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International Journal of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences 2014; Vol: 2, Issue: 2, 20-25
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International Journal of Pharmacology and
Pharmaceutical Sciences
Review Article
REVIEW ARTICLE
ISSN: 2394-613X
KIGELIA AFRICANA: AN EPHEMERAL GLANCE
Gamal Osman Elhasan1,2 Safaa Mohammed omer2, M. U. Khan1, Abdul kareem Mohammed Abdulkareem 2, Habibullah
Khalilullah1,
1. Department of pharmaceutics, Unaizah College of Pharmacy, Qassim University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2. Faculty of pharmacy, Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum- Sudan
Corresponding author
Abstract
Our world harbors a rich source of medicinal plants which are used in the treatment of a wide range of diseases. Kigelia africana
popularly known as the Sausage tree, cucumber plant, Kigelia pinnata, is a multipurpose medicinal plant with many attributes
and considerable potentials. Some of these include its use for treatment of gynecological disorders, renal ailments, skin complaint,
tumors and reproductive disorders in developing countries where western orthodox medicine are expensive and are inaccessible,
and there is high poverty rate.
Key words: Kigelia Africana, Chemical constituents, Pharmacological Properties.
Introduction
Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated
from natural sources, many of these isolations were based on the uses of the agents in traditional medicines [1]. This plant-based
traditional medicine system continues to play an essential role in health care with about 80% of the world’s inhabitants relying
mainly on traditional medicines for their primary health care [2]. Kigelia Africana (Lam.) Benth. syn. K. pinnata (Jacq.) DC. of
Bignoniaceae family is widely distributed in the South, Central and West Africa. It is known as the cucumber or sausage tree because
of the huge fruits (average 0.6 m in length and 4 kg in weight), which hangs from long fibrous stalks. It is also known as Balmkheera
in Hindi and distributed all over India but found abundantly in West Bengal. It is found mostly in wetter areas and spread abundantly
across wet Savannah and riverine area [3-6]. Human use of plants as medicine agent pre-dates recorded history. Ethno-medicinal
plant-use data in many forms has been heavily utilized in the development of formularies and pharmacopoeias, providing a major
focus in global healthcare, as well as contributing substantially to the drug development process [7]. Generally, natural drug
substances often form vital and appreciable roles in the modern system of medicine thereby justifying their presence in the prevailing
therapeutic arsenal, namely- serve as extremely useful natural drugs, provide basic compounds affording less toxic and more
effective drug molecule, modification of inactive natural products by suitable biological and chemical means into potent drugs [8].
Infectious diseases are important in public health for communities in Africa and the developing world [9]. These diseases and
subsequent deaths have devastating consequences for developing economies. Herbs have provided us some of the very important
lifesaving drugs used in the armamentarium of modern medicine. Among the estimated 400,000 plant species, only 6% have been
studied for biological activity and about 15% have been investigated phytochemically [10] . This inadvertently shows a dare need
Elhasan GO.,Int. J. Pharmacol. Pharm. Sci. (2015) 2:2; 20-25.
20
for the in-depth dissertation of various chemical constituents, medicinal viability, pharmacological evaluation and biological
activities of herbal medicine such as the K. Africana (Lam) Benth (or K. pinnata) of the family Bignoniaceae an exceptional
indigenous medicinal plant in Africa.
Description of K. Africana tree, fruit, and seed:
The tree is widely grown as an ornamental plant in the tropical regions for its decorative flowers and unusual fruit. It can grow to
more than 20 m tall. The bark is grey and at first smooth but peels on older trees. The bark can be as thick as 5 mm. The wood is
pale brown or yellowish in color, and not prone to cracking [11]. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of 30 to 50 cm in length,
pinnate, with six to ten oval leaflets each up to 20 cm in length and 6 cm wide. Some birds/insects are attracted to the flowers where
they use the strong stems as footholds. Their scent is most notable at night, indicating their reliance on pollination by bats which
visit them for pollen and nectar. It flowers between the months of August and November [12]. Flowers are bisexual, very large;
pedicel up to 11 cm long up curved at tip; calyx shortly tubular to campanulate 2 to 4.5 cm long, suddenly widening and incurving
upwards, limp 2-lipped, with the super or lip 2-lobed, the lower one 3-lobed and recurved [13]. The huge, grey-brown fruit is a
woody berry 30 to 100 cm long and up to 18 cm wide. It weighs between 4 to 10 kg and hangs from a long and fibrous stalk [14].
The fruit is fibrous and pulpy, containing numerous hard seeds which are inedible to humans. However, several species of mammals
eat the fruits/seeds, for example baboons, bush pigs, monkeys, porcupines, savannah elephants, giraffes and hippopotami. The seeds
are dispersed via their dung. In Malawi, during famine the seeds are roasted and eaten by humans. Brown parrots and brown-headed
parrots also eat the seeds [15, 17].
Constituents of K. Africana
The understanding of the phytochemical constituents of medicinal plants like K. Africana is imperative not only because of the
understanding of the scientific rationale for its usage but also for the discovery of novel compounds of pharmaceutical value [18].
Several phytochemical studies revealed that the extracts from many species of Bignoniaceae contained secondary metabolites such
as saponins, tannins, flavonoids, quinones, alkaloids, anthralene derivatives, reducing sugars, glycosides, carbohydrates, querletin,
kaempferol, α-sitosterol, terpenes, steroids, coumarins secondary metabolites and their derivatives [19, 20]. These bioactive
constituents are reported to be present in the fruits, stem bark, root bark and leaves of K.africanaa and iridoid, verminoside and
polyphenols like verbascoside [21- 25].
A notable number of bioactive compounds have been recorded from the Bignoniaceae family of plants that reportedly demonstrates
a number of important activities which are beneficial to human beings. The various activities included mosquito larvicidal [26],
anti-oxidant [27-30], anti-plasmodial [31], antiprotozoal [32, 33], anti-amoebic [34], antidiarrheal [35-37], anti-inflammatory [3840], anti-microbial [41], antibacterial [42- 46], anti-depressant/central nervous system (CNS) stimulant effects [47], anti-cancer [4852], anti-diabetic, anti-nociceptive, anti-snake venom and neurotrophic [53] activities. However, efforts at the further elucidation of
how these activities are executed in vivo or in vitro remains to be established by researchers.
Table: 1 Pharmacological activities of different phytoconstituents of KigeliaAfricana
Activity
Irridoids
Naphthoquinone
Elhasan GO.,Int. J. Pharmacol. Pharm. Sci. (2015) 2:2; 20-25.
Meroterpenoid
Coumarin
Lignans
Sterols
Flavonoids
21
Anticancer
Mollusicidal
Syphilis
and
Gonorrhea
Antidiarrhoeal
Antiulcer
Antifungal
Antimalarial
Antiinflammatory
/analgesic
Antibacterial
Postpartum
Haemorrhage
Pneumonia
Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+
naphthoquinones
+
-
derivatives
+
-
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
+
-
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-
+
-
+
+
-
+
+
-
+
-
-
-
-
+
+
K. Africana is an interesting example of a plant, used in traditional medicine for many years which is now attracting interest and
use far beyond its original geographical range. Experiments into the effect of Kigelia extracts and some of the pure compounds
contained therein, on microorganisms and cancer cells have shown that the traditional use of this plant is given considerable
justification. The chemical constituents of the plant provide molecules, which could be of immense medicinal applications.
Considering the many medicinal purposes for which it is
used, there is enormous scope for future research on K. africana, and further pharmacological investigation is warranted.
Conflict of interest:
There is no conflict of interest
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