A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON ANNONA RETICULATA

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Received on 11 August, 2013; received in revised form, 10 October, 2013; accepted, 29 November, 2013; published 01 January, 2014

A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW ON ANNONA RETICULATA

Shital S. Chavan*¹, Prashant B. Shamkuwar ¹, Manoj G. Damale ² and Deepak P. Pawar ¹

Government College of Pharmacy, Govt. Polytechnic campus ¹, thiba palace road, Ratnagiri-415 612, Maharashtra, India

MGM’s Institute of Biosciences and Technology ², Aurangabad-431 001, Maharashtra, India

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ABSTRACT: Indian literatures like Ayurveda and various ancient literatures have stated herbal remedies for a number of human ailments. Annona reticulata which is commonly known as bullock's-heart in English and Ramphal in Hindi and Marathi is having various pharmacological activities such as  antioxidant, anticancer, analgesic and CNS depressant, antimalarial, anthelmintic, in syphilis and few more. Some compounds have been isolated and reported from the extract of various parts of the plant possessing good pharmacological activity. The studies performed on the seed and root extract also evidenced that the same compounds causes cell death in various cancer cell lines. This review article is a sincere effort to put forward the medicinal importance and botanical, phytochemical, pharmacological details of the plant.

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INTRODUCTION:The medicinal plants are rich in secondary metabolites and essential oils of therapeutic importance. The important advantages claimed for therapeutic uses of medicinal plants in various ailments are their safety besides being economical, effective and their easy availability. Because of these advantages the medicinal plants have been widely used by the traditional medical practitioners in their day to day practice. From various plants which are known for their medicinal value, the plants belonging to genus Annona are rich in phenolic compounds and are very useful for their therapeutic potentials. The Annona genus (Annonaceae) consists of about 119 species ¹. Annona reticulata is a semi-evergreen and small deciduous tree from the plant family Annonaceae ².

It is well known for its fruit, commonly called custard apple having flavor sweet and pleasant, which is a very common name, shared with fruits of various other species belonging to same genus: A. cherimola ³, A. chrysophylla ⁴ and A. squamosa ¹³ or sometimes it is called bullock's-heart, wild-sweetsop, or ox-heart.

ECOLOGY AND DISTRIBUTION:

History of cultivation: Plant is native of Caribbean region and has also been spread across Central and South America, Africa and Asia. Annona species is cultivated all over India for its edible fruit belonging to custard apple family. All parts of annona are used in natural medicine in the tropics. It is considered to be good source of natural antioxidants for various diseases. Therefore, attention in recent times has been focused on the isolation, characterization and utilization of natural antioxidants ². In India the tree grows wild in many areas but is cultivated, especially around Calcutta ⁵. It was found in tropical Africa in the 17th century and is grown there as a dooryard fruit tree.

It has long been naturalized and cultivated as far south as Peru and Brazil and is grown mostly in the Bahamas and occasionally in southern Florida and Bermuda. It is very common on the east coast of Malaysia, and throughout Southeast Asia and the Philippines ⁶.

Geographic Distribution:

Exotic: Mexico Bahamas, Bermuda, United States of America, Guam, Philippines, Malaysia, Peru, Brazil, South Africa, India.

Native: Guatemala, Belize.

Natural Habitat: Annona reticulata is a pantropic tree which needs a tropical climate and it grows in the coastal lowlands of Ecuador to 1500 m. In Guatemala, it is nearly always found below 1,220 m. The custard apple tree grows between 0-1500 m in the areas of Central America that has alternating seasons and has spread to South America. In Sri Lanka, it cannot be grown above 915 m but in India, its better from the plains up to an elevation of 1220 m while. Also it is common below 800 m around the Luzon in the Philippines. Leaves of Annona reticulata are shed at the first onset of cold weather and the tree is dormant throughout winter. It has survived temperatures of 3º - 2ºC without serious harm when fully grown. The species prefers a more humid atmosphere ⁶. The custard apple grows better in deep, low-lying, rich soil with good drainage and sufficient moisture. It grows wild in light sand, also in southern Florida it grows to full size on oolithic limestone and various other types of soils.

PROPAGATION AND MANAGEMENT ⁶:

Propagation Methods: Annona reticulata is generally propagated by seed, the germination rate of which ranges from low to medium. The tree can be multiplied by inarching, grafting or budding onto its own seedlings or onto other annona spp.Rootstocks.

Germplasm Management: Seeds remain viable for more than 12 months in air-dry storage at 5ºC.

Tree Management: Annona reticulata grows and responds faster to organic fertilizers, mulching, and frequent irrigation if there is dry weather during the growing period. Bullock’s-heart is having advantage of cropping in spring and also late winter when the other members of the genus are not in this season. Form of the tree can be improved by judicious pruning. With ample care, a mature tree can produce 34-45 kg of fruits per year.

Taxonomic Classification ⁷:

Kingdom           :   Plantae

(Unranked)        :   Angiosperms

(Unranked)        :   Magnoliids

Order                :   Magnoliales

Family              :   Annonaceae

Genus               :   Annona

Species             :   A. reticulata

Binomial Name:  Annona reticulate L.

