Ethnobotanical Characteristics

Description

Large shrub with opposite branches,3 m high sometimes growing as dense thickets on sand hummock. Leaves leathery, elliptical to broadly lanceolate, entire, acute or obtuse,2-5 cm long, 1-2cm wide, on petioles 5 mm long. Flowers 3mm long, in paniculate racemes, on 1-2 mm long pedicles. Fruits globular, berry, fleshy, reddish,3- 6 mm in diameter.

Habitat & Distribution

The plant is widely distributed from Africa through Arabia to china. In UAE found native in few places but widely cultivated in farms and along street as wind barriers.

Part(s) Used

Shoots, Roots and fruits

Traditional & Medicinal Uses

The plant is mentioned in holy Quran and Sonnah, and the roots and shoot sticks have been used for centuries as oral hygiene tools in many parts of the world. It was reported that fresh and dried leaves, dried fruits and stems are used to treat swellings, ulcers and blisters, scorpion stings, regulating menstruation, gases and worms. In UAE the roots used as toothbrushes and the crushed leaves used with oil to treat joint and knee pains while the fruits also are edible. The plant is used in many countries ; fruits edible and used as a carminative, anthelmintic, vulnerary, stomachic, antiseptic and anti inflammatory and good for spleen, gum, scabies, syphilis, gonorrhea and the fruit edible as appetizer. Leaves and flowers used for toothache, gum problems, joint pains, skin diseases snake bites, kidney stones, constipation, as antidote carminative and anthelmintic. The plant broused by cheeps & goats and the leaves used as fodder and a purgative for camels. Also the plant has been incorporated into commercially available toothpaste.

Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry

Parts studied

Leaves

Microscopic Description

The leaf is unilateral. Both epidermises compose of small polygonal cells and the upper epidermis is covered with a raised thick striated cuticle. Both epidermises bear many unicellular conical covering trichomes of different sizes and they are easily detachable. The stomata are oval and they are very small in size and of the paracytic type. They are distributed on the lower epidermis. The upper epidermis is underlain by a hypodermis which is composed of large broad cells having thick cell walls. The hypodermis is discontinuous and it is interrupted by one or two layers of palisade tissues of different sizes having wavy cells walls. All cells are fairly rich in chlorophyll and granular structures of various shapes including greenish cluster crystals. The spongy tissues compose of large cells of irregular shapes. They also contain granular structures and they embed a group of adjacent sclereids with angular shapes and thick pitted cell walls. The spongy tissues are also traversed by vascular tissues that contain reticulately and spirally thickened vessels and pitted tracheids (DPS, ZCHRTM unpublished results).

• a). Surface view of the lower epidermis showing small polygonal cells and only one small oval stoma is detected and it is of the paracytic type.
• (b). A portion of the leaf showing the lower epidermis in a surface view and a typical detached conical covering trichome.
• (c). Surface view of a portion of the leaf showing the upper epidermis with polygonal cells and a stoma. (Magnifications: All x 400).

Organoleptic characteristics

Appearance:                                                                             Solid powder
Colour:                                                                                      Light yellowish brown
Odour:                                                                                       Aromatic
Taste:                                                                                        Acrid

Physicochemical constants

Loss in weight on drying at 105°c (%): 10.-10.60

Solubilities( % )

Alcohol solubility:                                                                      4.80
Water solubility:                                                                        40.0-41.60
10% ethanolic extractive:                                                         45.00

Ash values (%)

Total ash:                                                                                   25.80-26.60
Water soluble ash:                                                                     6.20-6.60
Acid-insoluble ash:                                                                    3.60-4.30

Successive extractive (%)

Petroleum ether (60-80°c):                                                         2.60
Chloroform:                                                                                1.30
Absolute alcohol:                                                                        10.6-12.10
Distilled water:                                                                             Not done

pH values

pH of 1% solution:                                                                        5.84
pH of 10% solution:                                                                      5.45

The above results are under process of publication (DPS ZCHRTM unpublished results).

Chemical constituents

Carbohydrates, alkaloid (salvadorine), steroids, terpenoids, saponins, flavonoids (quercetin & kaempferol) and glycosides (Kaempferol 3-, L rhamnosyl-7, xylopyranoside) are present. Kaempferol and quercetin glycosides were confirmed by the hydrolysis of isolated glycosides and co- TLC of their aglycones with authentic samples using benzine, pyridine & formic acid (36:9:5) as mobile phase. (Kamil et.al 1999 a, b, c ; 2000 a, b)

Pharmacological and Toxicological studies

The plant stem extracts on the potentiation of sodium pentobarbitone activity and on generalized tonic-clonic seizer produced by pentaylenetetrazole (PTZ) on rat and and also on extended sleeping time and decreased induction time induced by sodium pentobarbitone (Monforte et. al., 2002) The plant has adverse effect on male and female reproductive system and fertility (Darmani et. al., 2003). Volatile oil extracted from Salvadora persica L. leaves, showed antibacterial effect on several different oral aerobic bacteria (Al-Ali and Al-Lafi, 2003). The aqueous extract of S. persica found in Pakistan and other Asian countries showed antimicrobial activity (Almas, 2001). The plant showed antimycotic effect (Al-Bagieh et. al., l994). S. persica decoction was able to reduce cholesterol and LDL plasma levels. Mice injected with S. persica extract also showed a significantly lower number of stereotype movements of the mice. Stems of S. persica reduced cholesterol and LDL plasma levels. However experiments or HDL and triglycerides were unchanged (Galati et. al., l999). The plant extract possessed significant protective action against ethanol and stress induced ulcers (Sanogo et. al., l999).

The pharmacological and toxicological studies carried out in our laboratory and the results in brief, on Salvadora persica (10% ethanolic extract) have been given below. The results presented without references showed unpublished data (unpublished results, ZCHRTM, DBMS):

Summary of the results

The plant showed anti-inflammatory activity, increased force of contraction of rat atria in vitro; varying degree of gastric protection; no analgesic activity and antidiabetic activity was observed. Toxicity studies were also carried out.

Microbiological studies

A marked reduction of Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans groups and Candida albicans (Almas et al.,2004; Alali et al., 2003; Almas,1999; Al-Bagieh et al., 1994 ). The reduction of streptococcus mutans was significantly greater using miswak in comparison to toothbrushing (p = 0.013), and there was no significant difference for lactobacilli reduction (p = 0.147). It may be concluded miswak has an immediate antimicrobial effect. Streptococcus mutans were more susceptible to miswak antimicrobial activity than lactobacilli. Dietary intake of sugar and oral health status may be considered for controlled clinical trials with special emphasis on the antibacterial activity of miswak on cariogenic bacteria for a longer period of time. It was found that the extract of the leaves has a considerable antibacterial effect on several different oral aerobic bacteria with comparable results to known antibiotics. The extract can be used effectively as a natural tool for teeth cleaning and as a natural analgesic for the disturbing toothache.

References

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