LOCAL PLANT FOR PAINS, CANCERS

Extracts of a local plant could provide the
next novel drug for pains, breast, liver and
lung cancers. Researchers are exploiting the
potentials of local plant to develop novel
drugs for the management of pains
NIGERIAN researchers at Michael Okpara
University, Umudike, Abia State, have found
that an extract of a poisonous shrub
Jatropha curcas acts as a strong painkiller
and may have a mode of action different
from conventional analgesics, such as
morphine and other pharmaceuticals.
Details of tests are reported in the current
issue of the International Journal of
Biomedical Engineering and Technology.
The researchers had reported last year in
the African Journal of Biomedical Resident
that the methanolic leaf extract of Jatropha
curcas had significant analgesic properties
and might be acting through both
peripheral and central pain mechanisms.
Commonly called physic nut, pig nut, fig nut,
purging nut and Barbados nut, Jatropha
curcas belongs to the plant family
Euphorbiaceae.
In Nigeria, Jatropha curcas is called mbubok
in Anaang, bilit in Angas, habb el meluk in
Arabic-Shuwa, gàrà (the plant), kparak gàrà
(the fruit) in Birom, oru-ebo in Edo, étó o
kpà (tree of death) in Efik, kokolaji in Fulani,
kwotewi in Gwari, bíí ní dà zúgúú in Hausa,
étó-ókpà in Ibibio, ocígbede in Idoma, bulu
olu, olulu-idu, òwulù idu, ugbolo, okwata,
ugbolu, and okweni, ho in Jukun, ígádàm in
Tiv, urieroh in Urhobo, bòtúje, bòtújè pupa
pupa, làpá làpá, lóbòtújè, lóbòtújè pupa,
olóbòntújè, olobotuje and bòtújè-ùbò in
Yoruba.
Omeh Yusuf and Ezeja Maxwell of the
Micheal Okpara University of Agriculture,
Umudike extracted what they believed to
be the physiologically active components of
the leaves of Jatropha curcas using
methanol as solvent. They compared the
effects of this extract at 100, 200 and 400
milligrams per kilogramme of body mass,
against 400 mg/kg of acetylsalicylic acid
(aspirin) in standard laboratory animal tests
for assessing the strength of painkillers.
They found that 100 mg/kg was an
inadequate dose, however, 200 and 400
mg/kg doses produced analgesia
comparable to aspirin, affirming the use of
the plant for pain relief in traditional
medicine. The team suspects that the extract
may be acting through both peripheral and
central pain mechanisms. Yusuf and
Maxwell are now carrying out more work
on isolating and characterising the active
ingredient in the extract and in determining
the precise mode of action.
Also, Thai researchers have demonstrated
that the purified compound from roots of
Jatropha curcas potentially exhibited the
effectiveness of its anti-cancer activity and
apoptosis induction in breast cancer. “It
thus, holds the promise of being a potent
and selective anti-cancer agent that
deserved further exploration.”
According to the study published in Thai
Cancer Journal, the purified compound from
Jatropha curcas has been extensively
investigated for the anti-cancer activity on
cancer cells. In this study, the effects of
purified compound from roots of Jatropha
curcas, Curcusone C, underlying anti-
proliferation activity and apoptosis
induction in human mammary carcinoma;
MCF-7 was investigated.
India researchers have also found that the
methanolic fraction of leaves of Jatropha
curcas (MFJC) could protect the liver against
hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer)
induced by Aflatoxin B (AFB1), that is
oxidative damage in rats due to its
capability to induce the in vivo antioxidant
system.
According to the study published in
International Journal of Pharmacology and
Science, the researchers administered orally
(100 & 200 mg/kg) for 14 days to
hepatocarcinoma bearing rats. It reads:
“Marked increase in lipid peroxide levels
and concomitant decrease in enzymic
antioxidants levels were observed in
carcinoma induced rats, while MFJC
treatment reversed the conditions to near
normal levels. Liver histopathology showed
that MFJC reduced the incidence of liver
lesions, lymphocytic infiltrations, and
hepatic necrosis induced by AFB1 in rats.”
Another study published in African Journal
of Pharmacy and Pharmacology found that
the methanolic fraction of Jatropha curcas
inhibited the spread of lung cancer in rats.
The Indian researchers reported that
simultaneous administration of methanolic
fraction at doses 100 and 200mg/kg, p.o
significantly inhibited the metastatic colony
formation of the melanoma in lungs by
47.54 and 69.52 per cent respectively, with
increase in the survival rate of the
metastatic tumour bearing animals, as
compared to the untreated control animals.
Metastasis, or metastatic disease, is the
spread of a disease from one organ or part
to another non-adjacent organ or part.
Melanoma is the most dangerous type of
skin cancer.
According to The useful plants of west
tropical Africa, Vol 2 by H. M. Burkill, Jatropha
curcas is a shrub or tree to six metre high,
native of the American tropics and now
dispersed and naturalised thoughout the
tropics.
Burkill wrote: “The stem and twigs are used
in Nigeria and in Northern Cameroun as
chew-sticks. The watery sap is put onto
fresh cuts and sores at the corner of the
mouth. An infusion, hot or cold, of the
leaves is also taken internally for fever. The
Baakpe of Cameroon Mountain drink the
decoction with beer as a diuretic for
rheumatism, and in Nigeria an infusion of
young leafy shoots is used for most urinary
complaints. In Gabon a leaf-decoction is
considered good for cleansing the kidneys
and releasing bile.
