Review
The genus Commiphora: A review of its traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology

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Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance

The resinous exudates of the Commiphora species, known as ‘myrrh’, are used in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of trauma, arthritis, fractures and diseases caused by blood stagnation. Myrrh has also been used in the Ayurvedic medical system because of its therapeutic effects against inflammatory diseases, coronary artery diseases, gynecological disease, obesity, etc.

Aim of the review

Based on a comprehensive review of traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological data on the genus Commiphora, opportunities for the future research and development as well as the genus’ therapeutic potential are analyzed.

Methods

Information on the Commiphora species was collected via electronic search (using Pubmed, SciFinder, Scirus, Google Scholar and Web of Science) and a library search for articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Furthermore, information also was obtained from some local books on ethnopharmacology. This paper covers the literature, primarily pharmacological, from 2000 to the end of December 2011.

Results

The resinous exudates from the bark of plants of the genus Commiphora are important indigenous medicines, and have a long medicinal application for arthritis, hyperlipidemia, pain, wounds, fractures, blood stagnation, in Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and other indigenous medical systems. Phytochemical investigation of this genus has resulted in identification of more than 300 secondary metabolites. The isolated metabolites and crude extract have exhibited a wide of in vitro and in vivo pharmacological effects, including antiproliferative, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial. The bioactive steroids guggulsterones have attracted most attention for their potent hypolipidemic effect targeting farnesoid X receptor, as well as their potent inhibitory effects on tumor cells and anti-inflammatory efficiency.

Conclusions

The resins of Commiphora species have emerged as a good source of the traditional medicines for the treatment of inflammation, arthritis, obesity, microbial infection, wound, pain, fractures, tumor and gastrointestinal diseases. The resin of C. mukul in India and that of C. molmol in Egypt have been developed as anti-hyperlipidemia and antischistosomal agents. Pharmacological results have validated the use of this genus in the traditional medicines. Some bioassays are difficult to reproduce because the plant materials used have not been well identified, therefore analytical protocol and standardization of extracts should be established prior to biological evaluation. Stem, bark and leaf of this genus should receive more attention. Expansion of research materials would provide more opportunities for the discovery of new bioactive principles from the genus Commiphora.

Abstract

Based on a comprehensive summary of traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacological and toxicological data on the genus Commiphora, opportunities for the future research and development as well as the genus’ therapeutic potential were presented in this review.

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Introduction

The plant resinous exudates, exemplified by frankincense, myrrh, benzoin, Dragon's blood and ferulae resina, are important resources for traditional medicines. Their medicinal functions and usages are recorded in the ancient literature of Egypt, Rome, Greece, and China (Langenheim, 2003, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 2006). Myrrh, originating from Arabia, is the exudates produced by the secretory tissue in the bark of Commiphora species.

The genus Commiphora (Burseraceae) with more than 150 plant species, is distributed in the tropical and subtropical regions, especially occurring in northeastern Africa, southern Arabia and India (Langenheim, 2003, Vollesen, 1989). The plants of Commiphora species are characterized as small trees or shrubs with spinescent branches, pale-gray bark and reddish-brown resinous exudates.

The resinous exudates of the genus Commiphora are commonly used as perfume, incense, or embalming ointment, and their medicinal values have been gradually recognized by humankind (Langenheim, 2003). They are used in indigenous medicines for the treatment of wound, pain, arthritis, fractures, obesity, parasitic infection and gastrointestinal diseases (Al-Harbi et al., 1997, Zhang, 2009, Abdul-Ghani et al., 2009). Diverse secondary metabolites including terpenoids, steroids, flavonoids, sugars, lignans, etc. have been discovered in this genus (Hanuš et al., 2005). Antiproliferative, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, hepatoprotective and cardiovascular properties of the purified metabolites and the crude extracts have been investigated (El Ashry et al., 2003, Shen and Lou, 2008, Deng, 2007).

The distribution of fifty-one constituents and medical uses of myrrh was reviewed by El Ashry et al (2003). A review covering the chemical aspects of Commiphora species has appeared (Hanuš et al., 2005). Two reviews dealing with the hypolipidemic property of guggul (the resin of Commiphora mukul) has been published (Ulbricht et al., 2005, Sahni et al., 2005). The resin of C. molmol mainly used in Egypt as an antiparasitic agent, its medical use has been summarized recently (Abdul-Ghani et al., 2009, Tonkal and Morsy, 2008). The hypolipidemic property of guggulsterones (Ramawat and Merillon, 2008) and their molecular targets (Shishodia et al., 2008), the bioactive compounds from the genus Commiphora and Boswellia have been reviewed (Shen and Lou, 2008). Plant resins with antimicrobial potential have been summarized, the resin of Commiphora species were included (Termentzi et al., 2011). Different from the writing objectives of above literatures, our review presents a comprehensive and up-to-date report on traditional uses, phytochemical aspects, pharmacological functions and toxicity of this genus. Besides, we focus on the pharmacological data reported since the year of 2000, to provide a probable scope of future research concerning this genus.

Section snippets

Traditional uses

Traditional uses, local names and the main pharmacological activities of some Commiphora species from different regions are listed in Table 1. The most frequently employed and investigated Commiphora species are Commiphora myrrha, C. opobalsamum, C. mukul and C. molmol. The resins of these Commiphora species exhibit diverse therapeutic utilities, such as wound, pain, fracture, mouth ulcer, inflammatory disease, stomach disorders and microbial infection.

The recognition of the therapeutic and

Phytochemical studies

More than 300 molecules have been identified from this genus. The information of isolated metabolites has been provided by El Ashry et al. (2003) and Hanuš et al. (2005), introduced from the points of plant origin and species. In present review important phytochemical regularities and findings since 2005 of this genus are introduced. A comprehensive summary of structures and resources of metabolites classified by structural types was given in Supplementary Data.

With respect to phytochemical

Anti-inflammatory activity

The resin of C. mukul, known as ‘guggul’ in Ayurvedic medicine, has been used for the therapy of arthritis for centuries. A clinical study indicated that the resin extract of C. mukul had significant improvements of osteoarthritis when treated with a dose of 500 mg TID for 1 month (Singh et al., 2003).

The MeOH resin extract of C. mukul demonstrated significant inhibition of NO formation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated murine macrophages with an IC50 value of about 15 μg/mL (Meselhy, 2003,

Conclusions

The present review discusses the phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of the genus Commiphora, and especially provides a detailed analysis of the literature published since the year of 2000. Terpenoids were regard as the major constituents in this genus, while flavonoids and lignans commonly occurred in the bark or stem. Steroids and polypodane triterpenoids, characteristically present in the resin of C. mukul, might be important chemtaxonomic markers to identify Commiphora plant species

Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by NNSFC (No. 81001376), GIIFSDU, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No.201104602 and 20100471536), and Postdoctoral Innovation Foundation of Shandong Province (No. 201002018).

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