INTRODUCTION:

Despite the progress in conventional chemistry and pharmacology in the production of effective drugs, plants might provide a useful source of new medicines and may be used to replace existing drugs. Traditional medicine in general is turned out to be very useful in the discovery of natural products such as pharmaceutical drugs. The shrub Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. (P. juliflora) commonly known as mesquite has been used as a traditional medicine in different continents for curing catarrh, colds, diarrhoea, dysentery, excrescences, flu, hoarseness, inflammation, measles, sore throat, and for the healing of wounds. This review evaluates the pharmacological potential with emphasis on naturally occurring phenolic compounds from P. juliflora. Prosopis juliflora, a member of family Leguminosae, is found in arid and semi-arid regions of India. Several alkaloids have been isolated from leaf extracts having pharmacological properties.¹

Synonym: Mimosa pudica²

Common Name:

Mesquite and Honey Mesquite (English USA)³

Vernacular Names:

Hindi - Vilayati babul, Vilayati Babool, Vilayati khejra; Gujrati - Gando baval; Marathi – Vilayati kikar; Marwari - angrezi bavaliya; Kannada - Bellari jali; Tamil - Velikaruvel, Velimullu.⁴

Geographical Source:

Prosopis juliflora is one of the most economically and ecologically important tree species in arid and semi-arid zones of the world.⁵ It is found especially in areas with 150-750 mm mean annual rainfall and maximum shade temperatures of 40-45°C. From north-west to south, the species is distributed from the states of Punjab to Tamil Nadu, and in an east-west direction, it is found from Kutch region of Gujarath State to drier parts of Orissa. The states where it mainly occurs are: Andra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.⁶

Morphology:

General Tree Structure

Prosopis species are all trees or shrubs of varying size (rarely sub-shrubs), predominantly xerophilous, aculeate, spiny or rarely unarmed.⁷

Tree Size and Form

Tree size and form vary considerably between species, populations and individuals both due to genetic and environmental influences. P. Juliflora normally reaches a maximum height of 12m, but can also reach upto 20m favourable conditions. Some also exist as shrubs as low as 3m high. The trunk is short and often crooked or twisted, reaching a diameter of 65cm. The bark is grey-brown, rough and fibrous, varying from finely fissured to furrowed. Tree forms vary from erect trees to flattopped trees and also trees with decumbent branches touching the ground. The shrub form can also vary from erect sub-shrub to prostrate shrub form. Both trees and shrubs are generally multistemmed, with much forking beginning low on the trunk, although more erect and less branched land races are known. In decumbent tree forms, branches are upright at first but take a horizontal form before becoming pendulous at distal ends, occasionally touching the ground. Prostrate forms are more common in younger trees, which develop more upright stems as they mature. Smaller branches are green or greenish brown and take on a zigzag appearance. Nevertheless, environmental variables such as thin soils, presence of hard pan or persistent wind are also observed to induce the formation of Prosopis juliflora.⁸

Seedling

Photograph-1 Seedling of Prosopis juliflora.

Seeds of P. juliflora are epigeous in germination. The fleshy cotyledons are the first seed leaves, persisting after the first true leaves have formed, being green or somewhat pale-green in colour. Once germinated, most energy is expended on rapidly developing a root system and locating a water source as soon as possible. In the first months, root length and biomass increases are much greater than shoot biomass leading to a high root: shoot ratio.⁹

Wood Structure

The total volume of wood in P. juliflora is divided between its microscopic constituents into: fibres 48%, vessels 18%, rays 18% and axial parenchyma 16%. The anatomical description of P. juliflora wood mostly comprises of two descriptions one by Gomes and de Muniz based on samples from Brazil and by Kazmi and Singh, based on samples from India. The wood of P. juliflora is diffusely porous in its gross structure.¹⁰

Photograph-2 : T.S. of wood of Prosopis juliflora.

Thorns

Armature consists of cauline, axillary spines which are geminate and divergent. Spines are straight, multi or uninodal, solitary, paired or solitary and paired on the same branch. Spines are produced on new growth, and tend to be largest on strong basal shoots and prominent on young branches. They become shorter on older stems due to incorporation of spines during wood growth and diameter increments in the stem and branches, and may become absent on older wood. Trees vary in the number and size of thorns, which may be absent or not on all branches. Thorns can be rare or profuse, long or short, thin or stout, 0.5-7.5 cm long and 2-5 mm in thorn base diameter.

