INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFORMATION AND COMPUTING SCIENCE ISSN NO: 0972-1347

Cymbopogon citratus (Lemongrass) - Minireview

Mahavir Joshi and Gulam Mehdi Dar Department of Biotechnology, Chandigarh university, Gharuan, Mohali, Punjab, INDIA.

Abstract

Genus Cymbopogon has about 140 species distributed all over the world and India being home to about 45 of them. One of the commonly found species is Cymbopogon citratus also known as West Indian Lemongrass. Cymbopogon citratus is an aromatic C4 Grass plant. ‘Cymbopogon’ is derived from two Greek words ‘Kymbe’ meaning ‘a boat' and ‘Pogon' meaning ‘a beard' while both refer to the inflorescence of the Plant. Cymbopogon citratus have antimicrobial and have phytochemical properties. Because of these properties, Lemongrass oil has been known as one of the beneficial and essential oil from the health point of view. It is known to have healing effects on both internal and external infections caused by the bacteria and fungus.

Keywords : Cymbopogon, antimicrobial ,phytochemical properties infection.

Introduction:

Genus Cymbopogon has about 140 species distributed all over the world and India being home to about 45 of them (Tajidin et al., 2011). One of the commonly found species is Cymbopogon citratus also known as West Indian Lemongrass. According to the studies, the plant shows various pharmacological activities that mainly include anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti- fungal, and anti-oxidant properties (Manvitha and Bidya, 2014). The Phytochemical analysis of Lemongrass has revealed the presence of Flavonoids, Phenolics & Tannins, Steroids and Sterols, Carbohydrates, Saponins, Proteins and Amino Acids and anthroquinones (Geetha and Geetha, 2014).

Kingdom – Plantae Division - Tracheophyta Class - Mogoliopsida Order - Poales Family – Poaceae or Graminaceae Genus - Cymbopogon Species – citratus

Table-1 Represents classification of Cymbopogon citratus

Morphology: Cymbopogon citratus is an aromatic C4 Grass plant. ‘Cymbopogon’ is derived from two Greek words ‘Kymbe’ meaning ‘a boat' and ‘Pogon' meaning ‘a beard' while both refer to the

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inflorescence of the Plant. Morphologically, the Lemongrass plant is large, coarse, perennial, glaucous, densely tufted grass and tall plant to a height of 1m. The leaves of Lemongrass are linear, tapering at both ends growing to a length and width of 50cm and 1.5cm respectively (Tajidin et al., 2011) Lemongrass is a perennial plant that flourishes in sunny, warm and humid conditions of the tropics. Mostly prefers the area receiving the annual rainfall of about 2500-3000 mm and location about 900-1250 m above sea level. The optimum temperature for the Lemongrass growth is 25-30ºC with moderate night temperature. From rich loam to poor laterite, the Lemongrass can flourish in wide soil varieties however in sandy soil maximum oil and citral yield is observed and is also known to grow well on poor soils of hill slopes. Cymbopogon citratus (DC) or also known as the West Indian Lemongrass is an important species of family Poaceae, although found worldwide (tropical and sub-tropical area) but is commonly found in Southeast Asia and known to be of Indian origin. In India, Kodaikanal Hills of Tamil Nadu i.e. situated at top of Palani hills with an average temperature of 18º-22ºC is known to be rich in Lemongrass. India, in general, grows Lemongrass in about 3,000-hectare areas that account for the production of 300-350 ton of Lemongrass per annum (Srivastava et al., 2013). The economic importance of the Lemongrass lies in its oil that is obtained via steam distillation of fresh leaves and flowering tops of Lemongrass that is known to take about 2-3 hours. Because the oil has a strong Lemon like the aroma is the reason of its common name being Lemongrass. This lemon like the aroma is because of the presence of 75% citral in the oil. Due to this aromatic property, this oil has found its uses in scenting of soaps, detergents, insect repellents, cosmetics, beverages and apart from them for the manufacture of Ionone, which produces Vitamin-A (Srivastava et al., 2013). Commercially, two species of Lemongrass are recognized for oil;  Malabar or Cochin Oil or also known as East Indian Lemongrass oil extracted from C. flexuosus staph. That is also indigenous to India  West Indian Lemongrass oil from C. citratus staph. There is not much difference in between them as both of them contain 75-85% aldehydes that are chiefly citral and what distinguishes them from each other is solubility. The Cochin oil is found to be less soluble in 70% Ethanol than West Indian Lemongrass oil as it is known to be containing myrcene that decreases its solubility (Virmani et al., 1979) Onawunmi et al., 1984, based on a research found a promising antimicrobial susceptibility pattern using lemongrass oil and concluded that the anti-bacterial properties of Lemongrass oil over gram-negative bacteria was much significant than using standard antibiotics. This concludes that the modern era of antibacterial drugs can really look forward towards the consumption of Lemongrass oil against both gram positive and gram negative bacterial infections. Silva et al., 2008, found that among the most common dermatological infections superficial mycoses of the skin is one caused by dermatophytic yeasts, and non-dermatophytic filamentous fungi. They tested numerous essential oils both in vitro and in vivo for antifungal activity using disk diffusion assay, and evaluated that the antifungal activity of lemongrass oil and citral against yeasts of Candida species (C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis and C. tropicalis). This study revealed that lemongrass oil and citral have a potential in vitro activity against fungus especially Candida spp. Ozcan et al., 2009, concluded that the consumption of the whole plant material of the lemongrass because of its health benefits in Humans because they found that antioxidant activity, total

