Ethnopharmacognosy of Echinops Spinosus L. in North Africa: a Mini
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JOURNAL OF COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE RESEARCH, 2018 VOL 8, NO. 1, PAGE 40–52 eJManager 10.5455/jcmr.20180318051853 MINI REVIEW Open Access Ethnopharmacognosy of Echinops spinosus L. in North Africa: a mini review Amel Bouzabata1, Fawzi Mahomoodally2, Carlo Tuberoso3 1Faculty of Medicine, Badji-Mokhtar University, Annaba, Algeria 2Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Mauritius, Moka, Mauritius 3Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY Background: The genus Echinops (Asteraceae family, Echinopeae class) consists of ca. Received 18 March 2018 120 species and is native to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. In Algeria, this Accepted 30 May 2018 genus is represented by the very common species Echinops spinosus L. also known as Published 19 June 2018 “tesskra,” which is used as a diuretic, hypoglycemic, for stomachic effects, liver disor- KEYWORDS ders, and post-partum care. Objective: The aim of this presentation is to provide an overview of the ethnopharma- Echinops species; Algeria; cognosy studies conducted on E. spinosus in North Africa. Data on ethnomedicinal uses, E. spinosus; ethnomedical properties; pharmacology chemical constituents, and pharmacological activity were systematically compiled. Methods: Several popular search databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and Stanford libraries were scrutinised to extract relevant information. The research focused only on English-written papers published between 1980 and 2017. Results: Echinops spinosus L. is traditionally used in North Africa, and it was found that the most ethnomedicinal use reports were from Morocco and Algeria. Promising results have been reported regarding its phytochemistry and pharmacological activity. Forty- three compounds were isolated from different parts of this species. No studies have been conducted to highlight the toxicity and clinical safety of this species. Conclusion: This review highlights the therapeutic potential of E. spinosus used in tradi- tional medicine. Furthermore, clinical trials on standardized preparations are necessary to explore the full safety and efficacy of E. spinosus in North Africa. Introduction E. spinosus ssp. eu. spinosus Maire (var. chaeto- The genus Echinops, belongs to the family Asteraceae cephalus Pomel) and E. spinosus ssp. bovei (Boiss.) (formerly Compositae) and comprises ca. 120 species Maire (var. pallens Maire.), which is also known as E. distributed throughout the Mediterranean region, bovei Boiss [8]. Recent data provided by synonymic in central Asia, and in tropical Africa [1]. In Algeria, survey of the Cardueae (Compositae) genera data- this genus is represented by the very common spe- E. spinosissi- cies Echinops spinosus L. According the African Plant mus subsp. bovei E. bovei Boiss Database, as well as the Plant List database, this [9].base, validated the scientific name of name is synonymous with E. spinosissimus Turra Three other species(Boiss.) haveGreuter been � reported in [2–4]. It thrives in arid desert conditions with an Algeria, but appear to be not very common: a) E. annual rainfall varying between 20 and 100 mm, and ritro L., known under the name of “oursin bleu” has a wide ecological range for soil, including coastal, or “echinops” in French, has a southern European calcareous dunes, sandy, and gravelly to rocky sur- distribution, and occurs in southern Europe, west- ern Asia, and even Siberia; b) E. sphaerocephalus Echinops spinosus L. into two subspecies [6,7]: L. is a mountainous species; and c) E. strigosus L. faces [5]. Botanical classifications have subdivided Contact Amel Bouzabata [email protected] Faculty of Medicine, Badji-Mokhtar University, Annaba, Algeria. © EJManager. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, noncommercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. Echinops spinosus L. in North Africa is distributed in the Iberian and North Africa area, especially in southern Spain and Algeria, and is widespread in the most western part of the Tell, from Tenes to the Moroccan border [6]. The liter- ature reveals that 24 species of the genus Echinops investigation [10]. Conversely, very little is known abouthave been E. spinosus subjected [11,12]. to varying Therefore, degrees the of objectivescientific of this review is to provide a detailed comparison of the chemical composition and pharmacologi- cal properties displayed by E. spinosus in North Africa with the widely studied species. Several search databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Web of Science, were probed to extract