Natural Products Chemistry of Botanical Medicines from Cameroonian Plants

Xavier Siwe-Noundou

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN:
  9780429015205
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Pharmacology

A contribution to the series on Natural Products Chemistry of Global Plants, Natural Products Chemistry of Botanical Medicines from Cameroon focuses on the sources and chemistry of natural products from plants in Cameroon, West Africa. The plants selected offer an opportunity to trace a route through history from ancient civilizations to the modern day, showing the important value to man of natural products in medicines and in foods. This book highlights how many of the extracts from Cameroon are today associated with important drugs, nutrition products, beverages, perfumes, cosmetics and pigments, as well as presenting their complex chemistry and structure.

Key Features:

• Forms an important part of the series on Natural Products Chemistry of Global Plants, as Cameroon is a country with rich experience in the use of medicinal plants and with a wide diversity of botanical resources
• Addresses the current development of pharmacognosy research in Cameroon
• Provides readers with updated information on the chemistry and pharmacology of natural products with pharmaceutical potential
• Covers an extensive range of chemical, botanical and pharmacological diversities

Xavier Siwe Noundou is a Scholar/Scientist based at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. He has been a EU FP7 Marie Curie Fellow (2015-2016), Kaposvar University in Hungary (2015, 2016), Trakia Univesity in Bulgaria (2016), TWAS Fellow (2013), National Research Foundation South Africa Fellow (2014-2016). Dr Noundou works on Medicinal Chemistry focusing on Chemistry, Pharmacognosy and Nanotechnology. His main research interests include terrestrial natural products chemistry (from Cameroon and South Africa) and marine natural products chemistry (from the South African coastline): bioactive metabolites isolated as potential antiparasitic, antimicrobial, antiviral and antiproliferative candidates. He is author of more than forty scientific publications in his field of expertise.

1 The Genus Olax:
Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry and Biological Activities

Bienvenu Tsakem, Beaudelaire
Kemvoufo Ponou, Billy Tchegnitegni Toussie,
and Romuald Fouedjou Tematio

University of Dschang

Xavier Siwe Noundou and Rui W.M. Krause

Rhodes University

Rémy Bertrand Teponno
and Léon Azefack Tapondjou

University of Dschang

DOI: 10.1201/9780429506734-1

Contents

1. 1.1 Introduction
2. 1.2 Traditional Uses of Plant Species from Olax Genus
   1. 1.2.1 Olax mannii
   2. 1.2.2 Olax subscorpioidea
   3. 1.2.3 Olax viridis
   4. 1.2.4 Olax gambecola
   5. 1.2.5 Olax scandens
   6. 1.2.6 Olax imbricata
3. 1.3 Phytochemistry of Plants of the Genus Olax
   1. 1.3.1 Saponins of the Genus Olax
   2. 1.3.2 Flavonoids of the Genus Olax
   3. 1.3.3 Fatty Acids of the Olax Genus
   4. 1.3.4 Terpenoids of the Genus Olax
   5. 1.3.5 Amino Acid of the Olax Genus
4. 1.4 Biological Investigations
   1. 1.4.1 Biological Activities of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      1. 1.4.1.1 Antimicrobial Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      2. 1.4.1.2 Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      3. 1.4.1.3 Antivenom Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      4. 1.4.1.4 DPPH Free Radical Scavenging Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      5. 1.4.1.5 Antioxidant Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      6. 1.4.1.6 Hypoglycemic Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      7. 1.4.1.7 Hypolipidemic Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      8. 1.4.1.8 Acetylcholinesterase and Butyrylcholinesterase Inhibitory Activity of Olax Plant Species Extracts
      9. 1.4.1.9 Other Activities of Olax Plant Species Extracts
   2. 1.4.2 Biological Activities of Isolated Compounds
5. 1.5 Conclusion
6. References

1.1 Introduction

Microbial diseases are considered as a challenge to public health because of the unavailability of vaccines or limited chemotherapy [1]. As highlighted by the recent World Health Organization (WHO) report in 2019, the most critical group includes multi-resistant bacteria that pose a particular threat in hospitals and nursing home and among patients [2]. Certain chemical species such as free radicals are the main cause of many diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes [3]. In addition, malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS are implicated in the extraordinary morbidity and mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa [4]. From ancient time, the world population has considered plants as their sources of drugs to treat and manage diseases [5]. Almost 80% of the world population relies on traditional medicine for their primary healthcare according to the WHO report [6], and this is one of the reasons why many researchers continue to focus their studies on medicinal plants. Particularly in several regions of rural Africa, traditional healers prescribing medicinal plants find that they are the most easily accessible and affordable health resource available to the local community [7].

