Aquilaria Research Articles

Flavonoids and Benzenoids from the Bark of Aquilaria agallocha

Flavonoids and Benzenoids from the Bark of Aquilaria agallocha

Characterization and identification of three kinds of wood class medicine by fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Objective Using infrared spectroscopy to analyze three kinds of lignum Chinese medicine to provide a theoretical basis for the establishment of medicinal overall quality evaluation system. Methods Functional groups identification, Fourier Transform-infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) and the second derivative infrared spectroscopy (SD-IR) could be applicable to analyze and identify the overall chemical composition of three kinds of lignum Chinese medicine. Results The main chemical components of Aquilariae Lignum Resinatum (ALR), Dalbergiae Odoriferae Lignum (DOL) and Sappan Lignum (SL) were cellulose, lignin and aromatics. The main chemical compositions of Sappan Lignum (SL) were cellulose, lignin and aromatics. The differences in FT-IR and SD-IR of DOL and SL indicated that they had different aromatic compounds. Conclusion Infrared spectroscopy can be used as a simple and accurate quality control method of three kinds of lignum Chinese medicine. Key words: Aquilaria agallocha; Dalbergia odorifera; Lignum sappan; Lignin; Cellulose; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; The second derivative infrared spectroscopy

Agarwood (Aquilaria malaccencis) Health at Nursery

Gaharu (Aquilaria malaccencis) is a tree species included in Thymelleaceae family, Agarwood can grow in lowland as well as mountains, up to 750 m above sea level. The average temperature required is 32 ° C and the average humidity is 70%, with annual rainfall of about 2000 mm. This plant produces a resin powder which has a distinctive aroma fragrance infected due to fungal diseases (fungi) that enter through the trunk wound. The objective of this study is to identify the characteristics of attack which causes damage to the agarwood plant seedlings (Aquilaria malaccencis) and to elucidate the intensity of pests and diseases on agarwood plant seedling (Aquilaria malaccencis). By using code of Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) which had been modified so that it was obtained the damage cause, damaged parts of plants, the type and the level of severity of damage suffered by the plant. Based on the results, data showed that the biggest cause of the damage suffered by the agarwood plant was a disease characterized by symptoms on the leaves where the damage type was in the form of leaf discoloration with the level of severity of 20-29%. The intensity of damage was 44. 66%, damage due to pest was 8%, and damage due to illness was 32%.

A New Record of Leaf Spot Disease on Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk in India

A New Record of Leaf Spot Disease on Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk in India

Anti-inflammatory effects of the ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria crassna inhibits LPS-induced tumour necrosis factor-alpha production by attenuating P38 MAPK activation

To study the inhibitory effect of the ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria crassna on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) secretion from isolated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and its mechanisms of antiinflammation so as to provide some evidence for its traditional use. Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (hPBMCs) were isolated from healthy volunteers. Cells, at a concentration of 1×106 cell/ml, were induced to secrete TNF-α by exposure to 10 ng/ml LPS in the presence and absence of the ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria crassna. The TNF-α secretion in the collection medium was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the TNF-α gene expression was measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Determination of ERK1/2 MAPK and p38 MAPK activation were performedby Western blot analysis using a specific phosphorylated form of ERK1/2, p38 MAPK antibody. LPS at a concentration of 10 ng/ ml significantly increased in TNF-α secretion and was significantly inhibited when treated with 1.5 mg/ml ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria crassna (P<0.05). Moreover, on treatment with 1.5 mg/ml, the extracts showed TNF-α gene expression inhibition. Co-treatment of the extract with LPS could not block p38 MAPK activation, but pre-treatment of the extracts significantly reduced the p38 MAPK phosphorylation without affecting the ERK1/2 MAPK activation (P<0.05). The ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria crassna inhibits TNF-α gene expression and secretion in LPS-induced hPBMCs. This inhibitory effect apparently resulted from selectively attenuating the p38 MAPK activation. Key words: Anti-inflammatory, Aquilaria crassna, p38 MAPK, PBMCs, TNF-α

Anti Fungal Activity of Wood Extract of Aquilaria crassna Pierre ex Lecomte Against Agarwood-Inducing Fungi, Fusarium solani

This paper provided information regarding artificial agar wood production. Fungi are considered as biological agent for agarwood formation and agarwood is assumed as tree defense mechanism product. This research was aimed at investigating the anti fungal activity (AFA) of Aq ui l ari a crassna , one of the agar wood-producing trees, against F usariu m solani in vi t r o . Aq uilaria crassna wood mill was extracted by 70% ethanol to investigate the anti fungal activity. The result are Aq u i l ari a c r a s s n a exhibited low extractives content, which was only 2.0% (w/w) and a low anti fungal activity i n vitro , especially for ethanol extract. However, further fractionation and bioassay showed that the most active component was likely in the ethyl-acetate soluble fraction that exhibited strong anti fungal activity (52.5%) at 4.0% of concentration.

