Journal of Bioanalysis & Biomedicine

Ethnomedicinal, Antimicrobial and Antidiarrhoeal Studies on the Mangrove Plants of the Genus Xylocarpus: A Mini Review

Abstract

Swagat Kumar Das, Dibyajyoti Samantaray and Hrudayanath Thatoi

Mangroves being stress tolerant plants possess unique metabolites with significant amount of bioactive compounds which could be isolated and evaluated for possible drug development with suitable biotechnology tools. The mangrove genus Xylocarpus comprises of four species viz. Xylocarpus granatum (Koenig), X. moluccensis (lamk.) and X. mekongensis Pierre and X. rumphii. However, X. rumphii is a less abundant mangrove plant. There have been reports that different species of Xylocarpus are used ethnomedicinallly for treatment of various diseases such as fever, malaria, cholera, diarrhoea, swelling of breast, elephantiasis, inflammation, dyslipidemia, pain, hyperglycaemia etc. Recent studies revealed that the extracts from different parts of the plant such as leaves, stem, bark and fruits possess phytoconstituents like alkaloids, glycosides, steroids, limnoids, terpenoids, flavonoids, tannins and other phenolics. Further, it has been established that the different solvent extracts of the plants have exhibited antimicrobial and antidiarrhoeal activities against a number of human pathogens which could be correlated to their phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, alkaloids, limnoids, tannins etc. The present study is aimed at compiling information on phytochemical, pharmacological and ethnomedicinal properties of mangrove plants of genus Xylocarpus, with a view to critically assess the legitimacy of the use of these plants for antimicrobial and antidiarrhoeal activities as well as providing directions for further research.