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peroxide values, and total phenol values in several medicinal and aromatic plant essential oil including the lemongrass too. Akhila et al., 2010, established the industrial importance of lemongrass in food, beverages, fragrances and pharmaceuticals with their benefits. Naik et al., 2010, found Lemon grass oil to be effective against Acinetobacter baumanii (A. baumanii), Aeromonas veronii (A. veronii), Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia) , Salmonella enterica (S. enterica) serotype Typhimurium, Serratia marcesens (S. marcesens), Proteus vulgaris (P. vulgaris), Enterobacter aerogenes (E. aerogenes) , Corynebacterium equii (C. equii) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). They also tested the action of the essential oil from the Lemongrass on both the edible and pathogenic fungus and found that the oil is actually having the promising affect over inhibition of fungal growth. In another research, it was concluded that the Lemongrass oil is having growth inhibitory affects over a broad spectrum of disease-causing filamentous fungus as well as against the non-pathogenic ones too. Selvi et al., 2011, determined the antiseptic, febrifuge, carminative, and tranquilizing properties of the Lemongrass tea. Matasyoh et al., 2011 found the antifungal activity of essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus against some of the potent fungal species like Aspergillus flavus, A. parasiticus, A. ochraceus, A. niger and A. fumigatus. Singh et al., 2011, evaluated about 1,114 strains belonging to 29 genera and 105 species of microbes (Bacteria yeast and molds) isolated from different sources were studied against lemongrass oil discs containing 30 mg oil/disc and 38.2% were found sensitive to it. Studies conducted by Nath et al., 2011, on the antibacterial activity of leaves of lemongrass against Bovine Mastitis resulted in prevention of the growth of bacterial strains like Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus urberis, E. coli. Innsan et al., 2011, studied the effect of essential oil from Cymbopogon flexuosus and Cymbopogon nardus both separately or combined on bacterial activity and post antibiotic effect (PAE) towards E. coli and S. aureus and they found that combined oil showed high bacterial activity towards S. aureus and E. coli than single plant oil. Adegbegi et al., 2012, performed Phytochemical analysis and determined the anti-microbial properties against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria of the lemongrass extracts from stem and leaves by revealed presence of tannins, flavonoids and phlobotannins. Khan and Ahmad, 2012, determined the antifungal and antibacterial activity of essential oils from lemongrass on urinary tract infection in humans was studied and having inhibitory effect against microbial species like Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella enteritidis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella species, Proteus mirabilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Bibiana et al., 2012, tested the antimicrobial activity of essential oil of Lemon grass against different pathogens like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogens, Vibrio cholera, Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Bacillus cereus, Streptococcus faecalis, Citrobacter, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus fumigatus and Trichoderma viridae was confirmed and well established as significant broad spectrum antimicrobial activity against all the above tested microbes was found using the crude extracts, extracted oil and isolated geraniol from C. citratus. Boukhatem et al., 2014, studied in vivo anti-inflammatory (oral and topical formulations) and in vitro anti-fungal properties of Lemon grass essential oils both in liquid and vapor phase. Using Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrophotometry analysis they revealed two major components in

