Abrus precatorius L.

Common Names:
Olinda (S)
Adisamiyai, Atti, Kunrimani (T)
Crab's eye, Indian Liquorice, Wild Liquorice (E)
Aruna, Saumya, Tamrica (Sa)

Traditional Knowledge

Useful plant parts :
Seed, leaf and root

Uses in traditional medicine :

Low concentrations of root ground with lime juice, is taken for cough and sore throat, but high doses are emetic
Young leaf juice is applied around the eyes for conjunctivitis
Roots act as an alexiteric
Seeds ground with lime are used to treat acne, boils, abscesses, tetanus, rabies, leucoderma and animal bites

Scientific Research

Chemical constituents:

Alkaloids: precatorine, hypaphorine, trigonelline, dimethyltryptophan derivatives, isoflavanquinones: abruquinone A–I and isotoxic proteins: abrinad and abrus agglutinin from seeds; triterpene glycosides: abrusosides A–D from leaves

Bioactivity :

Abrin: immunomodulator; protein extract isolated from seeds: antitumour; abruquinone A: suppress polymyxin B-induced hind-paw edema; alcohol extracts of seeds: antimotility effects on sperms, reversible infertility in males; abruquinones A, B and D: inhibits platelet aggregation, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic

Clinical:

Note :

Seeds are poisonous

References :

Choi, Y. H. et al., (1989), Abrusosides A-D, Four Novel Sweet-Tasting Triterpene Glycosides from the leaves of Abrus precatorius, J. Nat. Prod, 52(5), 1118-1127.

Ghosal, S. and Dutta, S. K., (1971), Alkaloids of Abrus precatorius, Phytochemistry, 10(1), 195-198.

Hata, Y. et al., (2013), Antiprotozoal isoflavan quinones from Abrus precatorius ssp. Africanus, Planta Med, 79(6), 492-8.

Kuo, S. C. et al., (1996), Abroquinone derivatives and their uses, US patent 5563167.

Lin, J. Y. et al., (1981), Isolation of four isotoxic proteins and one agglutinin from jequiriti bean (Abrus precatorius), Toxicon, 19(1), 41-51.

Ramnath, V. et al., (2002), Immunopotentiating activity of abrin, a lectin from Abrus precatorius Linn., Indian Journal of Experimental Biology, 40(8), 910-3.

Ramnath, V. et al., (2006), Effect of Abrin on Cell-Mediated Immune Responses in Mice, Immunopharmacology and immunotoxicology, 28(2), 259-268.

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