Couroupita guianensis Aubl. (Lecythidaceae): A Medicinal Plant: Ayurvedic and Modern View Pramod Kumar Soni

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Review from Vedas and Purans: Vedic Period: (1500-6000)
Vedas are ancient literature of whole world. Among the four Vedas, Atharva Veda deals with certain rudiments of medicine. Ayurveda is considered as the "Upaveda" of Atharvaveda. The therapeutic in Ayurveda is based entirely on the herbal drugs.
In Vedas and Purans the drug Kashipati, kailashpati, Nagalinga is not mentioned namely. So the reference of this drug not found in this era.

Samhita Period:
Samhita kala is the period in which the drugs are classified into various Ganas according to their properties and actions. Beside this the mention of various drugs are found in various yogas for the treatments of diseases. Charaka samhitanot mentioned by name Sushruta samhitanot mentioned by name Astanga samgrahanot mentioned by name Astanga hridayanot mentioned by name Kashyap samhitanot mentioned by name Bhela samhitanot mentioned by name Harita samhitanot mentioned by name Sharangdhar samhitanot mentioned by name Madhava Nidannot mentioned by name Vangsena samhitanot mentioned by name Bhavaprakash samhitanot mentioned by name Yoga Ratnakarnot mentioned by name Regarding this drug following description not found in both Brihattrayi and Laghuttray  Nectar secretion from the disk. • Pollination -Pollination entomophilous; via hymenoptera (bees).
• Corolla -4-6; 1 whorled; polypetalous (usually), or gamopetalous; imbricate; unequal but not bilabiate to regular; deciduous (with the stamens). • Androecium -Many 40-1000. Androecial members maturing centrifugally; free of the perianth; coherent (more or less united below, the connate parts sometimes produced on one side of the androecium to form a flat ligule or a hooding structure); 3-5 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens, or including staminodes (by abortion of some anthers, in association with one-sided development of the union).
• Stem: Soft wooded straight stout trunk and rough brownish grey bark.
• Inflorescence: Racemes produced from the upper part of the trunk or from the main branches.
• Flowers: Large, pleasing combination of rose-pink, white and yellow colours, arranged in long racemes. • Calyx: turbinate.
• Petals: 6, unequal, concave, pink inside but with a mixture of white, yellow and pink outside.
• Stamen: Fertile stamens numerous, monadelphous, arranged on a band that arise from the base of the ovary and bends over it like a hood so that the anthers press down on the ovary. This structure loka like a hooded snake sheltering the shivalinga. Hence, the tree is also called snake-Flower tree. • Fruit: Remarkably large berry and round, with a rown hard shell, containing pulp, about the size of a man's head, up to 25 cm in diameter.

• Flowering and fruiting time: January onwards
Significance: • Occasionally grown in the garden for the peculiar flowers and fruits.
• Also planted in parks around temple and along roads.

Origin and Distribution:
Native to tropical Northern South America, especially the Amazon rainforest and the southern Carribean. As ornamental trees along highways and in parks. Also occurs in India, where it is probably native, and Thialand.

Red Listed Medicinal Plant -Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Tradition (FRLHT), presently known as university of
Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU) has established itself as a pioneering institute in the field of conservation of medicinal plants in India. The IUCN red list categories are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of regional to global extinction and to provide an explicit and objective framework for the classification of species according to their extinction risk. The following are the various IUCN threat status with the brief definition.

• Extinct (EX)
There is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died, meaning there is no individual of the particular species on the planet earth.

• Extinct in the wild (EW)
Species surving only under cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population, meaning there is no individual of particular species is available in the wild.

• Critically Endangered (CE)
Facing an"extremely high" risk of extinction in the wild.

• Endangered (EN)
Facing a"very high" risk of extinction in the wild.

• Vulnerable (VU)
Facing a"high risk" of extinction in the wild.

• Near threatened (NT)
Close to qualifying for a threatened category or likely to qualify in the near future. • Least concern (LC) Not qualifying for CR, EN, VU, or NT. Widespread and abundant Taxa but facing various levels of threats are included in this category.

• Data Deficient (DD)
Inadequate data for assessment, although these species are facing various threats.

• Not Evaluated (NE)
The most threatened categories include Critically Endangered (CE), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) which are assigned to a taxon based on fulfillment of at least one of the following 5 criteria: a. Population reduction b. Geographic range in the form of extent of occurrence (EOO) or area of occupancy (AOO). c. Small population size and decline d. Very small and restricted population e. Quantitative analysis indicating the probability of extinction in the wild.

Parts of the plants Traditional uses Flower
Immunobooster and snuff. Cold, intestinal gas formation and stomach ache, diarrhea, hypertension, tumor, pain, inflammation, antibacterial, antifungal and asthma.

