Pepper-Piper nigrum
It is one of the oldest and the most popular among the
spices , once called as black diamond in the western countries, especially by
the portuguese, signifying its importance in trade.
Vernacular names in India
Sanskrit : Maricha, Vallija, Krushna, Dharmapathanam,
Ushanam
Hindi : Kalimirch
Gujarathi : Kalimirch
Bengali : Kalimirich
Tamil : Nallamulaku
Telugu : Miriyalu
English : Black pepper
Distribution : Kerala is the land of pepper. It is grown in
south india as well as south western asian countries.
Botanical Description :
The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine growing up to 4 metres (13 ft) in
height on supporting trees,
poles, or trellises. It is a spreading vine, rooting readily where trailing stems touch the
ground. The leavesare
alternate, entire, 5 to 10 cm long and 3 to 6 cm across. The flowers are small, produced on pendulous
spikes 4 to 8 cm long at the leaf nodes, the spikes lengthening up to 7 to
15 cm as the fruit matures. The fruit of the black pepper is called a
drupe and when dried it is a peppercorn.
Pepper
can be grown in soil that is neither too dry nor susceptible to flooding,
moist, well-drained and rich in organic matter (the vines do not do too well over an
altitude of 3000 ft above sea level). The plants are propagated by
cuttings about 40 to 50 centimeters long, tied up to neighboring trees or
climbing frames at distances of about two meters apart; trees with rough
bark are favored over those with smooth bark, as the pepper plants climb rough
bark more readily. Competing plants are cleared away, leaving only sufficient
trees to provide shade and permit free ventilation. The roots are covered in
leaf mulch and manure,
and the shoots are trimmed twice a year. On dry soils the young plants require
watering every other day during the dry season for
the first three years. The plants bear fruit from the fourth or fifth year, and
typically continue to bear fruit for seven years. The cuttings are usually cultivars,
selected both for yield and quality of fruit.
A
single stem will bear 20 to 30 fruiting spikes. The harvest begins as soon as
one or two fruits at the base of the spikes begin to turn red, and before the
fruit is fully mature, and still hard; if allowed to ripen completely, the
fruit lose pungency, and ultimately fall off and are lost. The spikes are
collected and spread out to dry in the sun, then the peppercorns are stripped
off the spikes.
Black
pepper is either native to South East Asia.] or Southern Asia Within the genus Piper, it is most closely related to other
Asian species such as Piper caninum.
Chemical constituents :
Action _ Stimulant, carminative,
diuretic, anticholerin, sialagogue,
bechic, antiasthmatic. Used in
fevers, dyspepsia, flatulence, indigestion,
and as mucous membrane
and gastro-intestinal stimulant. Externally—
rubefacient and stimulant
to the skin. Used as a gargle for sore
throat. Used with ginger and Piper
longum for viral hepatitis.
The fruit yielded piperine, piperatine
and piperidine; amides, piperyline,
piperoleins A and B, and N-isobutyl-
cicosa-trans--trans--dienamide.
The aqueous extract of roasted black
pepper is reported to show cholinomimetic
effect on rat abdominis muscles.
Ayurvedic pharmacoepia :
Rasa : katu
Guna : laghu, teekshna
Veerya : ushna
Vipaka : katu
Medicinal uses :
It is febrifuge especially useful in intermittent fevers. It is
digestive promoter. It is useful for cough, rhinitis, spermattorhoea, for blood
purification and piles especially bleeding piles.
Therapeutic uses of pepper :
-for fever, cough, phlegm affection in lungs take balck pepper,
long pepper, and dried ginger in equal amounts and prepare a decoction and take
it 20ml twice daily
-1/2 gm pepper powdered nicely mixed with honey, sugar and ghee
takenn in unequal proportions randomly, and turned into a paste cures voice
problems, and cough
-decoction of pepper when gargled many times cures tonsilitis
and itching in throat
-the oil prepared out of pepper alone cures pruritis
-preparing oil out of sesame oil is beneficial for neurological
complaints
-for intestinal worms put powder of pepper over cut pieces of
tomato and take it in empty stomach in the morning regularly
-for epileptic patients powder inhalation of pepper powder and
powder of seeds of moringa oleifera in the early morning is beneficial
Traditional medicine
Black peppercorns
feature as remedies in Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine in South Asia. They
are most frequently used as an appetizer and to treat problems associated with
the digestive system, particularly to eradicate parasitic worms. Some
traditional uses of black pepper are supported by scientific evidence.
In Ayurvedic medicine,
black pepper has been used to aid digestion, improve appetite, treat coughs,
colds, breathing and heart problems, colic, diabetes, anaemia and piles.
Stomach ailments such as dyspepsia, flatulence, constipation and diarrhoea are
all treated with black pepper, which may be mixed with other substances such as
castor oil, cow's urine or ghee.
Black pepper has been
prepared in tablet form as a remedy for cholera and syphilis, sometimes
combined with other substances. It has also been used in tooth powder for
toothache, and an infusion of black pepper has been suggested as a remedy for
sore throat and hoarseness. Black pepper may be chewed to reduce throat
inflammation.
Externally, it has
been applied as a paste to boils and to treat hair loss and some skin diseases.
Oil of pepper is reputed to alleviate itching. A mixture of sesame oil and
powdered black pepper has been recommended for application to areas affected by
paralysis. A mixture of black pepper and honey is regarded as a remedy for
night blindness. Black pepper has been given by inhalation to comatose
patients. It is also believed to be useful against hepatitis, urinary and reproductive
disorders. In Ayurveda and Siddha medicine, a paste made using white pepper is
applied to treat some eye diseases.