Photograph-3: Thorns of Prosopis juliflora.

Leaves and Flowers

Leaves are bipinnate, with 1-10 leaves per node and petiole plus rachis 5-20 cm long. Trees are aphyllous or sub-aphyllous, with a rapid turn-over of leaves. Pubescence varies from entirely glabrous or ciliolate to somewhat pubescent or pubescent. Leaflets are linear-oblong, elliptic-oblong or ovate in shape, with an obtuse to mucronulate or minutely pointed apex, nerved below. Leaflets vary greatly in size, 2.5-23 mm long and 1-7 mm wide. Glands are cupuliform, sessile with an apical pore, present at the junction of the pinnae, sometimes also at the junction of the leaflets. While trees are generally evergreen, P. juliflora is occasionally deciduous, possibly due to drought or cold temperature.¹¹

Photograph – 4: Leaves and Flowers of Prosopis juliflora

Flowers are small, 4-6 mm long, gathered densely together on cylindrical, spike-like inflorescences known as racemes. They are generally yellow, straw yellow or yellow-white in colour. Flowers are hermaphrodite, sometimes sterile, actinomorphic and pentamorous. The calyx is campanulate, green or greenish-yellow, bellshaped and ciliolate outside, 0.5-1.5 mm long. The corolla is 3.0-3.2 mm long, styles 2.0-3.0 mm long, petals 2.5-3.0 mm long, free and villous within. The five stamens are 4-7 mm long, pistils 4-5 mm long, and the stipitate, villous ovaries are light green in colour and 1.5-1.8 mm long. Anthers have a glandular appendage. The pedicel is short, 0.5-3.0 mm long.

Fruit and Seed

The fruit is an indehiscent legume, straight with an incurved apex, sometimes falcate or subfalcate, with or without parallel margins. Pods are stipitate and acuminate, compressed to subcompressed and sub-moniliform. They are flattened, rectangular to sub-quadrate in section. Immature pods are green in colour, becoming commonly straw yellow when fully mature. The number of pods produced per inflorescence varies greatly, with 1-16 fruit per inflorescence. Pods also vary greatly in size, 8-40 cm long, 9-18 mm wide and 4-10 mm thick. Pods are made up of an exocarp, a fleshy mesocarp, and endocarp segments each containing a single seed, with up to 30 seeds per pod.¹²

Phytochemical Analysis:

Phytochemical screening is an important step which leads to the isolation of new and novel compounds. Different parts of Prosopis juliflora, such as leaves, pods, flowers, stem and roots were selected for phytochemical screening to identify the different classes of secondary metabolites. Solvent extract of the plant material with the help of different solvents, hexane, chloroform, acetone, ethanol and water revealed ethanol and water to be the best solvent in extracting metabolites from P. juliflora. Quantitative analysis of the total metabolite present indifferent parts of the plant, showed leaf and pod to be the richest source of plant metabolite, followed by flower, root and stem. Phytochemical analysis of the extracts revealed presence of tannins, phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, terpenes and steroids in most parts of P. juliflora.

Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of Alkaloids, Juliflorine, julifloricine, 3’-oxo-juliprosopine, sceojuliprosopinol, 3-oxojuliprosine, 3’-oxojuliprosine, Quercetin 4',7-dimethylether, kaempferol 4'-O-methyether, retusin, L-manopyranoside, Flavonols, Julifloravizole, phenols, Mesquitol, 3’-oxo-juliprosopine, Secojuliprosopinol. ¹³

Photography-5: Molecular structure of bioactive compounds of P. juliflora. A: Juliflorine; B: Mesquitol; C: 5-Hydroxytryptamine; D: Isorhamnetin-3- Diglucoside.