Seeds
Reproductive disorders and infertility.
Chemical Constituents of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. [11] Part of the plant

Pharmacological (Biological) Activities: 1. Antimicrobial activities:
The screening of leaf extract (methanol and aqueous extract) of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. against six human pathogenic bacteria E. coli, P. aeruginosa, P. mirabilis, A. baumannii, S. typhimurium, K. pneumoniae and four fungal pathogens to check antibacterial and antifungal activities by well diffusion method which showed valuable zone of inhibition. The zone of inhibition against bacterial pathogen ranged between 08 to 22 mm in methanol extract. Leaves and stem bark extract showed inhibition only against the P. mirabilis 18 and 22 mm , respectively. [12] 2. Anti ulcer activity: The dose of 150 and 300mg/kg ethanolic extract of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. produced significant inhibition of gastric lesions induced by pylorus ligation induced ulcer and ethanol induced gastric ulcer. Ethanol induced gastric lesion formation may be due to stasis in gastric blod flow which contributes to the development of the haemorrhage and narcotic aspects of tissue injury. [13] 3. Wound healing activity: The alcoholic extract of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. shows significantly result of wound healing due to presence of stigmasterol and flavonoids in the extract. The result indicated that accelerates the wound healing process by decreasing the surface area of the wound and increasing the tensile strength. [14] 4. Anthelmintic: Chloroform, acetone, and ethanolic flower extract of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. for anthelmintic activity against adult earth worm, Pheritima posthuma. The alcoholic extract was the most effect in an activity comparable with Piperazine citrate. 5. Skin fibroblast proliferation/Antioxidant: Study of hydroalcoholic extract strongly indicated antioxidant activity attributed to phenolic content. Also, significant stimulation of HSF proliferation and absorption of UV radiation was noted. [15] 6. Antioxidant and anticancer activity: The flowers of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. consists of compound isatin. The derivatives of this compound is known to have cytotoxicity against human carcinoma cell lines. This compound therefore, has a potential to be used as a chemotherapeutic agent against cancer. Isatin started the apoptosis process with fragmentation of DNA. Cleavage of DNA at the internucleosomal linker sites yielding DNA fragments is regarded as a biochemical hallmark of apoptosis. Apoptosis induced by isatin was confirmed by flow cytometry to further elucidate the extent and cause of apoptosis. Isatin was isolated from the floral part of cannon ball tree and it exhibited antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity against HL60 cells. [16] 7. Anti inflammatory activity: The anti inflammatory activity of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. that the extract fractions significantly reduced the time that the animal spent licking the formalin-injected paw in first and second phases. Only the higher doses (30 and 100 mg/kg) were able to inhibit the leukocyte migration into the peritoneal cavity after carrageenan injection. At the same time the 100 mg/kg dose almost abolished the cell migration and a inhibition on cytokines and inflammatory mediators production. [17] 8. Antinociceptive: CEE (crude ethanol extract) and fractions significantly inhibited the number of contortions induced by acetic acid. All fractions showed antinociceptive activity in the tail flick model, being the hexane and ethyl acetate the most potent and long acting fractions. In the hot plate method the highest effect observed was at the dose of 100mg/kg from all fractions. Administration of naloxone inhibited the antinociceptive effect of fractions. Pre-treatment of mice with atropine reduced the actinociceptive activity of CEE and its fractions, the exception being the dichloromethane fraction. Mecamylamine did not inhibited the effect of dichloromethane fraction. L-NAME reduced the anti-hyperalgesic effect of all fractions, but the most prominent effect was observed in the antinociceptive activity caused by CEE and butanol fraction. [18] 3.10 Ethanobotanical importance: It is a medicinal plant which is endowed with curative properties including antifungal, antibiotic, anticeptic, analgesic, antimalarial, stomachache, toothache, scabies, gastritis, bleeding piles, dentistry, and scorpion poison. The fresh fruit pulp is used in the preparation of cooling medicinal drink and various parts are useful in skin disease.
The leaf have been found to show antioxidant activity, anthelmintic activity, immunomodulator, and anti-nociceptive activity. Leaves of Couroupita guianensis Aubl. are widely used as an analgesic medicine by the Brazilian rural population.
The pulp of fruit of cannon ball tree is rubbed on the infected skin of the dog. It is claimed that when the dog licks its skin, this medicine will also work internally.
The flowers are used to cure cold, intestinal gas formation and stomach ache.
Barks are used to treat hypertension, tumors, pain, and inflammatory process [19] .

Propagation and Cultivation:
Through seeds. Due to recalcitrant nature of the seeds, they have a short viable life, can not be dried well and can not withstand low temperatures [20] .

Result and Discussion:
During the past decade, there has been an ever increasing demand especially from the developed countries for more & more plant drugs containing medicinally useful alkaloids, polyphenolics, steroids, glycosides and terpenoid derivatives.
According to a survey conducted by WHO, the uses of medicinal plant remedies are on the increase even in the developed countries especially among younger people.