The Olax genus is a group of plants belonging to the family Olacaceae and distributed throughout Central and West Africa and Asia. It comprises about 200 species [8]. This genus has been employed for a long time in Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and India as a herbal drug. The commonly used species include Olax subscorpioidea, O. mannii and O. scandens. Plant species of Olax are largely used for treatment of yellow fever, jaundice, mouth ulcer and malaria [9,10]. A survey conducted by Beche in the Centre Region of Cameroon during the Nachtigal project led to the discovery of local use of Olax subscorpioidea (locally known as “Olom bekoé”) by Eton as spices and a remedy used to prevent many childhood illnesses [11]. Several phytochemical investigations led to the isolation of saponins and flavonoids [35, 36, 37, 38 and 39], and an important number of pharmacological studies have shown that these plants possess antimicrobial, anticholinesterase and hypoglycemic activities [10,12,45,47,52, 53 and 54]. This chapter focuses on the traditional uses and phytochemical and pharmacological investigations of the genus Olax over the past few decades.

1.2 Traditional Uses of Plant Species from Olax Genus

Considered as the oldest in the world, African traditional medicine is widespread in many localities and provides communities with enough plants for their healthcare [7]. Traditional healers deliver secrets about traditional uses of the plants depending on the locality. However, through surveys, researchers have gathered substantial amounts of information about the traditional uses of plants of the genus Olax (Table 1.1).

TABLE 1.1
Traditional Uses of Some Species of the Genus Olax

Plants	Part(s) Used	Traditional Uses	Local Name(s)	Region	References
Olax mannii	Leaves	Cancer and inflammatory conditions	Tsadar birii (in Northern part of Nigeria)	Nigeria,	[60]
	Leaves and roots	Fever, yellow fever and snakebite	Ngborogwu arua in Ibo and Tsada birii in Hausa	Nigeria	[12]
	Root barks	Convulsions
	Roots	Depression	Tsada biri in Hausa	Tribes of Kaduna State, Nigeria	[14]
Olax subscorpioidea	Roots	Irregular menstrual period	Eza-bor in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Ethnics	Rivers State Nigeria	[16]
	Whole plant	Mental illnesses	Gwano kurmi	Sabo wuse in Niger state, Nigeria	[22]
	Roots	Asthma	Ifon	south western Nigeria	[23]
	Leaves, stem and roots	Jaundice and yellow fever	Uburubu in Ogoni people	River state Nigeria	[12]
	Roots	Convulsion
	Stem	Toothache
	Roots, leaves, stem bark and twigs	Yellow fever, jaundice, guinea worm, toothache, venereal diseases and mental disorders	Ifan, Ifon in Yoruba, Nigeria.	Nigeria	[9]
	Stem/root	Daily cleaning of the teeth, dental healthcare	Egbo ifon	Mushin Lagos state, Nigeria	[19]
	Whole plant	Constipation, yellow fever, jaundice, venereal diseases, Guinea worm and spice	/	Cameroon	[61]
	Roots	Anaemia and intestinal worms	/	Northern and South-Eastern of Ivory cost	[62]
	Leaves, stem and roots	Jaundice and yellow fever	Uburubu (Ogoni)	Indigenes of Rivers State of Nigeria	[18]
	Roots	Convulsion
		Toothache
	Roots	Malaria	/	Southern Benin	[63]
	Leaves	Malaria	/	Moronou (Ivory cost)	[64]
	Bark	Spices, prevents childhood diseases	Olom bekoé	Eton, Cameroon	[65]
	Roots, stems, branches and leaves...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Book Series: Natural Products Chemistry of Global Plants
• Introduction – Cameroon
• Editor
• Contributors
• Chapter 1 The Genus Olax: Traditional Uses, Phytochemistry and Biological Activities
• Chapter 2 Chemistry and Biological Activities of Cameroonian Hypericum Species
• Chapter 3 Biologically Active Saponins from Some Cameroonian Medicinal Plants
• Chapter 4 Antioxidant and Immunomodulatory Activities of Cameroonian Medicinal Plants
• Chapter 5 Chemometric Evaluation of Phytochemical Principles in Cameroonian Plants
• Chapter 6 Medicinal Plants from Cameroon for Obstetric and Gynecological Uses
• Chapter 7 Ondongdong si (Acmella caulirhiza Delile), a Medicinal Plant from Cameroon
• Chapter 8 Cameroonian Allanblackia Species
• Index