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Siddiqui, Med Aromat Plants 2014, 3:3
ISSN: 2167-0412
Medicinal & Aromatic
Aromatic Plants DOI: 10.4172/2167-0412.1000159

Short Communication
Research Article OpenAccess
Open Access

A Note on Anti-leishmanial, Spasmolytic and Spasmogenic, Antioxidant

and Antimicrobial Activities of Fruits, Leaves and Stem of Morinda
citrifolia Linn – an Important Medicinal and Food Supplement Plant
Bina S Siddiqui*1, Fouzia A Sattar1, Sabira Begum1, Ashana Dar1, Mohammad Nadeem1 , Anwar H Gilani2, Safur Rehman Mandukhail2,3, Aqeel
Ahmad4 and Saima Tauseef4
1
HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan
2
Departmentof Biological and Biomedical Sciences, The Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan
3
Department of Pharmacy, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan
4
Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan

The genus Morinda is pan tropical in its distribution with about
80 species. This genus includes trees, shrubs and vines. In the Western
Pacific region, vines are most common while the trees are only a
few, including Morinda citrifolia which typically have “vine-like”
characteristics of their branches and stems [1,2]. The tree belongs to the
family Rubiaceae. It has different local names in various geographical
locations. Some commonly used names include noni in Hawaii, nono
in Tahiti, Indian Mulberry in India, Ba ji tian in China and cheese fruit
in Australia [3]. Morinda citrifolia has been used by humankind both
as food and medicine for millennia [4-6]. Due to its traditional and
current use, a number of biological and chemical studies have been
performed on this species dating back more than 100 years. Literature
survey however reveals that the leaves have the most prevalent
traditional use and were usually used topically. On the other hand, in
the current practice the fruit juice and less commonly the leaves or
other parts are used and these are primarily given orally [3,7]. Hence
in the present preliminary studies three parts namely fruits, leaves
and stem were separately evaluated for different biological activities
namely, anti-leishmanial, spasmolytic and spasmogenic, antioxidant
and antimicrobial activities. It may be noted that in earlier studies
the parts of the plant mainly used for these activities were roots [8],
extract whereas 30% patients showed moderate improvement and
20% patients showed insignificant improvement. The leaves and fruit
extracts were not much effective.
Spasmolytic and spasmogenic activities
The 70% aqueous-ethanol extracts of fruits and leaves of M.
citrifolia showed relaxant effect on isolated spontaneously contracting
rabbit jejunum preparation at a dose range of 0.3-5.0 mg/ml and 0.1-3.0
mg/ml respectively according to the procedure reported earlier [12].
The same preparations were also tested in the presence of atropine (0.3
µM). Fruits extract caused the relaxation at two fold less dose (0.3-3.0
mg/ml) while, the leaves extract did not show any significant effect
as shown in Figure 1. The fruits and leaves extracts also inhibited the
potassium (80 mM) induced contractions at the same dose range of
0.3-1.0 mg/ml. These results indicated the presence of calcium channel
(A) (B)
100 100
75 75
% of Control