In Unani medicine,
black pepper has been described as an aphrodisiac and as a remedy to alleviate
colic. A preparation called 'jawa rishai thurush' is composed of pepper,
ginger, salt, lemon juice and the plants vidanga (Embelia ribes; Primulaceae, primrose family) and mint (Mentha species; Lamiaceae). It has been
prescribed to alleviate indigestion and stomach acidity.
Inhibitory effects of black
pepper (Piper nigrum) extracts and compounds on human tumor cell proliferation,
cyclooxygenase enzymes, lipid peroxidation and nuclear transcription
factor-kappa-B.
Black pepper (Piper nigrum) and hot pepper
(Capsicum spp.) are widely used in traditional medicines. Although hot Capsicum
spp. extracts and its active principles, capsaicinoids, have been linked with
anticancer and anti-inflammatory activities, whether black pepper and its
active principle exhibit similar activities is not known. In this study, we
have evaluated the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of
extracts and compounds from black pepper by using proinflammatory transcription
factor NF-kappaB, COX-1 and -2 enzymes, human tumor cell proliferation and lipid
peroxidation (LPO). The capsaicinoids, the alkylamides, isolated from the hot
pepper Scotch Bonnet were also used to compare the bioactivities of alkylamides
and piperine from black pepper. All compounds derived from black pepper
suppressed TNF-induced NF-kappaB activation, but alkyl amides, compound 4 from
black pepper and 5 from hot pepper, were most effective. The human cancer cell
proliferation inhibitory activities of piperine and alklyl amides in Capsicum
and black pepper were dose dependant. The inhibitory concentrations 50% (IC50)
of the alklylamides were in the range 13-200 microg/mL. The extracts of black
pepper at 200 microg/mL and its compounds at 25 microg/mL inhibited LPO by
45-85%, COX enzymes by 31-80% and cancer cells proliferation by 3.5-86.8%.
Overall, these results suggest that black pepper and its constituents like hot
pepper, exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anticancer activities.
Effect of
methanolic extract of Piper nigrum fruits in Ethanol-CCl4 induced
hepatotoxicity
in Wistar rats
The results obtained in the
present study show that the methanolic extract of Piper nigrum and its
methanolic
fraction possess antioxidants,
antiulcer, hepatoprotective activity. Oxidative stress is one major factor in
etiology of
ethanol injury, mainly by Kupffer
cell derived ROS. [25]
Ethanol
activates Kupffer cells primarily through the action
of a substance called endotoxin,
which is released by certain gram-negative bacteria present in the intestine. [26]
Kupffer cell activation generates
ROS and proinflammatory cytokines (TNF alpha, IL-1), both of them can lead to
liver damage. [27]
A great number of plants worldwide
showed a strong antioxidant activity [28] and a powerful scavenger activity
against free radicals. Keeping
this view, we have attempted to study the effect of Piperine (PPR) and its
Methanolic
extract of Piper nigrum (MEPN)
on Ethanol-CCl4
induced
Hepatotoxicity. The preliminary phytochemical screening
of Methanolic extract of Piper
nigrum (MEPN) showed the presence of alkaloids, tannins and Proteins.
The results of a present study
indicate that the Ethanol [40%, 2ml/100gm, p.o. for 15 days, twice a day] &
on 14th
Day CCL4 [1:1 in groundnut
oil, 0.1 ml/kg, s.c.] and sacrificed on the 15th day induce pathological changes in
serum and biochemical markers,
indicative of toxicity and increase in free radical production. In our study,
we
observed that the isolated liver
weight and body weight was significantly decreased in Ethanol-CCl4 treated group
which was prevented by pre
treatment with MEPN (100 and 200 mg/kg/day, p.o. for 15 days) at the end of
treatment
schedule.
A significant rise in liver marker
enzymes is an indicator of abnormal functioning of the liver. Administration of
Ethanol-CCl4 to rats
significantly increased serum TG, AST, ALT, ALP, and Bilirubin. In our study, a
significant
decrease in concentration of SOD
and CAT and GSH levels and increased levels of TBARS in Ethanol-CCl4 treated
group was observed. MEPN (100 and
200 mg/kg, p.o. for 15 days) and PPR (50 mg/kg/day, p.o., for 15 days)
treatment significantly reversed
the changes in antioxidant levels induced by Ethanol-CCl4 treatment.
The histopathology data has
revealed that Ethanol-CCl4
treatment
in liver shows fatty degeneration, necrosis and
infiltration. Treatment with MEPN
(100 and 200 mg/kg/day, p.o., for 15 days) and PPR (50 mg/kg/day, p.o., for 15
days) has reversed the
histopathological features induced by Ethanol-CCl4 on hepatic tissues.
CONCLUSION
Hepatotoxicity was induced by
administering ethanol-CCl4
as
mentioned in method. Our studies showed that the
prophylactic treatment with
methanolic extract (100 and 200 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) and Piperine (50 mg/kg
body
weight, p.o.) of Piper nigrum for
15 days with Ethanol-CCl4
treatment
offered considerable protection to liver as
evidenced from the levels of
biochemical parameters (SGOT, SGPT, cholesterol, triglyceride, total proteins,
albumin and bilirubin), which was
supported by the limited extent of histological damage. Thus it is concluded
that
the Piper
nigrum has hepatoprotective activity.
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