Andiroba, Bastard Mahogany, Caraba, Crabwood, Crapaud, Crappo, Figueroa, Karaba, Krappa, Randiroba, Sapo, Tangare, Tololo, White Crabwood.
Leaves, seeds (seed oil), bark
The expressed seed oil is applied on sore feet, on the head to get rid of lice, for skin diseases, and as a mosquito and sand fly repellent. Industrially the seed oil is used for illumination and for soap making, and is of increasing importance as an active ingredient, moisturizer or as a carrier in cosmetic products. The oil is also used for treating wood to prevent insect attack (Seaforth and Tikasingh, 2005).
Seeds retail in US for $ 4 per packet, seed oil retails for $30 (8oz.)
Wild and cultivated
Guyana, but grows from Central to South America and throughout the Caribbean.
Leaf tea, expressed seed oil (crude processing methods)
This tree is, occasionally, cultivated on the dry uplands, generally on well-drained clay soils, where it grows well averaging two trees per hectare.The seeds germinate well sown in sand and covered in sawdust a week after falling from the tree. Germination is complete in 3 months and the seedlings can be transferred to plastic nursery bags. Sowing directly into the nursery bags also is recommended. Nursery or field grown seedlings are susceptible to rodent attacks and to shoot borer (Hipsiphylla grandella) attack. After the tenth year the mature tree will produce seeds, which are collected from the ground nearby, as soon as possible after falling, so as to avoid predation by mammals and insects. The annual nut yield can reach 300 pounds per tree.
The oil extraction methodologies applied to the seeds vary, from community to community. Complete extraction may take from one to two weeks. In Guyana, in general, the seeds are boiled in water and then allowed to decompose for a few days. The hard outer protective covering is broken and the soft cotyledons are then scooped out. The cotyledons may then be "cold pressed" by squeezing by hand or using a "matapee" (a long basket designed also for use in cassava processing). Mixing a small amount of broken shells often assists in producing more oil from the paste. Alternatively, a "hot melt" procedure is done, by kneading the soft cotyledons daily under the sun and spreading the paste on corrugated aluminum sheets. The aluminum sheets are placed at an angle so as to allow the oil exuding to drain out by gravity. Then the oil is collected at the lower end of the sheet. The soft cotyledons are also heated in a pot to help release the oil. In Amazonia, carapa ("andiroba") oil is extracted in small processing plants using hydraulic presses of the "Cage Press" or "Expeller" type kept at 90° C.
The seed oil is gaining popularity and is being increasingly used by cosmetic companies in lotions and shampoos.
Traditionally, the bark, leaves and seed are used medicinally in folk medicine, from Trinidad and Central America through Venezuela to Amazonian Brazil for example, a decoction of the bark is drunk to treat diarrhoea. The expressed seed oil is applied on sore feet, on the head to get rid of lice, for skin diseases, and as a mosquito and sand fly repellent. Carapa oil was also used as lamp fuel (Seaforth and Tikasingh, 2005).
This study reports the anti-allergic activity of a group of 6 different tetranortriterpenoids (TNTP) isolated from the seeds of Carapa guianensis: 6a-acetoxygedunin, 7-deacetoxy-7-oxogedunin, andirobin, methyl angolensate, 6a-acetoxyepoxyazadiradione and gedunin. Oral pretreatment with TNTP significantly inhibited total leukocyte and eosinophil accumulation in C57BL/10 mice pleural cavities 24 h after the intrathoracic (i.t.) injection of ovalbumin (OVA), but had no effect on CD4, CD8 or gammadelta T lymphocyte accumulation. Pleural washes recovered from 6 h OVA-stimulated mice (OPW) pretreated with TNTP failed to induce shape change in eosinophil in vitro, indicating the inhibition of eosinophilotactic chemokines by TNTP. In accordance with such results, ELISA assays showed decreased levels of CCL11/eotaxin and IL-5 in OPW recovered from TNTP pretreated mice within 6 h. TNTP oral pretreatment inhibited nuclear factor-kappaB (NFkappaB) translocation into the nucleus in pleural leukocytes recovered from previously sensitized mice after antigenic challenge. In addition, the incubation of splenocytes recovered from previously sensitized mice with TNTP also inhibited NFkappaB activation after OVA stimulation. Taken together, these results indicate that the inhibition of allergic eosinophilia by TNTP is correlated with the inhibition of CCL11/eotaxin and IL-5 generation through NFkappaB signaling pathway impairment in mice (Penido et al., 2006).