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it; Geranial (42.2%) and Neral (31.5%). Using Disk- diffusion method and Vapor diffusion method they found promising anti-fungal activities against Candida albicans, C. tropicalis, and Aspergillus niger with a range of Zone of Inhibition from 35-90 mm by using vapor phase and Zone of Inhibition increased with increasing volume of the liquid oil. The anti-inflammatory property of Lemon grass via oral administration (10mg/kg) was evaluated against carrageenan- induced paw edema and found effective against it with a similar degree as that of oral diclofenac (50 mg/kg) is being used as positive control. The histological analysis confirmed the inhibition of the skin inflammation using Lemon grass essential oil in various animal models. Candida albicans, one of the pathogenic fungi species causing infections in humans was found to be affected by the Lemongrass oil action, as the oil inactivated the growth mechanism of its cells (Manvitha and Bidya, 2014). Adukwu et al., 2016 determined the anti-microbial properties of the Lemon grass by using Disk diffusion method the against four out of five strains of Acinetobacter baumannii out of which two strains are confirmed Multi-Drug-Resistant (MDR) strains and all the strains were found susceptible towards both Citral as well as the Lemon Grass oil with the Zone of Inhibition range varying from 17-80mm. The mean of MIC and MBC of Citral (0.14%, 0.3% v/v respectively) was low as compared to MIC and MBC of Lemon Grass oil (0.65%, 0.1% v/v) determined using micro-titer plate method. Also, it was found that both citral and lemon grass essential oil has some cytotoxic effect on the Human dermal fibroblasts resulting in their shrinkage and some necrotic factors. De Silva et al., 2017 studied the antimicrobial activity and Minimal Inhibitory Concentration of (MIC) of the extract of Lemongrass was evaluated against four bacteria Staphylococcus aureus, Poroteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeurginosa and a fungus Candida albicans. Study showed appreciable antimicrobial and antifungal activities. The antimicrobial especially antibacterial properties of Lemon Grass Oil was studied against seven bacteria species Aeromonas hydrophila, A. caviae, Citrobacter freundii, Salmonella enterica, Edwardsiella tarda, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Proteus mirabilis from three pet turtles. Through disk diffusion method and determination of MIC and MBC, it was found that lemongrass oil is effective against all bacterial species except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Anti-Bacterial, Anti-Fungal, Anti- Protozoal, Anti- Carcinogenic, Anti- Inflammatory, Anti- Oxidant, Anti- Septic, Antitussive, Cardioprotective, Anti-rheumatic activities, Inhibition of Platelet- Aggregation. Diabetes treatment, Dislipidemia, Gastro-intestinal disturbance treatment Anxiety, malaria, flu, fever and Pneumonia treatments (Shah et al., 2011).

Uses of Cymbopogon citratus in various regions of the world including common names and the parts used. (Avoseh et al., 2015)

Species Region Common Plant Part Used as Name Used India Lemongrass Aerial Fever and Digestive Cymbopogon disorders citratus Nigeria Lemongrass Leaves Diabetes, Inflammation and nerve disorder Argentina Limonaria Leaves Cold, flu, stomach and digestive disorders and as Cuba Cana Santa Leaves decoctions with other

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plants for malaria

Costa Grass Tea Leaves To relieve a cough, Rica carminative, expectorant and depurative Colombia Limonaria Rhizome Chewed and used as Toothbrush and pest control Brazil Capimsanto Leaves Anxiolytic and hypersensitive Trinidad Fever grass Grass and Tea made to treat a and Rhizomes cough, flu, cold, fever Tobago and diabetes

Table 2: Common Names and parts of Lemongrass plant used traditionally

Because of these properties, Lemongrass oil has been known as one of the beneficial and essential oil from the health point of view. It is known to have healing effects on both internal and external infections caused by the bacteria and fungus. Involving the infections like Ringworm and athletes foot disease. Lemongrass has also known to have most inhibitory activity against MRSA infection. It is also known to relieve symptoms of stress, nervous exhaustion, headache or body ache, sore throats, laryngitis and bronchitis etc. Lemongrass across the world is also used as a traditional treatment for malaria and typhoid fever (Udeh et al., 2001).

Conclusion

Lemongrass has once again proved that the plants and herbs are the nations great reservoir and real wealth. Through this wealth of diverse flora we always have an oppertinuity to fight with the diseases and disorders. Based on these resources, our pharmaceutical industries have discovered, evaluated and developed drugs to fight against the diseases with much success. Lemongrass, a traditional medicine still used in most of the world is also of great interest because of its essential oil, medicinal properties and good nutritional quality.

