Koto-te-Nyiwa Ngbolua
Aims: To provide knowledge on phytochemistry and bioactivity of H. madagascariensis Lam. ex Poiret.
Study Design: Multidisciplinary advanced bibliographic surveys, utilization of ChemBioDraw software package and dissemination of the resulted knowledge.
Place and Duration of Study: Faculty of Science, Pedagogical National University, Faculty of Science, University of Kinshasa and Department of Environmental Science, University of Gbadolite, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between October 2018 and decembre 2019.
Methodology: A literature search was conducted to obtain information about the phytochemistry and pharmacognosy of H. madagascariensis from various electronic databases (PubMed, PubMed Central, Science Direct and Google scholar). The scientific name of this plant species was used as a keyword for the search, along with the terms phytochemistry and pharmacognosy. The chemical structures of the H. madagascariensis naturally occurring compounds were drawn using ChemBioDraw Ultra 15.0 software package.
Results : Harungana madagascariensis Lam. ex Poiret. is a species of shrubs belonging to the family of Hypericaceae and is native to Madagascar and grows in the forests of tropical Africa, which is used in several traditional medicines to cure various diseases. The plant is reported to possess antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective activity and vasodilatory effects. A wide range of chemical compounds including four prenylated anthranols, harunganols C−F, along with kenganthranol A, harunganin, and ferruginin A [were identified from the leaves and two anthronoids named harunmadagascarins A and B, along with the harungin anthrone, harunganol B, methyl 3-formyl-2,4-dihydroxy-6-methyl benzoate, friedelin, lupeol and betulinic acid were identified from the stem bark of H. madagascariensis.
Conclusion: This review can therefore help to inform future scientific research for the development of new drugs of relevance for improving human health and well-being. In particular, drug candidates for the treatment of diseases due to oxidative stress such as sickle cell disease. Â