Description of plant:

Vernaculars: Annona reticulate is known by different names in different languages around the world including the Indian sub-continent. In English, it is known as Custard apple, Jamaican apple, Sugar apple, Netted custard apple, Bullock's heart, Sweetsop, In Malaysia it is known as Lonang, Nona kapri, while in Thailand as Noi nong. In Spanish as Anona colorada, Anona de seso Anona de redecilla, Anona roja, Corazón, Anona rosada, Mamon in French known as Corossol sauvage, Bois Cachiman, Coeur de boeuf, cachiman, while in Hindi it is called as Luvun, Ramphal, Nonai ⁸.

Botanical description of the plant: Annona reticulata L. belonging to family Annonaceae is a low, erect tree with spreading or rounded crown and the trunk measures to about 25-35cm in diameter. It grows up to 10m high. The leaves are narrow-lanceolate, alternating, oblong and deciduous measuring to about 10-20 cm long and 2-5cm wide with conspicuous veins and bad smell. The flowers are, fragrant in drooping clusters, slender, with 3 outer narrow, fleshy petals 2-3cm long which are never fully opened. The fruit is measuring about 8-16 cm in diameter, they may be irregular, symmetrically heart-shaped, nearly round, or lopsided and are having a depression at the base. The skin is thin and yellowish to brown when ripe, with a pink and reddish or brownish-red blush, distinctly reticulated. The flesh is a thick, cream-white layer; somewhat granular flesh beneath the skin is surrounding the moderately juicy segments.

There is a pointed central fibrous core which is attached to the thick stem, extends from the midway through the fruit which is a speciality of fruit ⁹.

FIG. 1: A. RETICULATA LEAVES AND FRUIT ⁵

Ethnobotanical Description: Decoction of the bark or dried or pulverized unripe fruit is used in the treatment of dysentery and diarrhoea ¹⁰. Leaves of A. reticulata are used to prepare tea for relieving colic ⁹. Philippines use the warmed leaves for application over the abdomen to get relief from indigestion in babies and children ¹¹.

Crushed leaves or paste prepared from the flesh are use as poultice for abscesses and are also use for ulcers. Fruits are having anthelmintic properties. The root bark is use in toothache and is placed around the gums to get relief from toothache and roots of the plant are used in the form of a prepared decoction for fever ¹⁰.

Decoction of the leaves is use mostly in relieving malaria and syphilis ⁹. The roots used for epilepsy ¹¹. The plant has been used as an anti-inflammatory agent in wound healing, anti-anxiety, anti-stress, anti-mutagenic, and spasmolytic agent. Leaf and stem extract shows inotropic, positive chronotropic and spasmolytic activities ¹².

PHYTOCHEMICAL STUDY: Chang et al isolated a new cytotoxic 7-1actone acetogenin, cis-/trans-isomurisolenin, along with six known cytotoxic acetogenins, annoreticuin, annoreticuin-9-one, cis-/trans-bullatacinone, bullatacin, cis-/trans-murisolinone, and squamocin from ethyl acetate extract of seeds of Annona reticulata ¹³.

FIG. 2: ACETOGENINS ¹³

 

annoreticuin, bullatacin, squamosine, rolliniastatin ¹⁴, reticullacinone, rolliniastatin-2, molvizarin ¹⁵, 14-hydroxy-25-deoxy-rollinicin ¹⁶. Bullatacin and a novel bioactive monotetrahydrofuran acetogenin, reticulatacin, and kaurane diterpenes have been isolated from the bark of the Annona reticulata L. (Annonaceae) by bioactivity-directed fractionation ¹⁷.

Other terpenes such as spathenelol, muurolene, copaene and eudesmol were also reported ¹⁸. annonaretin A, a new triterpenoid was chemically investigated from the leaves of Annona reticulata by Shung T, Wu et al. The representative chemical structures of some acetogenins are shown in figure 2 and figure 3.

FIG. 3: BULLATACIN AND ROLLINIASTATIN-2 ²⁵

 

Two cyclopeptides, the cycloheptapeptide cycloreticulin C, cyclo(Pro¹-Gly²-Gln³-Pro⁴-Pro⁵-Tyr⁶-Val⁷) and the cyclohexapeptide glabrin A, cyclo(Pro¹-Gly²-Leu³-Val⁴-Ile⁵-Tyr⁶) have been isolated from the methanol extract of the seeds of Annona reticulate and Sequence and three-dimensional structure of cycloreticulins A and B, new cyclooctapeptides was identified ^{13, 14}. It is as shown below in figure 4.

FIG. 4: CYCLORETICULIN C AND GLABRIN A ^{13, 14}

N-fatty acyl tryptamines were also obtained from Annona reticulata ¹⁴. Ogunwande and Ekundayo has obtained hydrodistilled oil from the leaves of Annona reticulata L., grown in Nigeria. Thirty nine compounds were characterized. These consisted of 18 monoterpenes amounting to 29.0%, 20 sesquiterpenes totaling 52.9% and one aromatic esters making upto 10.9%, the oil contained (E, E) farnesyl acetate (19.0%), ar-turmerone (12.0%), benzyl benzoate (10.9%) and gamma-terpinene (7.4%) as the major constituents ¹⁹.

