacific islands; Pupua New Guinea; Solomons islands Florida and Bahamas – USA; Mexico; Puerto Rico; Eastern Venezuela; Trinidad; Guiana – Brazil 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 This review has revealed various medicinal properties appears to be widespread among mangrove plants, and thorough and systematic phytochemical and pharmacological studies are much needed to discover new antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic medicinal entities, etc from mangrove plants. 5. 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Lenzen S, The mechanisms of alloxan- and streptozotocininduced diabetes, Diabetol, 2008, 51, 216–26. 13. Nabeel MA, Kathiresan K, Manivannan S, Antidiabetic activity of the mangrove species Ceriops decandra in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, J Diabetes, 2010, 2, 97–103. 14. Ramanathan T, Hariharan B, Ganesan K, Antidiabetic activity of a coastal mangrove leaves of Rhizophora mucronata, Int J Plant Res Plant Arch, 2008, 8, 931–3. 15. Rahman MA, Haque E, Hasanuzzaman M, Shahid IZ, Antinociceptive, antiinflammatory and antibacterial properties of Tamarix indica roots, Inter J Pharmacol, 2011, 7, 527–31. 16. Roome T, Dar A, Ali S, Naqvi S, Choudhary MI, A study on antioxidant, free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective actions of Aegiceras corniculatum (stem) extracts, J Ethnopharmacol, 2008, 118, 514–21. 17. 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