% of Control

fruits and roots [9,10] and fruit juice [11]. The present results provide
a direction regarding the selection of particular part for studying any 50 50
specific biological activity referred to above in future. Spontaneous
Spontaneous 25
25
Preparation of Extracts Plus Atropine ( 0.3 µM)
Spontaneous
K+(80 mM) K+(80 mM)
Aerial parts of Morinda citrifolia were collected from the University 0 0
of Karachi campus Pakistan in the month of August. The plant was 0.01 0.1 1 3 5 0.01 0.1 1 3
identified by Dr. Surayya Khatoon, Department of Botany, University [Mc.Cr.F] mg/ml [Mc.Cr.F] mg/ml
of Karachi, and a voucher (specimen No. 67344) has been deposited in 100
Figure 1: Inhibitory effect of the Morinda citrifolia 70% aqueous-ethanolic fruits
the Herbarium of the same department. The fruits (2 kg), leaves (1.5 kg)
(Mc.Cr.F) (A) and leaves extract (Mc.Cr.L) (B) on spontaneous and high K+-
and stem (3 kg)) were manually separated and extracted with MeOH induced
75 contractions and concentration-response curves of Ca++ in isolated
(x3) at room temperature. The fruits (1 kg) and leaves (1 kg) were also rabbit jejunum. The symbols represent mean ± S.E.M, n= 4-6.
extracted with 70% aqueous ethanol (x3) at room temperature. The
50
solvent was removed from each extract under reduced pressure to
yield a thick syrupy extract of fruits (133.0 g), leaves (114.0 g) and stem
(198.0 g). 25
*Corresponding author: Bina S. Siddiqui, HEJ Research Institute of
Chemistry, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences,
Biological Assays University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan, Tel: 111-222-292 (Ext: 191);
E-mail:0 siddiqui_bina@yahoo.com
The extracts from the three parts referred to above were screened in Received March 25, 2014; Accepted May 04, 2014; Published May 06, 2014
different biological assays and the observations are noted below.
Citation: Siddiqui BS, Sattar FA, Begum S, Dar A, Nadeem M, et al. (2014) A
Note on Anti-leishmanial, Spasmolytic and Spasmogenic, Antioxidant and
Anti-leishmanial activity Antimicrobial Activities of Fruits, Leaves and Stem of Morinda citrifolia Linn – an
Important Medicinal and Food Supplement Plant. Med Aromat Plants 3: 159. doi:
A preparation of the methanol extracts of fruits, leaves and stem
10.4172/2167-0412.1000159
at 1% concentration in ointment base was applied in clinical patients
suffering from cutaneous leishmaniasis. Lesions were dry, ulcerative Copyright: © 2014 Siddiqui BS, et al. This is an open-access article distributed
under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
and size of lesion was measured in mm at clinical observation. Marked unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
improvement and cure was observed in 50% patients treated with stem original author and source are credited.

Med Aromat Plants

ISSN: 2167-0412 MAP, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 3 • 1000159
Citation: Siddiqui BS, Sattar FA, Begum S, Dar A, Nadeem M, et al. (2014) A Note on Anti-leishmanial, Spasmolytic and Spasmogenic, Antioxidant
and Antimicrobial Activities of Fruits, Leaves and Stem of Morinda citrifolia Linn – an Important Medicinal and Food Supplement Plant. Med
Aromat Plants 3: 159. doi: 10.4172/2167-0412.1000159

Page 2 of 3

blocking, cholinergic type and relaxant constituents in the fruits and Zone of inhibition (mm)
leaves extract of the plant as shown in Figure 2. The graphs were Leaves Extract Fruits Extract Stem Extract Gram-ve negative Bacteria
prepared using Graph Pad Prism software version 4.00 for Windows, - 9 9 Shigella boydii
(Graph Pad Software, San Diego California USA, www.graphpad.com). - 9 9 Shigella dysenteriae
- 8 8 Shigella flexneri
Antioxidant activity
- 8 8 Salmonella typhi
The fruits, leaves and stem methanol extracts were assayed for - 11 12 Salmonella typhi para A
antioxidant activity at 200 µg/ml dose in diphenylpicryl hydrazine - 9 9 Salmonella typhi para B
(DPPH) assay by the method described earlier [13]. The leaves and - - - Proteus mirabilus
stem methanol extracts showed almost similar activity (18.13% and - 7 7 Proteus vulgaris
19.23% inhibition respectively) while the fruit extract was significantly
8 9 10 Escherichia coli
(>3 times) more active than the leaves and stem methanol extracts and
8 8 9 Klebsiella pneumonia
showed 57.69% inhibition.
- - 11 Enterobacter sp
Antibacterial activity 7 7 9 Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA0286

The disc diffusion method [14] was used to determine the Conc.: 200 µg /disc
antibacterial and antifungal activities of the three extracts referred Table 2: Antimicrobial activity of the extracts against Gram-negative bacteria.
to above. The stem methanol extract was most active and showed
Zone of inhibition (mm)
inhibition of all the 12 Gram-positive bacteria (Table 1) and was
Leaves Extract Fruits Extract Stem Extract Fungi
7 7 9 Trichopyton rubrum

