Gen info
- Damnacanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae.
- Damnacanthus indicus is a widely used folk medicine in China since ancient times.

Botany
• Shrubs, 0.3-1.5 m tall. Roots fleshy, moniliform. Branches densely hispidulous to hirtellous, sometimes becoming glabrescent, terete or sometimes 4-angled, with numerous persistent spines 3-20 mm. Petiole of developed leaves 0.5-3 mm, strigillose, hispidulous, or glabrescent; leaf blade drying stiffly papery to leathery and discolorous, ovate, cordiform, elliptic-ovate, elliptic, or broadly elliptic, 0.5-2(-3) × 0.5-1(-1.5) cm, adaxially glabrous, abaxially glabrous or sparsely hirtellous to strigillose along veins, base obtuse to rounded, truncate, or cordulate, sometimes oblique, margins entire and flat, apex acute; midrib thinly prominulous adaxially; secondary veins 2 or 3(or 4) pairs; stipules quickly fragmenting or caducous, interpetiolar, narrowly to broadly triangular, 0.3-1 mm, strigillose to glabrescent, acute to glandular-fimbriate. Inflorescences strigillose to hispidulous. Pedicels 0.5-8 mm. Calyx strigillose to glabrous; hypanthium portion turbinate, 1-1.5 mm; limb 0.8-2 mm, lobed for 1/4-4/5; lobes broadly triangular to narrowly triangular. Corolla white, glabrous outside; tube 7-9 mm; lobes elliptic to lanceolate-elliptic, 2.5-5 mm. Drupes 4-6 mm in diam. (Flora of China)

Distribution
- Native to the Philippines. (1)
- On forested slopes, 1400-2000m.
- In Luzon: Laguna, Quezon; Mindanao: Misamis oriental. (1)
- Native to Assam, Bangladesh, China South-Central, China Southeast, East Himalaya, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan, Tibet. (2)

Constituents
- Study for natural volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from D. indicus revealed 71 VOCs. The main VOCs shared by five plants studied were palmitate, methyl salicylate, caryophyllene oxide, tetra-decanoic acid,6,10,14-trimethyl-2-pentadecanone, pentadecanoic acid, pentacosane, pentadecanal, nonanal, hexadecanoic acid methyl ester, phytol, linalool, and (E)-β-ionone. Main components for D indicus were ethyl linoleate 12.81% and(E)-13-octadecenoic acid (6.13%). (4)
- 1-Hydroxyanthraquinone has been isolated from the roots of Damnacanthus indicus.
- Study for ursolic acid yielded 57 mg/100g. (7)
- Study of rhizomes and roots isolated three anthraquinones: 1,3-dihydroxy-2-carboethoxy-9,10-anthraquinone (1), 1,3,5-trihydroxy-2-carboethoxy-9,10-anthraquinone (2), and 1,5-dihydroxy-2-methoxy-9,10-anthraquinone. (10)
- Study of rhizomes isolated a new anthraquinone, 5-hydroxy-1,2-methylenedioxyanthraquinone, along with three known anthraquinones, damnacanthal, juzunol, and damnacanthol, and four artificial anthra-quinones. (11)

Properties
- Studies have suggested anticancer properties.

Parts used
Whole plant, roots.

Uses
Edibility
- No info found on edibility for human consumption.
Folkloric
- No reported folkloric medicinal use in the Philippines.
- Widely used folk medicine in China since ancient times. Used to relieve rheumatism, activate blood circulation, dispelling wind, promoting diuresis, and alleviate pain. (4) Plant decoction used for treatment of asthma, coughing with phlegm, lung carbuncle, edema, blood stasis, menorrhea, jaundice due to damp heat, infantile malnutrition, icteric infectious hepatitis, periodontitis, conjuncetivitis, pharyngitis, low back pain, and injuries associated with falls. (5) Roots used for treatment of cancer pathologies and painful swellings.