“In Nigeria, a decoction of leaves with
natron is used by women as a wash for a
month before childbirth. In The Gambia the
leaves are used to make a mouth wash. In
Cote D’Ivoire heated leaves are applied to
relieve pain. A compress of leaves is applied
for toothache in Kordofan. In Ghana the
leaves are commonly an ingredient in
enema preparations, and are prepared,
along with oil-palm fruit, for an injection
administered to weakly children.
“In Southern Nigeria they are a remedy for
jaundice, applied by rectal injection. For
immediate application after snake bite, sap
from the leaf is recommended in Ghana. It is
said to dilute the snake’s venom and to stop
it from entering the blood-stream. For
emergency use herbalists recommend that
leaves be charred and powdered and held
in store. The leaves are also widely used to
treat guinea-worm sores as a lotion made
with the crushed leaves in hot water, or by
applying the ashes of burnt leaves.
“In Senegal an aqueous leaf-decoction is
taken by mouth for bronchitis, and a
decoction of dried leaves in The Gambia to
relieve coughing. The leaves and the green
viscid sap are rubefacient. Pounded leaves
are applied to sluggish ulcers and the sap of
dried leaves is applied direct to cuts and
bleeding wounds as a styptic.
“The pounded leaf has been used in India
as a repellant of house-flies, and in Ghana
the leaves are used to fumigate a house for
bed-bugs. In Indonesia the leaf is applied to
hard tumours. In Congo (Brazzaville) the sap
is instilled into the outer ear for otitis and in
Cote d’Ivoire it is given by enema for
blennorrhoea (an excessive discharge of
watery mucus, especially from the urethra
or the vagina) and by draught for jaundice.
The sap is given by the Tiv for the Benue
Plateau, Nigeria, to a child with fever. Leaf-
sap with water is a plaything for children
who blow bubbles with it. It can be used to
make soap. It is irritant and causes
inflammation in the eyes. It is used to put in
a hollow tooth and on to bee and wasp-
stings.
“Mixed with salt it is rubbed on teeth to
clean them. Sap from the leaf-petiole or the
bark is applied in The Gambia to wounds as
a drying agent and antiseptic.
“In India young twigs are used as a
dentifrice. In Cote D’Ivoire the sap is rubbed
on young children’s gums to help in
teething and the latex is given to newly-
born babies affected by tetanus.
“A root-decoction with natron or salt is used
in West Africa for gonorrhoea and with
flour for dysentery. Root-bark, dried and
pulverised, is applied as a dressing for
sores, and mixed with guinea-grain is
rubbed on gums to relieve the spasms of
infantile tetanus. The powdered root is
taken internally for worms. In Gabon a root-
macerate is taken for spermatorrhoea
(involuntary discharge of semen without
orgasm), or pieces of the stem may be
chewed for the same purpose.
“The dried fruits are powdered and taken
with food in The Gambia as a vermifuge
and to void excessive fat by inducing
diarrhoea and vomiting; they are also taken
for stomach-ache. The fruit and the seed are
reported to contain a contraceptive
principle. The seeds contain a palatable
pleasant-tasting kernel like that of the sweet
almond believing a latent toxicity. Poisoning
is of the irritant type causing nausea,
abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea,
depression and collapse. A purgative dose is
three to four seeds. Any more than this is
dangerous. For treatment of ascites they are
crushed and boiled with cereal pap, or
roasted in ashes and mixed with natron or
extract of wood-ashes and taken with
water or milk and in Congo (Brazzaville) as
many as eight seeds per day may be given
but buffered with peanuts or sugar-cane.
“Seeds enter into medication for serious
illnesses such as syphilis and leprosy. For
treatment of the former, seeds are crushed
and mixed with cereal foods and left to
ferment for two nights. They are used by
Igbo in Southern Nigeria for arthritic
troubles. The crushed seed or the seed-cake
in palm-oil is used in Gabon as a raticide.
“In Nigeria the seed is sometimes
incorporated along with Euphorbia latex in
a mixture (gunguma, Hausa, lówu, Nupe) to
poison corn as a bait for guinea-fowl. The
seed also has insecticidal potential. The seed
is about 35 per cent husk, 65 per cent
kernel, and the oil content of the kernel is
50 to 58 per cent.
“The oil, like the rest of the plant is
purgative and its clinical use is mainly
external. It is the oily extract called kufi in
Hausa, which is used as a rubefacient for
rheumatic conditions and for itch and other
parasitic skin-diseases. In Yoruba the plant
is called làpálàpá, meaning ‘ringworm’,
because the oil causes an irritative rash on
the skin of children.
“An oily preparation is applied to tumours
in Mauritania, and in Cote d’Ivoire to
scarifications around filaria blisters.The oil
consists mainly of stearic, palmitic, myristic,
oleic, linoleic and curcanoleic acids. A
phytotoxin, curcin, is present in the seed
and remains in the cake on expression
rendering the cake unusable as cattle-food,
but it is satisfactory as a fertiliser. This
substance is related to ricin of Ricinus and
to crotin of Croton tiglium. A resin is also
present in the seed and this is carried over
with the oil in extraction. This is a vesicant
causing redness and pustular eruptions.
There is record of the oil being used as an
adulterant of cooking oils with drastic
purgative effects. Ash from the burnt plant
is used to produce a lye for soap-making. A
vegetable salt is also extracted.”