STUDI POLA SPASIAL PERSEBARAN GAHARU ( Aquilaria spp.) DAN KETERKAITANNYA DENGAN KONDISI HABITAT DI TAMAN NASIONAL KUTAI KALIMANTAN TIMUR

Agarwood is an important forest product due to its high economic value. However, the natural population of agarwood species has been decreasing rapidly because of over exploitation, therefore the international trade of the most important agarwood species (i.e. Aquilaria malaccensis) is restricted to just a small quota. This research was conducted in an attempt to provide basic information for the conservation of Aquilaria spp. by identifying the species spatial distribution and habitat characteristics and developing a linkage model between their abundance and habitat characteristics. Data were collected through a field survey at Kutai National Park in August 2006 with Aquilaria spp. as the target species. Data on the species localities were used to determine the species densities and the value of Distance Index of Dispersion. The ordinance levels between the target species and the surrounding other species were identified using a correspondence analysis, while the linkage model between the species abundance and habitat characteristics was established using an ordinal multinomial logit model. The results showed that Aquilaria spp. had a low density (0.01/ha) and were spatially distributed in a clump pattern. The abundance of Aquilaria species had a close association with soil texture, humidity and acidity, land elevation, air temperature and humidity, and light intensity. The abundance decreased with increasing the proportion of sandy clay loam content, soil humidity and acidity, land elevation, and light intensity. In contrast, the abundance increased with increasing sandy loam content, air temperature and air humidity. The existence of A. malaccensis was likely to associate with the existence of Goniothalamus sp., Macaranga sp., Vordia splendidissima, Lygopodium sp., and Stachyphrynium borneensis.

Chemical constituents and antimicrobial activity of essential oil and extracts of heartwood of Aquilaria crassna obtained from water distillation and supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction.

Agarwood (Aquilaria crassna) is a high value economic plant.Agarwood oil is widely used among variouscountries as perfumes and ingredient inmedical recipes. In this study, the extraction of driedAgarwood powderbywater distillation (WD), supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction (SFE) and SFEwith ethanol as cosolvent(SFE+co) gave 0.2%oil, 0.06%and 0.014%extracts, respectively. The types of chemical constituents of oil andextracts from these 3 extraction methods were quite similar. The major chemical constituents ofWD oil, SFEand SFE+co extracts were g-selinene (13.66%), selina-4,11-dien-14-al (14.25%) and selina-4,11-dien-14-al(13.39%), respectively. The WD oil, SFE and SFE+co extracts had antimicrobial activities against S. auruesand C. albicans, but were not sensitive to E. coli at maximum concentration of the study, 2mg/mL. KeyWords: Agarwood; Aquilaria crassna; Distillation; Supercritical fluid carbon dioxide

Antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria agallocha on nitrite-induced methaemoglobin formation P.

Aquilaria agallocha Roxb, family, Th ymelaeaceae, is an evergreen plant of India, China and Tibet, commonly described as aloe wood or agarwood. Traditionally, the bark, root and heartwood are used for their medicinal properties as a folk medicine to treat infl ammation, arthritis, vomiting, cardiac disorders, cough, asthma, leprosy, anorexia, headache and gout. Th e present study was carried out to investigate the antioxidant activity of ethyl acetate extract of Aquilaria agallocha (EAA). EAA was tested in vitro at diff erent concentrations for inhibitory eff ect on nitrite-induced oxidation of haemoglobin in human blood haemolysate. Results indicate a strong antioxidant eff ect of EAA in a concentration range of 500-3500 μg/ml. However pro-oxidant activity was observed at higher concentrations of these compounds. Key words: Antioxidant, Aquilaria agallocha, methaemoglobin, nitrite-radical

Karakteristik Dan Viabilitas Biji Gaharu (Aquilaria Microcarpa Baill.) Dari Tanaman Koleksi Kebun Raya Bogor

The characteristics and viability of agarwood (Aquilaria microcarpa Baill.) seed from the Bogor Botanic Garden's collection was investigated. Two batches of seed from intact mature fruit and dehisced mature fruit were tested for viability using germination and tetrazolium test methods. The result showed that although the tetrazolium test indicated a similar level of seed viability between the two batches (i.e. 85 — 93 %), the germination capacity of seed batch derived from dehisced fru,it was greatly reduced (i.e. 46 % total seed germination) compared to that derived from intact fruit (i.e. 97 % total seed germination). The decrease of seed germination capacity indicated the loss of seed vigour and was concomitant with the decrease of seed moisture content from 42.22 % to 24.79 % (fresh weight basis), thus underlining that the seed has a recalcitrant characteristic. Further observation on the seedling growth showed that there was an incidence of abnormal seedlings encountered in the seed batch from dehisced fruit. Detailed information on the morphological characteristics of the fruit, seed and seedling are presented in this paper.