References :

Adegbegi, A.J., Usunobun, U. and Adewumi, B.L. 2012. Comparative studies on the chemical composition and antimicrobial activities of the ethanolic extracts of lemongrass leaves and stems. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences 4(4): 145-148.

Adukwu, E.C., Bowles, M., Edwards-Jones, V. and Bone, H., 2016. Antimicrobial activity, cytotoxicity and chemical analysis of lemongrass essential oil (Cymbopogon flexuosus) and pure citral. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 100(22), pp.9619-9627.

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Avoseh, O., Oyedeji, O., Rungqu, P., Nkeh-Chungag, B. and Oyedeji, A., 2015. Cymbopogon species; ethnopharmacology, phytochemistry and the pharmacological importance. Molecules, 20(5), pp.7438-7453.

Bibiana, M.A., Selvamani, P. and Latha, S., 2012. In-Vitro antimicrobial evaluation of extracts, oil and fractionated geraniol of Cymbopogan citratus - an aromatic grass. International Journal of Environmental Sciences, 3(1), pp.583-590.

Boukhatem, M.N., Ferhat, M.A., Kameli, A., Saidi, F. and Kebir, H.T., 2014. Lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil as a potent anti-inflammatory and antifungal drugs. Libyan Journal of Medicine, 9(1), p.25431.

De Silva, B.C.J., Jung, W.G., Hossain, S., Wimalasena, S.H.M.P., Pathirana, H.N.K.S. and Heo, G.J., 2017. Antimicrobial property of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) oil against pathogenic bacteria isolated from pet turtles. Laboratory animal research, 33(2), pp.84-91.

Innsan, M.M.F., Shahril, M.H., Samihah, M.S., Asma, O.S., Radzi, S.M., Jalil, A.A. and Hanina, M.N., 2011. Pharmacodynamic properties of essential oils from Cymbopogon species. African Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 5(24), pp.2676-2679.

Khan, M.S.A. and Ahmad, I., 2012. Biofilm inhibition by Cymbopogon citratus and Syzygium aromaticum essential oils in the strains of Candida albicans. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, 140(2), pp.416-423.

Manvitha, K. and Bidya, B., 2014. Review on pharmacological activity of Cymbopogon citratus. prevent, 6, p.7.

Matasyoh, J.C., Wagara, I.N. and Nakavuma, J.L., 2011. Chemical composition of Cymbopogon citratus essential oil and its effect on mycotoxigenic Aspergillus species. African Journal of Food Science, 5(3), pp.138-142. Naik, M.I., Fomda, B.A., Jaykumar, E. and Bhat, J.A., 2010. Antibacterial activity of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) oil against some selected pathogenic bacterias. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine, 3(7), pp.535-538.

Nath, G., Suneetha, T.B. and Deshpande, M., 2011. Preliminary analysis of two medicinal plants against causative organism of bovine mastitis. International Journal of Phytomedicine, 3(3), p.333.

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Selvi V S, Govindaraju G, and Basker A., 2011. Antifungal Activity and Phytochemical Analysis of Cymbopogon citratus, Sauropus androgynus and Spillanthes acmella Plants. World Journal of Fungal and Plant Biology 2 (1):06-10.

Shah, G., Shri, R., Panchal, V., Sharma, N., Singh, B. and Mann, A.S., 2011. Scientific basis for the therapeutic use of Cymbopogon citratus, stapf (Lemon grass). Journal of advanced pharmaceutical technology & research, 2(1), p.3.

Singh, B.R., Singh, V., Singh, R.K. and Ebibeni, N., 2011. Antimicrobial activity of lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) oil against microbes of environmental, clinical and food origin. International Research Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 1, pp.228-236.

Tajidin, N.E., Ahmad, S.H., Rosenani, A.B., Azimah, H. and Munirah, M., 2012. Chemical composition and citral content in lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) essential oil at three maturity stages. African Journal of Biotechnology, 11(11), p.2685.

Udeh, M.U., A.S. Agbaji, I.S. Williams, P. Ehinmidu, E. Ekpa and M. Dakare, 2001. Indica seed oil and essential oils from Cymbopogon citratus and Eucalytus citriodora leaves. Ng. J. Biochem. Mol. Biol. Proc. Suppl., 16: 189-192.

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