Table 1: Phytochemicals present in the extracts, obtained from various parts of P .juliflora.¹⁴

Phytochemicals

Plant Parts

Leaf

Pod

Flower

Stem

Root

Tannin

Phlobatannin

Phenolics

+++

Flavonoid

+++

Cardiac glycoside

Alkaloid

+++

Terpenes

+++

Steroids

+++

Saponin

+; low concentration, ++; moderate concentration, +++; high concentration, - ; absent

Wood :

The constituents of woody biomass can be divided into cellulose, hemi-cellulose, lignin, extractives, ash and water. Levels of hemi-cellulose in P. juliflora have been estimated at 25 30%, cellulose 40-45%, lignin 11-28% and extractives 3-15%.

Fruit (Pod) :

The fruits of the P. juliflora are indehiscent pods, generally pale yellow in colour. The pulp represents 56% of the total weight of the fruit. The main soluble component of the pulp is sucrose (46%), representing over 90% of total soluble sugars, while the reducing sugars, glucose, fructose and xylose, are present in very small amounts. Soluble sugars from the pericarp of P. juliflora comprises of 75% sucrose, 12% being fructose, 5% glucose, 5% inositol and 1% raffinose.

Leaves:

The composition of the leaves of P. juliflora can be divided into basic extractives (Protien (26.3%), Fibre (24.8%), Extract (8.5%), Ash (1.4%), Nitrogen free extract (31.8%) and mineral elements (macronutrients and micronutrients) (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Na). Leaves are rich in essential amino acids but low in sulphur containing amino acids. Tannins, flavonoids and polyphenols are present in leaves of P. juliflora. Leaf tannin content is generally high, at 0.8% or 1.9-2.0%. Alkaloids and other chemical compounds are also present.

Table 2: Percentage of occurrence of Flavonoids in Prosopis juliflora.¹⁵

S.No.	Flavonoids	*Prosopis juliflora*
1.	Apigenin	100
2.	Luteolin	75
3.	Apigenin 6,8-di-C-glycosides	100
4.	Apigenin 6,8-di-C-glycosides	100
5.	Chrysoeriol 7-O-glucoside	100
6.	Luteolin 7-O- glucoside	50
7.	Kaempferol 3-O-methyl ether	100
8.	Quercetin 3-O-methyl ether	75
9.	Isorhamnetin 3-O-glucoside	100
10.	Isorhamnetin 3-O-rutinoside	100
11.	Quercetin 3-O-rutinoside	100
12.	Quercetin 3-O-diglycoside (glucose, arabinose	25

Traditional Uses:

The names for Prosopis species in several North American Indian languages are unanalysable words and can be referred to linguistically as primary names, suggesting considerable cultural identity. However, it must be stressed that these names refer principally to tree species of section Algarobia, with sweet, edible fruit, distinct from those species producing dry or bitter fruits which were not consumed and often had different names. Prosopis pods were eaten by humans in the Tehuacan valley in Mexico as long ago as 6500 BC, and there are other reports relating to the use of pods over one thousand years ago. It can be assumed that the use of pods for food and wood for fuel was widespread amongst early man in the Americas. Roundwood was also already being used for the construction of housing early on in history. Wood was cut for use in more detailed aspects of construction such as for making doors and windows. Prosopis wood was also fashioned into household and agricultural implements. Sweet, fresh pods were commonly chewed in indigenous cultures, and are today still consumed raw by children and in rural areas.¹⁶

Physiochemical Parameters:

The results obtained were comparable for some parameters like Ash content was found to be 6.1±1.36% in green pods, 7.3±1.88% in dry pods, 4.8+1.02 in leaves, 8.9+1.19 in bark. Moisture content was found to be 61.3+5.44 in green pods, 26.3+4.09 in dry pods, 56.0+6.38 in leaves, 35.0+4.99 in bark.¹⁷

Species of Genus Prosopis:

The name Prosopis was selected by Linnaeus to describe the only species he was aware of, P. spicigera, in 1767. This is now synonymous with P. cineraria, the type species for the genus. Origins given for the name Prosopis vary but are all from ancient Greek. Burkart (1976) defined Prosopis as ‘a kind of prickly fruit’, while Allen and Allen (1981) gave the meaning as ‘bardane’, a type of thorny plant not related to Prosopis. The origin of Prosopis given by Perry (1998) was ‘towards abundance’, from the Greek word ‘pros’, meaning ‘towards’, and ‘Opis’, wife of Saturn, the Greek goddess of abundance and agriculture. This section deals with the genus Prosopis as a whole while specific descriptions of the systematics and nomenclature of the P. juliflora - P. pallida complex follow.¹⁸

P. alba Griseb.

Biological activity: Antioxidant

P. chilensis (Molina) Stuntz

Biological activity: Antioxidant

P. tanarugo Phil.

Biological activity: Antioxidant

P. Africana (Guill. and Perr.) Taub.

Biological activity: Analgesic and antiinflammatory effects of the methanol stem bark extract of Prosopis Africana.