Control 1 min 7 7 10 Microsporum canis

7 -
7 7
7 7
- 7
Leave extract 7 7
7 7
7 7
7 7
mg/ml
8 7
0.03 0.1 0.3 1.0 0.3
7 7
Fruit extract 7 7
Conc.: 200 µg /disc
Table 3: Antimicrobial activity of the extracts against Fungi.
9 Trichopyton mentegrophyte
8 Microsporum gypsium
9 Trichopyton tonsurans
9 Saccharomyces cerevisiae
10 Candida albicans
9 Helementho sporain
7 Aspergillus flavus
7 Aspergillus niger
7 Penicillium sp
7 Rhizopus sp
7 Fusarium sp.

significantly effective against 8 bacteria at 200 µg /disc concentration

0.03 0.1 0.3 1.0 3.0 5.0 mg/ml with inhibition zone ranging from 10 to 14 mm; 8 out of 12 Gram-
negative bacteria with inhibition zone ranging from 9 to 12 mm at the
Figure 2: Typical tracing showing the inhibitory effect of Morinda citrifolia 70%
aqueous-ethanolic leaves and fruits extracts on the spontaneous contractions
same concentration (Table 2). It was further observed that the stem
in isolated rabbit jejunum preparation. extract inhibited the growth of 7 out of 13 fungi tested (Table 3) at the
same concentration.

Zone of inhibition (mm) Conclusion

Leaves Extract Fruits Extract
9 10
7 9
- 8
- 10
7 8
7 9
- 7
7 8
- 9
- 12
- 9
- 10
Conc.: 200 µg /disc
Stem Extract Gram+ve positive Bacteria The methanol/70% aqueous ethanol extracts of three parts used in
11 Staphylococcus aureus this study showed varying extent of activities for each evaluated activity.
12 Staphylococcus AB 188 The stem methanol extract was most active against leishmania, Gram+ve
9 Staphylococcus epidermidis and Gram-ve bacteria, and fungi. For spasmolytic/spasmogenic activity
10 Streptococcus pyogenes both fruits and leaves 70% ethanolic extracts showed similar order of
8 Streptococcus fecalis activity. Both the fruits and stem methanol extracts showed almost
9 Streptococcus pneumoniae equal order of antioxidant activity. These observations provide a
14 Bacillus cereus direction for future work and can help in selection of specific plant part
11 Bacillus subtilis for carrying out studies on any particular biological activity.
13 Bacillus thuringiensis References
14 Micrococcus luteus 1. Nelson SC (2003) Morinda citrifolia L. Rubiaceae (Rubioideae) coffee family.
9 Corynebacterium xerosis Permanent Agriculture Resources, Holualoa, HI.
14 Corynebacterium hoffmanii 2. Nelson SC, Elevitch CR (2006) Noni: the complete guide for consumers and
growers. Permanent Agriculture Resources, Holualoa, HI.

Table 1: Antimicrobial activity of the leaves, fruits and stem methanol extracts 3. Wang MY, Su C (2001) Cancer preventive effect of Morinda citrifolia (noni).
against Gram-positive bacteria. AnnN Y Acad Sci 952: 161–168.

Med Aromat Plants

ISSN: 2167-0412 MAP, an open access journal Volume 3 • Issue 3 • 1000159
Citation: Siddiqui BS, Sattar FA, Begum S, Dar A, Nadeem M, et al. (2014) A Note on Anti-leishmanial, Spasmolytic and Spasmogenic, Antioxidant
and Antimicrobial Activities of Fruits, Leaves and Stem of Morinda citrifolia Linn – an Important Medicinal and Food Supplement Plant. Med
Aromat Plants 3: 159. doi: 10.4172/2167-0412.1000159
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Med Aromat Plants
ISSN: 2167-0412 MAP, an open access journal
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