Medicinal uses of South American palms

doi:10.1016/0378-8741(84)90001-1

Journal of Ethnopharmacology

Volume 10, Issue 2, April 1984, Pages 157-179

https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8741(84)90001-1 Get rights and content

Abstract

Palms are the most versatile group of plants used by man, providing all of the basic necessities (food, shelter, fuel and fiber) as well as many ameliorants (spices, oils, waxes, gums, poisons and medicines). The importance of palms in the pharmacopoeias of South American Indians has received little attention. This paper presents the results of a literature search on the medicinal uses of South American palms and suggests that phytochemical screening of these species might result in the identification of new and useful biodynamic compounds.

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In vitro and in situ inhibition of some food-borne pathogens by essential oils from date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) spathe
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Date fruit palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is an important plant in dry regions of Arabian Peninsula, central and Southwest Asia, North Africa and other world regions. Palm tree represents an important symbol in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Plotkin and Balick, 1984). Date palm fruits are commonly used as an important source of nutrition, especially in the arid areas where few plants could grow.
Essential oils extracted by hydro-distillation form date palm spathe (byproduct from date palm plants) were tested for their antibacterial activity against some food-borne pathogens. Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29243, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis ATCC 13076 and E. coli ATCC 25922 were inhibited (11–13 mm inhibition zones) by spathe essential oils (SEOs) using the agar well assay (in vitro test). Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29243 and E. coli ATCC 25922 were not detected in chicken meat treated with 1% (v/w) SEOs and subjected to abusive storage conditions (20 °C for 18 h). When treated with 0.5% SEO, counts of S. aureus and E. coli increased by only 0.2 and 0.7 log₁₀ cfu/g, respectively, compared to the initial inoculated level in meat samples stored at 20 °C for 18 h. SEOs possessed DPPH radical scavenging activity with IC₅₀ of 0.61 μg/ml. Forty one compounds were major constituents detected by GC–MS analysis of SEOs. 3,4-Dimethoxytoluene (38.12%) and 5,9-Undecadien-2-one (12.45%) were major compounds in extracted oils. Density and refractive index of SEOs were 0.987 and 1.5905, respectively. SOEs are added-value products from date palm, which could be employed in food industry and pharmaceuticals. The study is the first report on antibacterial activity of SEOs against L. monocytogenes ATCC 7644 and other standard food-borne pathogens in agar diffusion assay and food model (chicken meat). DPPH radical scavenging activity of SEOs has not previously been documented.
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Açaí (Euterpe Oleracea mart.) is a berry found in Amazon Rainforest, with a high content of polyphenols and flavonoids. This work studied the formulation of bioactive compounds extracted from E. Oleracea fruit, by impregnation in silica-aerogel. Three fruit fractions were studied: pulp, seeds and slurry, and two extracts were obtained from each fraction: an oil fraction obtained by Soxhlet extraction, and a polyphenolic-rich extract obtained by Pressurized Microwave Assisted Extraction. With pulp oil, impregnation yields of 58.6% were obtained by air drying, with surface area of 0.7687 m²/g, while with supercritical drying method, the impregnation yield decreased to 15.3%, with surface area of 823.4 m²/g. This indicates a loss of oil by extraction during drying. With pulp extract, the best result was obtained using indirect wet impregnation and supercritical drying, with 16.4% of impregnation. By release assay, contents of 2.276 mg/g_(aerogel) of polyphenols and 0.197 mg/g_(aerogel) of anthocyanins were identified.
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Extracts from açaí fruit, induced a vasodilator effect in the rat mesenteric vascular bed, and this suggests its possible use in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases (Rocha et al., 2007). With specific regard to the açaí fruit oil, antidiarrheic action was proven (Plotkin and Balick, 1984) and Favacho et al. (2011) reported anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities. Considering the fact that genetic toxicity is a crucial endpoint in the safe testing of plants as it addresses potential mutagenicity, which has implications for risks of both genetic disease and cancer; and that to the best of our knowledge, there are no data in the literature about the genetic toxicity of E. oleracea fruit oil, the aim of this present study was to investigate the genotoxic and clastogenic/aneugenic potential of this oil in different rat cells, using the comet and micronucleus assays, respectively.
E. oleracea is a tropical plant from the Amazon region, with its fruit used for food, and traditionally, as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, hypocholesterolemic, for atherosclerotic disease, and has anticancer properties. The oil of the fruit has antidiarrheic, anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activities, but without genotoxicity evaluation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the genotoxic potential of E. oleracea fruit oil (EOO), in rat cells. Male Wistar rats were treated with EOO by gavage at doses of 30, 100 and 300 mg/kg, for 14 days, within a 24 h interval. The DNA damage in the leukocytes, liver, bone marrow and testicular cells, was assessed by the comet assay, and the clastogenic/aneugenic effects in the bone marrow cells, by the micronucleus test. Our phytochemicals characterization of the EOO showed the presence of vanillic, palmitic, _γ-linolenic, linoleic, oleic, cinnamic, caffeic, protocatechuic, ferulic, syringic acids, and flavonoids quercetin and kaempferol rutinoside as the main constituents. Both cytogenetic tests performed showed that EOO presented no significant genotoxic effects in the analyzed cells, at the three tested doses. These results indicate that, under our experimental conditions, E. oleracea fruit oil did not reveal genetic toxicity in rat cells.
Antibacterial activity of spathe from Phoenix dactylifera L. against some food-borne pathogens
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Citation Excerpt :
Palm trees provide various necessary needs (food, shelter, fiber and fuel) for humans (Mallaki and Fateh, 2014; Plotkin and Balick, 1984). Palms represent an important symbol in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Plotkin and Balick, 1984). The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L., family Arecaceae) is widely cultivated in the Arabian Peninsula.
The study aimed to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity of extracts from spathe (date palm) against Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 7644, Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923 and 29213), Staphylococcus saprophyticus ATCC 15305, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica ATCC 13076, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853. Results of the agar diffusion assay indicated that the 80% methanolic extract of spathe (ME) was the most active sample against test pathogens, compared to water or petroleum ether extracts. The inhibition zones produced by ME were 11–31 mm against the test bacteria. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), determined by the agar dilution method of ME against gram positive bacteria was 1.5 mg/ml. MIC of ME for gram negative bacteria was 3 mg/ml. Preliminary phytochemical tests revealed that ME contained phenolics and flavonoids. The Folin–Ciocalteu method showed that total phenolics (265.7 mg Gallic acid equivalent/g) were significantly (P < 0.05) higher in ME than other extracts. Total antioxidant capacity (phosphomolybdenum method) of ME was 530 μg ascorbic acid equivalent/g. It could be summarized that spathe contains active phytochemicals which may find applications in the food industry and pharmaceuticals.

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^☆: Paper presented at the Symposium on “American Indian Medicine” at the 44th International Congress of Americanists, Manchester, U.K., September 6, 1982.

^∗∗: We believe that the palms, well-studied from the point of view of their chemical composition and physiological action, will be able to add to our therapeutic arsenal many products of real importance.

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Medicinal uses of South American palms☆

Abstract

Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences

Mutation Research

Principales Plantas Utiles de la Amazoniana Colombiana

A phytochemical survey of Malaya Part III. Alkaloids and saponins

Economic Botany

The names and uses of palms among a tribe of Yanomama Indians

Principes

Amazonian oil palms of promise: A survey

Economic Botanȳ

Economic Botany of the Guahibo, I. Palmae