Other Species of Genus Prosopis

P. Affinis, P. caldenia, P. cineraria, P. flexuosa, P. fiebrigii, P. glandulosa, P. hassleri, P. kuntzei, P. laevigata, P. nigra, P. pallid, P. pubescens, P. pugionata, P. ruscifolia, P. velutina, P. vinalillo.

Biological Activity of Prosopis juliflora:

1. Anthelmintic Activity:

Ethanolic extracts of root (REE) and leaf (LEE) of P. juliflora were found to exhibit in vitro activity against adult Haemonchus contortus, with activity comparable to Albendazole, a synthetic anthelmintic drug.¹⁹

2. Antioxidant Activity:

The antioxidant studies were done by DPPH scavenging method with the ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Prosopis juliflora and Mimosa pudica leaves. At different concentrations, ethanolic extracts of Prosopis juliflora leaves exhibited significant antioxidant activity but in Mimosa pudica, the aqueous leaf extracts exhibited significant antioxidant activity.²⁰

3. Antipyretic Activity:

The ethanolic extract of Prosopis juliflora has been explored as potential, effective and safer anti-pyretic activity. Significantly reduced the rectal temperature at 3 hours and at dose 500 mg/kg by using Paracetamol as standard drug. Significantly reduced the rectal temperature at 2, 3 and 4 hours in comparison with vehicle control.²¹

4. Antiulcer Activity:

The animals treated with Ranitidine (50 mg/kg), an ethanol extract of Prosopis juliflora (250 and 500 mg/kg) significantly reduced the ulcer score in comparison with ethanol induced ulcer control.²²

5. Cytotoxicity Effect:

An alkaloidal fraction (AF) obtained from P. juliflora pods was tested on astrocyte primary cultures. Astrocytes display physiological functions essential to development, homeostasis and detoxification in the central nervous system (CNS). The mitochondrial activity, assayed by MTT test, showed cytotoxicity at 30 μg/ml AF after 24 h. At concentrations ranging between 0.3 – 3 μg/ml, the AF induced an increase on mitochondrial activity, indicating cell reactivity.²³³

6. Antigiardial and Amoebicidal Activity:

The highest activity against Giardia lamblia, with respect to time, was obtained from petroleum ether extract which exhibited 78.91% mortality within 72 h with a concentration of 500 ppm followed by the methanolic extract which exhibited 77.48% mortality within 72 h with a concentration of 1000 ppm. The highest activity against Entamoba histolytica, with respect to time, was obtained from methanolic extract which exhibited 71.97% mortality within 72 h with a concentration of 1000 ppm.²³

7. Antipustule Activity

Acetone extract of Prosopis juliflora (AEP) evidences effective anti-pustule activity by inhibiting Staphylococcus sp through well diffusion method. Minimum inhibitory concentration of AEP was found to be 0.75mg/ml. This inhibitory action was also confirmed by growth curve analysis.²⁴

CONCLUSION :

Prosopis juliflora was found to contain various medicinal properties. Prosopis juliflora has been proved to be effective as anthelmintic, antioxidant, antipyretic, antiulcer, cytotoxicity effect, antigiardial, amoebicidal, antipustule activity and many more. Hence in this review article effort has been taken to collect and compile the details regarding Prosopis juliflora, which will be useful to the society to venture into the further unrevealed pharmacological actions of Prosopis juliflora and also venture into the field of alternative system of medicine.

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Received on 27.09.2016 Modified on 17.10.2016

Res. J. Pharmacology & Pharmacodynamics.2016; 8(4): 175-180.

DOI: 10.5958/2321-5836.2016.00032.X