information between 1980 and 2017. Figure 1. Morphological aspect of Echinops spinosus Vernacular names is limited to the pre-desert regions in septentrional In Algeria, E. spinosus L. is known in the Berber and central Sahara and is considered as a Saharo- language under the names “Taskra,” “Teskera,” Sindian taxon [6,7]. “Taskra” Ameskelit T, and Sarsor, and in Arabic by the names: “fouga el djemel,” “chouk el djemel,” “suk Phytochemistry ej-jmal,” Kachir, Ikchir, Chouk el Hamir, Chicaou, and Sorr [13–15]. In the Tamahaq language, this species The genus Echinops is one of the taxa with charac- is called Téfariast [16]. terized alkaloids within the Asteraceae family [21]. The Arabic name of “qounfoudzia” (de héris- An overview of the literature on E. spinosus showed son), is the transcription in Greek of “Ekhinos.” The that reports concerning the phytochemistry of the vernacular name of “ri ayi el-ibil” has the meaning Algerian species are very limited, with only two “Camel Pasture” [14]. In Morocco, this species is studies undertaken [11,12]. Preliminary qualita- known under the names of “tasekra, asekra, teskra, tive phytochemical screening of various secondary chouk el hamir, suk al-himar, and tîmat” [17]. out on extracts of the aerial parts and roots, which Botanical description and habitat indicatedmetabolites that by the specific aqueous chemical extract tests contained was carried alka- - E. spinosus is a perennial herb growing to 1 m and ars, and starch [11]. more, with erect brownish to reddish stems, few long loids,Phytochemical tannins, flavonoids, investigations quinones, of E. reducingspinosus fromsug leaves from 10 to 15 cm, hairy, arachnoids, and with North Africa in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt - hemispherical globe up to 5 cm in diameter during olites belonging to the phytochemical classes of very long spines. The inflorescence is often a single- quinolineled to the isolationalkaloids and (S –Sidentification) [1], sesquiterpenoids of 42 metab ous long spines (Figure 1). The small hermaphroditic 1 2 (S –S ) [12,23], and sterols the flowering period. It is surrounded with numer 3 4 26 (S –S ) [24]. The names of the isolated compounds turning from green to white and yellowish when in 27 39 and) their[22], sourcesflavonoids are (Sprovided in Table 1 and the fullflowers bloom. that The compose fruits arethe smalldense achenes head are topped tubular, by chemical structures are depicted in Table 2. membranous scales to ease dispersion [18]. In 2009, the isolation of two sesquiterpenoids In Algeria, two very polymorphous subspecies with a novel carbon framework was reported and have been described: 1) ssp. bovei (Boiss.) Maire: named echinopine A and echinopine B [22]. In stems pubescent, not glandular. The achenes are composed into distinct pieces at the base. The E. spinosus from Tunisia. The two most abundant leaves are whitish and woolly on both sides. E. bovei compounds2016, Bouattour were et ß-sitosterol al. [24] identified (44.97%) 13 sterolsfollowed in is a Southern Mediterranean-Saharan taxon, and is by stigmasterol (34.95%) [24]. In the same year, widespread in Algeria [19,20]; and 2) ssp. eu. spi- nosus Maire aerial parts of E. spinosus from Algeria and Egypt. from 40 to 60 cm. The distribution of E. eu spinosus the occurrence of flavonoids was reported in the : annual plant, upright and firm stems, www.jocmr.com 41 Amel Bouzabata, Fawzi Mahomoodally, Carlo Tuberoso Table 1. Phytochemical constituents of Echinops spinosus. Extract Compound Structure Reference a E Echinopsine S1 [1] Echinorine S2 b E Echinopine A S3 [22] Echinopine B c E Apigenin S4 [12] Apigenin-7-O-ß-glucopyranoside S5 Apigenin-7-β-D-O-(6”-O-E-p-coumaroyl-glucopyranoside S6 d E Luteolin-6-arabinose-8-glucoside S7 [23] Luteolin-6-glucose-8-arabinoside S8 Apigenin-6-arabinose-8-galactoside S9 Apigenin-6-arabinose-8-glucoside S10 Apigenin-6-glucose-8-rhamnoside S11 Luteolin-7-glucoside S12 Narengin S13 Rutin S14 Hesperidin S15 Quercetin-3-O-glucoside S16 Rosmarinic acid S17 Apigenin-7-O-neohespiroside S18 Kaempferol-3,7-dirhamnoside S19 Apigenin-7-glucoside S5 Quercetrin S20 Quercetin S21 Naringenin S22 Hespiritin S23 Kaempferol S24 Rhamnetin S25 Apigenin S4 Acacetin S26 e E β-Sitosterol S27 [24] Stigmasterol S28 Campesterol S29 Brassicasterol S30 Campestanol S31 Δ7-Campesterol S32 Δ5,23-Stigmastadienol S33 Cholesterol S34 Sitostanol S35 Δ5-Avenasterol S36 Δ5,24-Stigmastadienol S37 Δ7-Stigmastenol S38 Δ7-Avenasterol S39 f E 2,2-Ddimethyl-4 [5’-(prop-1-ynyl)-2,2’-biothiphen-5-yl]-1,3-dioxalane S40 [25] g E 11-Hydroxyisocom-2-en-5-one S41 [26] h E A-neooleana-3(5),12-diene S42 [27] Ea = chloroform extract prepared from ripe fruits collected in Deltaic coast Egypt, Eb