Atis Leaves Developed as Anti-Dengue Solution

Oct 21

Atis (Anona squamosa), a tropical plant that usually grows spontaneously in the Philippines, aside from bearing fruits of white, sweet, soft, juicy and mild agreeable flavored flesh, also yields leaves where government health researchers found extracts for the formulation of an effective anti-mosquito repellant.

As a result of its latest studies on atis, the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) said it has came out with the Atis Lotion Mosquito Repellent that was formulated using the extracts of its leaves mixed with other locally available materials. “This mosquito repellent will surely be a great help to the efforts of the government to address the dengue fever-menace currently spreading terror among residents especially school-age children in various parts of the country,” Tomas Briñas, the regional director for Bicol of the DOST announced.

It is not only against dengue, in fact, but against all mosquito-borne diseases like malaria and filariasis especially in areas of the country where incidence is high. It also serves as a personal care product used in preventing mosquito bites that cause itchiness, inflammation and discomfort to individuals, he said. The repellent uses a washable, mineral oil – based formulation and its biodegrable since, it is derived from advantage against other well known repellents which are chemical based in formulation. The Atis Lotion is composed of 10.125 percent mineral oil, 1.02 percent Sodium Carboxymethyl Cellulose, nine percent Propylene Glycol, 0.22 percent Methyl Paraben, 0.135 percent Propyl Paraben, 70 percent water and 10 percent plant extract, Briñas said.

Indeed, atis is considered as among the country’s important crops given its various uses not only for food but more for natural medicines. The leaves, bark and seeds contain alkaloid and chloroplatinate, a group of nitrogen-containing compounds that are physiologically active as poisons or drugs that are used as ingredients for medicines that kill lice, Briñas said.

The flesh of the fruit, he said is reported to contain upwards of 10 percent of sugar, mostly glucose at 5.40 percent and some fructose of 3.60 percent. In the Philippines the leaves are applied as a poultice to children with dyspepsia. Crushed seeds with coconut oil are applied on the scalp to rid it of lice. A decoction of the seeds is used as an enema for the children with dyspepsia. The bruised leaves, with salt, make a good cataplasm to induce suppuration and fresh leaves crushed between the fingers and applied to the nostrils cut shorts fits and fainting. The ripe fruit, bruised and mixed with salt, is applied as a maturant to malignant tumors to hasten suppuration. The unripe fruit is astringent and is given in diarrhea, dysentery and atonic dyspepsia. The bark, according to Briñas has been reported by Nadkarni as a powerful astringent and tonic to stop diarrhea. The leaves are used as an anthelmintic and its decoction for rheumatic baths to alleviate pain.

For infected insect bites, juice extract after pounding an unripe fruit is applied directly to affected parts three times a day to cure the infection. The seeds are considered a powerful irritant to the conjunctiva while the roots are considered a drastic purgative. Atis tree is small that grows only three to five meters high. Its leaves are hairy when young, oblong, eight to 15 centimeters long, with a petiole one to 1.5 centimeters long. Flowers occur singly in the axils of the leaves, about 2.5 cm long, pendulous, three-angled, light green to yellow. Fruit is large, slightly heart-shaped, six to nine centimeters long, the outside with knobby polygonal tubercles.

When ripe, the fruit is light yellowish-green The PCHRD studies also revealed that atis possesses anti-inflammatory properties as it yielded two new cyclic peptides, cyclosquamosin H and I, together with six known cyclic peptides, squamin A, squamin B, cyclosquamosin A, D E and cherimolacyclopeptide B from the seeds. Compound 7 showed an inhibitory effect on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Extracts of atis fruit pericarp was also tested for cytotoxic activity against Dalton’s lymphoma cells and HeLa cells. The chloroform extract was found cytotoxic to the different cell lines tested and suggests the potential for AS fruit pericarp for the development of treatment for cancers. The PCHRD said atis has an antihyperglycemic effect and alleviated liver and renal damage associated with STZ-induced diabetes mellitus in rats. The diabetic groups treated with aqueous leaf extract were compared with standard glibenclamide.

As hepatoprotective the study on diethylnitrosamine-induced liver injury in Swiss albino mice showed hepatoprotective effect, with improvement in biochemical parameters and confirmation by histopathological studies. The PCHRD also said that the ethanol crude extract of the fruit of atis for antimicrobial activity against some pathogenic microorganisms showed inhibitory activity against S aureus and S pneumoniae. Results conclude the plant extract may serve as a valuable source of compounds with therapeutic antibiotic potentials. Likewise, phytochemical study revealed the presence of quercetin in the atis seed extract and the results of the effects of quercetin suggest an involvement of this phytochemical in the mediation of antithyroidal activity, it added.

Original Article: PCHRD Develops Anti-Dengue Solution from Atis Leaves by Danny O. Calleja October 20, 2010

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