Alpinia Officinarum
Alpinia Officinarum is known as the Lesser Galangal and is part of the Zingiberaceae family.
Similar to ginger the roots of this plant grow beneath the ground. It is a type of perennial and has the ability to grow up to 3 meters. This plant has been utilized as a culinary spice as well as a medicinal plant for many centuries. Alpinia Officinarum loves the humid tropical areas where it can find shade and rich soil.
When utilized as a spice it can be found in dishes from Indonesia, China, Malaysia and Thailand. The taste is similar to that of a ginger root which is spicy, aromatic and peppery.
Benefits of Alpinia Officinarum
Anti-Influenza Virus – Diarylheptanoids (AO-0002 [7-(4″-hydroxy-3″-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-4E-hepten-3-one] and AO-0011 [(5S)-5-hydroxy-7-(4″-hydroxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-3-heptanone]) isolated from Alpinia officinarum have been reported to exhibit anti-influenza virus activity in vitro.
AO-0002 at 30 and 100 mg/kg significantly reduced virus titres in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of the lungs on days 3 and 6 after infection.
AO-0002 was suggested to have a different anti-influenza virus action to that of oseltamivir and was verified to show anti-influenza activity in vitro and in vivo.
Anti-Inflammatory – The aim of this study was to test the anti-inflammatory effects of Alpinia officinarum rhizomes on acute and chronic arthritis in SD rats.
Alpinia officinarum rhizomes were extracted by refluxing using 80% ethanol. The fractions were prepared by the fractionation of ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol, and water. This extract was administrated to rats by peroral injection.
An 80% ethanolic extract showed acute anti-inflammatory activity that it reduced the edema volume in carrageenan-stimulated arthritis and inhibited NO generation in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells.
Alpinia officinarum rhizomes may act as viable therapeutic or preventive candidates of acute and chronic arthritis.
Anti-Tumor – The methanol extract of galangal (the rhizomes of Alpinia officinarum L.) exhibited remarkable antitumor-promoting activity on an in vivo two-stage carcinogenesis test of mice using 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene as an initiator and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) as a promoter.
These compounds (1–7) tested showed marked anti-inflammatory effects, with a 50% inhibitory dose of 0.8–2.7 μmol/ear.
Cognitive Performance – 1′-Acetoxychavicol acetate (ACA) is naturally obtained from the rhizomes and seeds of Alpinia galangal.
These findings confirm that ACA increases the serum concentrations of β-hydroxybutyric acid and palmitic acid levels and thus these fuels might contribute to the maintenance of the cognitive performance of SAMP8 mice.
Antibacterial – The purpose of this research was to investigate whether these isolated compounds have antibacterial and synergistic activity against amoxicillin-resistant Escherichia coli (AREC) when used singly and in combination with amoxicillin. The primarily mode of action is also studied.
These results indicated that these flavonoids have the potential to reverse bacterial resistance to amoxicillin in AREC and may operate via three mechanisms: inhibition of peptidoglycan and ribosome synthesis, alteration of outer membrane permeability, and interaction with β-lactamases.
Improve Sperm Count – The objective of this study was to investigate the molecular and biochemical influence of alcoholic extract from the rhizomes of A. galangal on the spermatogenesis process in male rat.
It is concluded that application of ethanolic extract of A. galanga significantly increased sperm percentage, viability, motility and testosterone hormone. This suggested that this plant may be promising in enhancing sperm healthy parameters.
Antioxidant – To evaluate the antioxidant, anti-inflammatory activity and the total phenolic content of isolated compounds from Alpinia officinarum rhizomes. Furthermore, molecular docking was performed to study the binding mode of these compounds into the active site of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2).
Galangin and 5-hydroxy-7-(4″-hydroxy-3″-methoxyphenyl)-1-phenyl-3-heptanone exhibited anti-inflammatory and in-vitro antioxidant activity which may be due to presence of phenolic content in it.