Studies
• Damnacanthal / Anthraquinones / Anticancer: Anthrquinones are widely found in many plants such as Rubiaceae, Polygonaceae, and Legumes. Doxorubicin and mitoxantrone are commonly used anticancer drugs, whose parent nucleus is anthraquinone. Damnacanthus indicus, D. giganteus, Rubia cordifolia, and Prismatomeris tetrandra are widely used traditional anticancer drugs. Damnacanthal (1-methoxyt-2-aldehyde-3-hydroxyanthraquinone) is an important secondary metabolite found in these herbs. The compound exerts cytotoxic effect by inhibition of cell proliferation and by inducing apoptosis of cancer cells. In a study searching for multiple active ingredients of D. indicus and drug targets, 100 related proteins were identified through protein-protein interaction analysis. Of the top 10 KEGG pathways, the most significant cancer-related pathway is the breast cancer pathway, and Rap1 pathway was identified as one of the top 10 enriched KEGG pathways, which contined 14 genes related to D. indicus targets. (3)
• Damnacanthal: The compound, isolated from D. indicus, has been shown to be a potent and selective inhibitor of P56 tyrosine kinase activity; also known to have antimalarial property.
• Determination of Oleanolic Acid and Ursolic Acid: Study reports on simple and accurate A RP-HPLC method for determination of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in Damnacanthus indicues. Oleanolic acid showed good linear at range of 0.124-1.24 microg (r=0.9997), with recovery of 97.6% and RSD 2.2%. Ursolic acid showed good linear at 0.192-1.992 microg (r=0.9999), with recovery of 102.4% and RSD 1.9%. (8)
• Anthraquinones in Damnacanthus indicus: Study reported on an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) method to systematically characterized the chemical composition of D. indicus, and to recognized and identify anthraquinones. Results showed a total of 112 anthraquinones and 66 non-anthraquinone compounds. PLS-DA identified 27 significant chemical markers to robustly distinguish geographical origins of the herbs. Study provides valuable reference and scientific basis for pharmacological research and utilization of medicinal resources. (9)

Availability
- Wild-crafted.

Additional Sources and Suggested Readings
(1)
Rubiaceae: Damnacanthus indicus / Co's Digital Flora of the Philippines
(2)
Damnacanthus indicus / KEW: Plants of the World Online
(3)
Network Pharmacology Analysis of Damnacanthus indicus C.F.Gaertn in Gene-Phenotype / Shengrong Long, Caihong Yuan, Yue Wang, Jie Zhang, Guagyu Li / Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Volume 2019, Issue 1: 1368371 / DOI: 10.1155/2019/1368371
(4)
Volatile organic composition of five Rubiaceae species: Insights into their phytochemical diversity / Ziyue Xu, Jiadong Zhu, Jiayi Zhao et al / Biochemical Systematics and Ecology, 2024; Volume 114: 104809
(5)
Damnacanthus indicus / Editors: Huagu Ye, Chuyuan Li, Wencai Ye, Feiyan Zeng / Common Chinese Materia Medica: Chapter 7
(6)
Damnacanthal / Amritpal Singh Saroya / Herbalism, Phytochemistry and Ethnopharmacology
(7)
Exploring the Therapeutic Potential of Ursolic Acid: Insights into Pharmacological Processes and Signaling Pathways / Ravinder Khatri et al / YMER, 2024; 23(6) / ISSN: 0044-0477
(8)
Determination of oleanolic acid and ursolic acid in Damnacanthus indicus from different places by RP-hPLC / Ye-fen Cai, Qing-song Huang / Zhong yao cai: Journal of Chinese Medicinal Materials, 2012 / PMID: 23213728
(9)
Comprehensive characterization of anthraquinones in Damnacanthus indicus using mass spectrometry molecular networking and metabolomics-based herb discrimination / Lihua Zeng, Xing Yan, Zhixin Wang et al / RSC Advances, 2024; Issue 51
(10)
Novel Antraquinones from Damnacanthus indicus / Shwu-Woan Lee, Su-Ching Kuo, Zong-Tsi Chen /Journal of Natural Products, 1994; 57(9): pp 1313-1315
(11)
Anthraquinones of Damnacanthus indicus / Junko Koyama, Teruyo Okatani, Kiyoshi Tagahara, Isao9 Kouna, Hiroshi Iris et al / Phytochemistry, 1992; 31(2): pp 709-710 / DOI: 10.1016/0031-9422(92)90070-7

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