Literature Review

Aegle Marmelos
Introduction of herb and its family :
Bael (aegle marmelos (L.) corr.) is the only member of this monotypic genus. It is a
deciduous shrub or small to medium sized tree up to 13 m tall with slender dropping
branches and rather shabby crown. It is commonly known as bilwa-or-bael-,is highly valued
plant for its characteristic aroma and medicinal value. The plant is a rich source of amino
acid , galactose and fatty acids. The compound isolated from plant show a variety of
pharmacological activity.
Reference: Cragg G M, Newman D J & Snader K M, Naturals products in drug discovery
and development.
Geographical distribution:
It is a specie of tree native to Indian subcontinent and south east Asia. It is present in
Srilanka , Thailand , Malaysia as a neutralized species.
Reference: Gupta A.K., and Tondon N “review on medicinal plant”.

Botanical aspects of family :

Height :
It is a deciduous shrub or small to medium sized tree , up to 13 cm tall with slender
dropping branches rather shabby crown.
Reference: Cragg G M, Newman D J & Snader K M, Natural discovery in drug development
and discovery.
Bark :
It is pale brown or grayish, smooth or finally fissured and flaking , armed with long straight spines ,
1.2- 2.5 cm singly or in pairs, often with slimy sap oozing out from cut parts. It is sweet at first taste
and then irritating to the throat.
Reference: Banerjee R K & Bandyopadhyay U.
Leaf :
The leaf is trifoliate, alternate, each leaflet 5-14 x 2-6 cm, ovate with tapering or
pointed tip and rounded base, untoothed or with shallow rounded teeth. Young
leaves are pale green or pinkish, finely hairy while mature leaves are dark green and
completely smooth.
Reference : Cragg G M, Newman D J & Snader K M, Natural discovery in drug development and
discovery.
Flower :
The flowers are 1.5 to 2 cm, pale green or yellowish, sweetly scented, bisexual, in short
drooping unbranched clusters at the end of twigs and leaf axils. They usually appear with
young leaves. The calyx is flat with 4(5) small teeth. The four or five petals pf 6-8 mm
overlap in the bud. Many stamens have short filaments and pale brown, short style anthers.
The ovary is bright green with an inconspicuous disc.
Reference: Gupta A.K., and Tondon N. (2004), “Review on Indian medical plants”, Indian
council of medicinal research, New Delhi, 312.

Fruit:
The bael fruit typically has a diameter of between 5 and 12 cm. It is globose or slightly pear-
shaped with a thick, hard rind and does not split upon ripening. The woody shell is smooth
and green, gray until it is fully ripe when it turns yellow. Inside are 8 to 15 or 20 sections
filled with aromatic orange pulp, each section with 6 (8) to 10 (15) flattened-oblong seeds
each about 1 cm long, bearing woolly hairs and each enclosed in a sac of adhesive,
transparent mucilage that solidifies on drying. The exact number of seeds varies in different
publications.

Reference : Airy shaw, H.K. [1973].A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns .8 th edition
Cambridge university press, Cambridge.

Part Used :
Epicarp of fruit or ripe fruit.
Reference: Airy shaw, H.K. [1973].A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns .8th
edition Cambridge university press, Cambridge.
Genus :
Aegle.
Reference: Airy shaw, H.K. [1973].A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns .8th
edition Cambridge university press, Cambridge.
Herb :
Aegle marmelos.
Reference: Airy shaw, H.K. [1973].A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns .8th
edition Cambridge university press, Cambridge.

Taxonomical classification :

➢ Kingdom : Plantae
➢ Subkingdom : Viridiplantae
➢ Infrakingdom : Streptophyta – land plants
➢ Super division : Embryophyta
➢ Division : Tracheophyta – vascular plants
➢ Subdivision : Spermatophytina – seed plants
➢ Class : Magnoliopsida
➢ Superorder : Rosanae
➢ Order : Sapindales
➢ Family : Rutacea – rues
➢ Genus : Aegle Correa
➢ Species : Aegle marmelos (L.) Correa – Indian bael

Vernacular name:

➢ English Name: Bael Fruit

➢ Urdu Name: Bel Giri, Bel phal, Bel, Kathori,
➢ Arabic Name: Bel, Qas-i-Hindi
Reference: herbsdatabase.blogspot.com
Physicochemical properties:
➢ Moisture : 61.5%
➢ Fat : 0.3%
➢ Protein : 1.8%
➢ Fibre : 2.9%
➢ Calcium : 85 mg
➢ Phosphorus : 50 mg
➢ Iron : 0.6 mg
➢ Vitamin C : 2 mg
➢ Thiamine : 0.13 mg
➢ Riboflavin : 1.2 mg
➢ Niacin : 0.14 mg
➢ Oxalic acid : 18.7 mg
➢ Carotene : 50 ug
Reference: Aiyer, V.N. ,Narayanan, V., Seshadri, I.R .and Vyadeeswaran, S.
[1973].Chemical components of some Indian medicinal plants .Indian journal of
Chemistry,pp.89-90.

Reported phytochemicals in plants:

Aegelin along with skimmianine isolated from the leaves of the plants Another compound
?-sitosterol was also isolated from leaves. The heartwood contains -sitosterol. Dictamine ,
pyroligenous acid are the contents of heartwood.The new alkaloids O-isopentenyl
halfordinol ,1-phenyl 7- hydroxytetra hydroquinozoline-4- one,N-2 ethoxy-2(4-methoxy
phenyl) ethylcinnamide, N-2methoxy-2-(4-3,3 dimethylallyloxy) ethyl cinnamide. The fruit
also contains a number of coumarins ,amino acids , arabinose , galactose , D-galactouronic
acid and rhammnose , alkaloids ,sterols. The ripe fruits posses xanthotoxal , scoparone
,scopoletin, umbelliferone , marmesin, skimmin, and b-sitosterol.

Reference: Asolkar,C.V.,Kakkar,K.K.and Chakre,O.J.[1992].Second supplement to glossary

of Indian medicinal plants with active principles .Part-I (A-K) .Publication and Information
directorate ,C.S.I.R. ,New Delhi.
Pharmaceutical Uses:
➢ Use in Dysentries.
➢ Use as tropical medicine and hygiene.
➢ Antiprotozoal and antifungal activity.
➢ Root and bark has hypoglycemic activity.
➢ Seed oil is effective on different strains of vibrios and inhibited the growth.
➢ Leaf extract exhibit 100% fungi toxicity against Rhizoctonia solani.
➢ Irritable bowel syndrome.
➢ Anti helminthic and antibacterial activity.
➢ Treatment of diabetes mellitus.
➢ Gastric ulceration in rodents.
➢ Extract from Aegle marmelos was antiproliferative on human breast cancer cell lines
Extract also inhibit the proliferation of transplanted ehrichascites carcinoma in mice.

Reference : Banerjee,A.K. .Kaul,V.K.,and Nigam,S.S.[1983]Chemical ,microbial and anti

helminthic examination of the seeds of Aegle marmelos correa .Indian drugs 21 ( 5) pp.217-
218.

Reported Biological activities :

Antidiabetic activity:
Diabetes mellitus is a common metabolic disease around the world. A large percentage of
the global population is suffering from this disorder. The disease is induced by stressful
lifestyle, fast food eating, lack of exercise and genetic makeup. Diabetes and its related
complications are closely related with oxidative stress of the body. Diabetes is closely inter-
linked with cardiovascular as well as renal disorder at advanced stage and creates fatal
disease syndromes.
Reference: Sabu M C & Kuttan R, Antidiabetic activity of Aegle marmelos and its
relationship with its antioxidant properties , Indian J Physiol Pharmacol.

Anti hyperlipidaemic activity:

A higher concentration of blood triglyceride, fatty acid and cholesterol level leads to
atherosclerosis by arterial damage and may leads to atherosclerosis by arterial damage and
may lead to atherosclerosis by arterial damage and may lead to ischemic heart disease,
myocardial infraction and cerebro vascular accidents. Although modern drugs are effective
in preventing cardiovascular disorders, their use is very limited because of their side effects.
Reference: Vijaya C, Ramanathan M & Suresh B, Lipid loweringactivity of ethanolic extract
of leaves of Aegle marmelos in hyperlipidaemic models pf Wistar albino rats, Indian J Eexp
Biol.
Anti Oxidant activity:
In artificially induced diabetic animal, the level of lipid peroxidation, hydroperoxides (HP),
conjugated diene, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS),creatine kinase(CK) and
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) increased considerably, and then decreased after treatment
with the various extracts of bael leaves and fruits.
Reference: Sabu M C & Kuttan R, Aegle marmelos and its relationship with its antioxidant
properties , Indian J Physiol Pharmacol.