The insecticidal activities of extracts and oils of seventeen medicinal plants of Brazil have been determined using an Aedes aegypti larvicidal bioassay. Oils from Anacardium occidentalis, Copaifera langsdorffii, Carapa guianensis, Cymbopogon winterianus and Ageratum conyzoides showed high activities with LC50 values of 14.5, 41, 57, 98 and 148 µg/l, respectively. The most active ethanolic extract tested was that from the stem of Annona glabra which presented an LC50 value of 27 µg/l. The potential application of cashew nut oil, an industrial by-product with low commercial value, in the control of the vector of dengue and yellow fever, may be proposed (de Mendonca et al., 2005).
Carapa guianensis (andiroba) is known to possess repellent activity against many mosquito species. The larvicidal effect of dry-scratched seed kernels of andiroba was evaluated against a sylvatic F1 progeny and a laboratory-colonized population of Aedes albopictus (Skuse). The 3rd instar of F1 treated with 0.5 to 2% of C. guianensis for 24 and 48 h, had mortality with LC50 of 0.74 (0.56-0.90%) and 0.68 (0.53-0.84%), respectively, and the 4th instar 0.66 (0.52-0.80%) and 0.55 (0.20-0.91%), respectively. For the 3rd instars of laboratory-colonized larvae, the treatment with 0.5 to 4% of C. guianensis induced mortality after 24 hours with LC50 of 1.81 (1.39-2.22%), and an LC50 of 1.82 (1.57-2.07%) to the 4th instar. This is the 1st report of the larvicidal effect of C. guianensis on mosquitoes (Silva et al., 2004).
Triglycerides are in the fixed oil obtained from the seed
Limonoids including 17-hydroxyazadiradione, gedunin, 6-acetoxy-gedunin, 7-deacetoxy-7-oxogedunin, 1,2-dihydro-3-hydroxy-7-deacetoxy-7-oxogedunin, methyl angolensate and xyloccensin k. Tannins are important constituents in the tree bark (Winners and Losers, 2003).
Nine compounds were isolated from the EtOH extraction of the twig of Carapa guianensis. On the basis of spectroscopic methods, their structures were elucidated as 1,3-di-benzene carbon amine-2-octadecylic acid-glyceride (1), hexacosanoic acid-2,3-dihydroxy-glyceride (2), ursolic acid (3), naringenin (4), scopoletin (5), 3,4-dihydroxymethylbenzoate (6), 2,6-dihydroxymethylbenzoate (7), tetratriacontanoic acid (8), triacontanoic acid (9) respectively. Among them 1 was new, 2 was firstly isolated from nature, and 3-9 were obtained from this plant for the first time (Qi et al., 2004).
65% unsaturated fatty acids contain up to 9% linoleic acid (Winners and Losers, 2003).
Topical use considered safe
DEET (N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide) is nowadays the most effective mosquito repellent available; however, its use can present some topical and systemic side effects. Some botanical compositions, as andiroba (Carapa guianensis), have been proved repellent properties at low cost and toxicity. An experimental study was driven involving four volunteers submitting their forearms covered with Andiroba oil at 100%, DEET 50%, refined soy oil, andiroba oil 15% and in the absence of products, directly to healthy females of Aedes spp. The times of first and third bites were checked. The results showed that the median of the first bite without any product was 17.5s and the third bite, 40.0s. In the soy oil, the bites happened in 60.0s and 101.5s, in the presence of andiroba oil 100%, in 56.0s and 142.5s and in andiroba oil 15%, in 63.0s and 97.5s. The volunteers using DEET 50% had not received bites after 3600s in most of the experiments (p<0.001 Wilcoxon). Pure andiroba oil compared to the soy oil, forearm without product and andiroba oil 15%, showed discreet superiority (p<0.001 Wilcoxon). Our conclusion is that this study demonstrated that the pure andiroba oil presents discreet repellent effect against bite of Aedes spp., being significantly inferior to DEET 50% (Miot et al., 2004).
Topical application
Guyana-the Iwokrama Programme is working closely with local forest communities to assess the environmental, social and economic impacts of harvesting and processing the carapa oilseeds, and getting the oil as part of a sustainable cottage industry into the market place.