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Botany
Guayabano is a small tree, usually less
than 7 meters high. Leaves are smooth, shiny, oblong-obovate to oblong,
7 to 20 centimeters in length, pointed on both ends, with petioles about 5 mm long. Flower is solitary, large,
solitary, yellow or greenish-yellow. Three outer petals are broadly ovate with a heart-shaped base, up to 5 cnetimeters long, and 3 centimeters wide; and the inner three are also large, elliptic to obovate, and rounded.
Fruit is ovoid and large, up to 18 centimeters long, covered
with small scattered, soft spinelike processes. Skin is thin, and the pulp is soft, rather fibrous, white, and fleshy, with an agreeable, but rather sour flavor.
Distribution
Cultivated for its edible fruit.
Parts
utilized:
Leaves, flowers, fruiit.
Chemical constituents
· Alcoholic extract of leaves, whenn distilled with steam,
yielded a small amount of essential oil with a strong, somewhat agreeable odor.
· The extract also yielded a dark-green resin containing: myricyl
alcohol, sitosterol, fatty acids (oleci, linolic, and stearic acids, together with a higher fatty acid, possibly lignoceric acid) and a diphydric alcohol, anonol.
· Flesh of fruit contains saccharose 2.53%, dextrose 5.05 percent,
and levulose 0.04%.
· Bark yielded an amorphous alkaloid, found to be poisonous, causing tetanus-like convulsions when injected to mice.
· Seed contains a non-poisonoous alkaloid.
· Recent studies isolated three acetogenins: annonacin, annonacin
A and annomuricin A.
Properties
Fruit is reported antiscorbutic and astrigent.
Flowers are pectoral.
Leaves are antispasmodic.
Seeds are emetic.
Infusion of leaves are sudorific.
Recent studies suggest a potential for antiviral,
antiparasitic and anti-cancer properties.
Toxicity
· Presence of alkaloids anonaine and anoniine
have been reported.The bark yields muricine and muricinine and is high
in hydrocyanic acid; small amounts are found in the leaves and roots,
and a trace in the fruit.
· Caribbean study suggested a connection between consumption
of soursop and atypical forms of Parkinson's disease due to the very
high concentration of Annonacin.
· Graviola may cause movement disorders and myeloneuropathy with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.
Uses
Nutrition
· Juicy ripe fruit is eaten
raw; also used in making beverages, ice cream, and jelly tarts.
· Fruit is an excellent source of vitamins B and C.
Folkloric
· Unripe fruit used for dysentery.
· Ripe fruit is antiscorbutic.
· Seeds and green fruit are astringent.
· Flowers are antispasmodic.
· Infusion of leaves used as sudorific, antispasmodic and emetic.
· In some cultures, the fruits and leaves are used for tranquilizing
and sedative properties.
· Juice of ripe fruit used as diuretic and for hematuria and
urethritis.
· Flesh of soursop used as poultice to draw out chiggers.
·Decoction of leaves used of head lice and bedbugs.
· Pulverized seeds and seed oil effective for head lice.
· Fruit used as a bait in fish traps.
· Decoction of leaves used as compresses for inflammation and
swollen feet.
· Poultice of mashed leaves and sap of young leaves used for
eczema and skin eruptions.
· Flowers used to alleviate catarrh.
· In Mexico used as pectoral, antiscorbutic and febrifuge; seeds and green fruit used as astringent and for dysentery.
· In Yucatan juice of the fruit is used for dysentery.
· In Antiles and Reunion, infusion of leaves used as sudorific.
· In the Peruvian Andes, leaf tea is used for catarrh and crushed seeds for parasitism.
· In the Peruvian Amazon, bark, roots and leaves used for diabetes, as sedative and as antispasmodic.
· In the Brazilian Amazon, the oil of leaves and unriped fruit is mixed with olive oil and used externally for neuralgic, rheumatism and arthritis pains.
Others
· Bark has been used in tanning.
· The wood is a potential source of paper pulp.
· For a good night's sleep, leaves are put in the pillow slip
or strewn in bed.
 Studies
• Cytotoxicity / Antileishmanial: Cytotoxicity and antileishmanial activity of Annona muricata pericarp:
Extracts and fractionation led to the isolation of three acetogenins—annonacin,
annonacin A and annomuricin A
• Diabetes: (1)
Morphological Changes and Hypoglycemic Effects of Annona Muricata Linn.
(Annonaceae) Leaf Aqueous Extract on Pancreatic Cells of Streptozotocin-Treated
Diabetic Rats. (2) Histopathologic study showed regeneration of ß-cells
of pancreatic islets in A. muriatica- treated rats
(3)
A. muricata treatmentshowed beneficial effects on pancreatic tissues subjected to STZ-induced oxidative stress by directly quenching lipid peroxides and indirectly enhancing production of endogenous antioxidants.
(4) Study of methanolic extract on streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats demonstrated anti-hyperglycemic activities.
• Anti-Herpes Simplex Virus:
Study showed the extract of AM to inhibit the cytopathic effect of HSV-1
on vero cells indicasting an anti-HSV1 potential.
• Anticancer / Acetoginins: (1)
There are much publicized studies on the anti-tumor, anti-cancer and
selective toxicity of Annona muricata against several types of cancer
cells. One study showed that one of the acetoginins was seletively cytotoxic
to colon adenocarcinoma cells, with a potency 10,000 times that of adriamycin.
(2) Study on the chemical constituents of Annona muricata yielded two
new and known acetogenins. Annonaceous acetogenin (polyketide) is a
potential antineoplastice agent from the Annonaceae plants.
• Anti-Cancer
: Graviola extracts were show to be effective against growth of Adriamycin-resistant human adenocarcinoma (MCF-7/Adr) by blocking the cancer cell's access to ATP and by inhibiting the actions of plasma membrane glycoprotein.
• Anti-Hyperlipidemia: Study
of methanolic extracts of AM on serum lipid profiles in experimentally-induced
diabetic Wistar rats showed antihyperlipidemic activities with significant
reductions in total cholesterol, LDL and VLDL and a significant increase
in HDL and antiatherogenic index.
• Anti-depression: Graviola may have antidepressive activity due to its ability to stimulate serotonin receptors.
• Antimicrobial: Annona muricata extract of leaves exhibited a broad spectrum of activity against a panel of bacteria (B. subtilis, Staph aureus, K. pneumonia, P. vulgaris, etc.) responsible for common bacterial diseases like pneumonia, diarrhea, UTIs and skin infections.
Availability
Fruit cultivation.
Capsules, extracts in the cybermarket.
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