Anti Cancer activity:

Attention is being given to develop inexpensive and non-toxic drugs from alternative
sources. The hydroalcoholic extract of bael leaves has shown anticancer effect in the animal
model of Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. Administration of the extract has shown the greatest
antitumor effect.
Reference: De Moraes M E & de Moraes M O, Studies of the anticancer potential of plants
used in Bangladeshi folk medicine.

Anti Fungal activity:

Fungal diseases including candidiasis and ring worm infection are cosmetic problems that
may become fatal due to secondary or super infection as commonly occurs in AIDS patients.
There are many synthetic antifungal drugs available, but attention is now been paid to
herbal drugs by using natural resources directly or by using them to manufacture other
products. The essential oil isolated from the leaves of the bael tree has proved its antifungal
activity against many animal and human fungi like Trichophyton mentagrophytes, T.ribrum,
Microsporum gypseum, M. audounii, M. cookie, Epidermophyton floccosum, Aspergillus
niger, A. flavus, and Histoplasma capsulatum.
Reference: De Smet P A, The role of plant-derived drugs and herbal medicines in
healthcare, Drugs.

Anti Bacterial activity:

Bacteria are the most versatile unicellular pathogens, which are normally transmitted
through soil, water, air and food and cause diseases in human beings and animals. Such
types of diseases could be treated with various natural products including bael. Various
extracts of bael leaves, roots and fruits have been reported to be active against many
bacterial strains.
Reference: De Smet P A, The role of plant-derived drugs and herbal medicines in
healthcare, Drugs.

Anti Viral activity:

Virus is the smallest pathogen with its dual form: a living entity inside the host body and
non-living inert form outside the host. This causes various seasonal outbreaks including
conjunctivitis and influenza and usually does not respond to any synthetic drugs. It is very
important to develop antiviral drugs from natural bio-resources to overcome these
problems. The in vitro antiviral activities of various parts of the bael tree have been
evaluated from their efficacy against human coxsackie viruses B1-B6.
Reference: Badam L, Bedekar S S, Sona wane K B & Joshi S P, In vitro antiviral activity of
bael.

Role of Plant in Gastrointestinal disorder(GIT) :

Gastroduodenal ulcer is a common disorder of the gastrointestinal tract. It is now
considered that gastroduodenal ulcer is a disease of multifactorial origin but its detailed
etiology is still not clear. Development of oxidative stress, lowering of gastroprotection,
decrement of mucosal blood flow, delayed restitution and regeneration etc. play dominant
role in pathogenesis of ulcer. Ulcer develops when there is imbalance between the
defensive and aggressive factors on the mucosa resulting from either potentiation of
aggressive factors and lowering of mucosal protection . Stress non-steroidal anti-
inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and Helicobacter pylori are the most common causes of
ulceration. Cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption are other inducers of this disease.
Current medicinal therapy with proton pump inhibitors and selective H2 receptor blockers
can efficiently cure and execute their action within a limit. Moreover, the recurrence of
ulcer after stopping the medication is very high. About 70% of ulcers could recur after
stopping medication. These drawbacks of the currently available antiulcer medicines
necessitate the development of newer generation phytogenic drug. Many Indian medicinal
plants like turmeric and neem have already shown antiulcer activity and various active
compounds have been isolated from these plants. Bael is another Indian indigenous plant
which also has prominent gastroprotective effect. Pretreatment of rats with unripe bael
fruits extract produced a significant inhibition of absolute ethanol induced gastric mucosal
damage. This activity may be due to the compound luvangetin present in the fruit. Gastric
ulcer is basically mediated by the development of oxidative stress and the compound
preventing ulcer formation may act through inhibition of oxidative stress in the
gastroduodenal mucosa. The phenolic compounds are potent antioxidants and have
powerful antiulcer activities. These compounds contain an OH group linked with the
aromatic ring and thus may possess potent antioxidant and antiulcer activities. The pathway
for antiulcer efficacy and possible mode of action are presented in Figure.
Reference: Ghosh S & Playford R J, Bioactive natural compounds for the treatment of
gastrointestinal disorders, Clin Sci (Lond).