PHARMACOLOGICAL STUDIES:

Antioxidant Activity: A study was carried out on three well known species of Annona for the antioxidant activity. Different in vitro models were used for this study like 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) model, 2, 2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothizoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) model, nitric oxide, superoxide, hydroxy radical and lipid peroxidation models. Study was found to be helpful in proving that the leaves extracts of A. reticulata showed better activities in quenching DPPH and superoxide radicals hence antioxidant potential of plant ².

Anti-Cancer Activity: Annonaceous acetogenins are a group of constituents obtained from plants belonging to Annonaceae, having potentials of anti-neoplastic agents. Acetogenins are potent cytotoxic inhibitors of the mitochondrial NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I of the respiratory chain). A study shows that main five annonaceous acetogenins which are solamin, annoreticulin-9-one, annomonicin, squamone, and rolliniastatin are having cytotoxic activities. Acetogenins isolated from the seeds of A. reticulata are bullatacin, cis-/trans-isomurisolenin, cis-/trans-bullatacinone, annoreticulin, annoreticulin-9-one, cis-/trans-murisolinone and squamocin.

Potent cytotoxic activity was shown by some of these compounds against Hep.G2, Hep.2, 3, 15, KB and CCM2, four cancer cell-lines. After further purifying annonacin it was studied for its biological activity and found that these compounds caused cell death in various cancer cell lines including T24 bladder cancer cells.

Squamocin isolated from the seeds of A. reticulata was also analysed for its biological effects and proved that squamocin is a cytotoxic constituent for nearly all the cancer cell lines tested ^{3, 4, 20, 21}. The ethanol extract exhibited a significant in vitro and in vivo inhibitory activity against melanoma tumor cells. Alkaloids are also known to possess cytotoxic properties.

Ethanol and aqueous extract of roots of Annona reticulata, are evaluated for the in vivo, against melanoma cells in mice for anticancer activity and also in vitro for inhibitory activity on MDA- MB-435 human melanoma cells by the MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] colorimetric assay and it was found that the ethanol extract significantly reduces growth of tumor as compared with positive control and shows a promising inhibitory activity against human melanoma cell lines at a very less concentration ranging between 10 and 40 μg however the aqueous extract was found to exhibit lesser activity at the same concentration.

Simultaneously, ethanol extracts in vitro inhibition towards the vero cell line proliferation was found to be lower in comparison with cancer cell lines ²². Also Annona reticulata leaves shows in vitro cytotoxic and human recombinant caspase inhibitory effect which was studied by Susanta et al ²³. Hence, Annona reticulata gets qualified as a chemopreventive agent in cancer therapy.

GRAPH 1: ANNAONA RETICULATA WITH DIVERSE PHARMACOLOGICAL SPECTRUM

 

Anthelmintic Activity: The aqueous leaf extract has also been reported to have anthelmintic activity ²⁴.

Inflammatory Diseases: Nine compounds were characterized from the leaves of A. reticulata L, byThang et al., 2013 and their inhibitory activity on NO production was examined. The results provide a potential explanation for the use of the leaves of A. reticulata as an herbal medicine in the treatment of inflammatory diseases, and they may be potentially useful in developing new anti-inflammatory agents ¹.

Analgesic and CNS depressant activity:  Bhalke and Chavan [2011] investigated that Analgesic and CNS depressant activity potency increases from ethyl acetate, methanol and petroleum ether extracts. All the extracts exhibited significant central analgesic activity in the hot plate method in mice. All the extract showed statistically significant mild to moderate central nervous system depressant activity assessed by locomotor activity assay and pentobarbitone sleeping time test ²⁵.

CONCLUSION: The Mother Nature has provided us with a huge count of flora and fauna. Some of the natural medicinal plants are so common that we use them in daily life without knowing their medicinal importance. Annaona reticulata is the best example of it. The extensive survey literature reviewed that Annona reticulata, is an important medicinal plant with diverse pharmacological spectrum.

Few novel chemical constituent isolated from the Annona reticulata showed anti-cancer, properties for bladder cancer and various cancer cell lines too.  It’s found to be a chemopreventive agent in cancer therapy. Further evaluation is needed to be carried out on A. reticulata in order to explore concealed areas and their practical clinical application, which can be used for the welfare of the mankind.

How to cite this article:Chavan SS, Shamkuwar PB, Damale MG and Pawar DP: A comprehensive review on Annona reticulata. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2014; 5(1): 45-50.doi: 10.13040/IJPSR. 0975-8232.5(1).45-50.

 

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How to cite this article:

Chavan SS, Shamkuwar PB, Damale MG and Pawar DP: A comprehensive review on Annona reticulata. Int J Pharm Sci Res 2014; 5(1): 45-50.doi: 10.13040/IJPSR. 0975-8232.5(1).45-50.

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