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Ethnopharmacological Potentials of Warburgia ugandensis on Antimicrobial Activities

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Abstract

Warburgia ugandensis (W. ugandensis) is known by various names, including the East African greenheart, pepper bark tree, and Ugandan greenheart, and has a rich history of extensive use in the treatment of a host of human diseases in many African countries. This review is based on the botany and ethnopharmacological potentials of W. ugandensis for the treatment of pneumonia, asthma, malaria, candidiasis, skin infections, human immunodeficiency virus opportunistic infections, diarrhea, and measles given the common use in the management of these diseases. Extracts from W. ugandensis have strong antimicrobial activities against a broad spectrum of pathogens mainly because of the presence of abundant terpenoids, drimane, and coloratane type sesquditerpenoids amongst which are ugandensial, warburganal, mukaadial, and other secondary metabolites, such as tannins, flavonoids, saponins, steroids, and mannitol. This group of compounds gives the plant a high therapeutic value. Based on the review, there is a need for identification and isolation of the highly therapeutic phytochemical constituents and a drive for more preclinical and clinical trials to validate the safety and efficacy of the extracts. This gives basis for the potential development of new therapeutic drugs from the plant.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Korean Convergence Medicine Major, University of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Denis Okello & Youngmin Kang

  2. Gombe Secondary School, P.O. Box 192, Butambala/Mpigi, Uganda

    Denis Okello

  3. Herbal Medicine Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon, 34054, Republic of Korea

    Denis Okello & Youngmin Kang

Authors
  1. Denis Okello
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  2. Youngmin Kang
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Contributions

Okello D carried out the data search and was the main contributor in writing the manuscript. Kang Y technically designed and helped in writing the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Youngmin Kang.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Additional information

Supported by the Framework of International Cooperation Program (Korea-South Africa Cooperative Research Project for Excavation of Candidate Resources of Complementary and Alternative Medicine) managed by National Research Foundation of Korea [No. 2017093655, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM): D17470], Development of Foundational Techniques for the Domestic Production of Herbal Medicines (No. K18405) and Applicational Development of Standardized Herbal Resources (KSN1911420) from KIOM, through the Ministry of Science and ICT, Republic of Korea

Electronic supplementary material

11655_2019_3042_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Appendix 1. Names and Molecular Structures of Compounds in different Parts of W. ugandensis (Okello, et al(3) Leonard and Viljoen(22))

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Okello, D., Kang, Y. Ethnopharmacological Potentials of Warburgia ugandensis on Antimicrobial Activities. Chin. J. Integr. Med. 27, 633–640 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11655-019-3042-6

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