Eurycoma longifolia Jack

1211.90.90

No official data. A recent study by Mohd. Azmi et al., 2004, estimated the domestic demand at 476339 kg/year.

Mainly from the wild however, a large-scale cultivation of this species has only started recently.

The state of Kedah, northern Peninsular Malaysia

Root, powdered root, crude extract (water) of root. Capsules of powdered roots are manufactured locally, and available in the Malaysian market. Beverages such as coffee drinks in cans, 3 in 1 mix.

Herbal products are regulated under the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984. This Act requires that the product to be registered for marketing contained acceptable and allowed limits of heavy metals, acceptable and permitted level of microbial count, absence of adulterants and approved claims and indications.

National Pharmaceutical and Drug Control Bureau (NPCB) under the Ministry of Health is the regulatory body overseeing the registration of prescription drugs, Over-the-counter (OTC) products, traditional medicines (including herbal products) and cosmetics, licensing of premises for importers, manufacturers and wholesalers, as well as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification. Any product with medicinal claims and in dosage form would require registration and approval from NPCB. Registration was based on quality and safety profile of the product. Information on the registration procedure is available from NPCB (http://www.bpfk.gov.my).

It is traditionally used as a general tonic to treat high blood pressure, tuberculosis, fever, diarrhoea, jaundice and dysentery. It is widely believed to have aphrodisiac properties.

Eurycomanone as a bioactive component has shown strong anti-malarial and anticancer activities. It is currently selected for further investigation of its derivatives and also to improve its anti-malarial and anticancer activities.

There have been quite a few studies on the effect that Eurycoma has on the sexual behavior of male rats, which support its folk use as an aphrodisiac. The effects of Eurycoma were studied on sexually experienced male rats, castrated rats, sexually inexperienced rats, and middle-aged rats. All studies indicated an increase in the rats' sexual activity. In a recent study at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University Science Malaysia, the effects of Eurycoma were studied on the orientation activities of middle-aged rats towards females. The male rats were given Eurocyma extract twice daily for ten days. When compared to the controls, the treated male rats showed more interest in the female rats in terms of sniffing, licking and mounting. The male rats were also more interested in their environment, which they expressed by climbing, exploring and self-grooming. The study concluded that Eurycoma has a definite effect on the orientation activities of middle-aged male rats.

In another study of the aphrodisiac property of Eurycoma on sexually inexperienced male rats, an electric grid was used in the rats' cage to deter them from crossing over to the cage with the female rats. The rats treated with Eurocyma were willing to overcome the intensity of the grid current to reach the receptive female rats. The untreated rats, however, did not pursue the female rats. Results showed that Eurycoma continued to enhance and also maintain a high level of the total number of successful crossovers, mountings, intromissions and ejaculations during the 9-12 week observation period. In conclusion, these results further enhanced and strengthened the aphrodisiac property of Eurycoma longifolia. Additionally, other studies have determined that Eurycoma's chemical constituents called quassinoids were found to exhibit anti-tumor and anti-parasitic activities.

The Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has an ongoing five-year Malaysia MIT Biotechnology Partnership Program (MMBPP) to determine the herb's health benefits and to see if it works as an aphrodisiac because it increases testosterone. In Thailand the Faculty of Science of the Mahidol University is investigating the active compounds in Eurycoma and an Indonesian pharmaceutical company is also testing the herb.

Chemical constituents include: Aervin, stigmasterol, campesterol, β-sitosterol, 9-hydroxycanthin-6-one, 9-hydroxycanthin-6-one n-oxide, 9-methooxycanthin-6-one, 9-methooxycanthin-6-one n-oxide, β-carboline-1-propionic acid, β-7-methoxycarboline-1-propionic acid, eurycomalactone, eurycomanol, eurycomanol-2-O-β-D-glucoside, 13-β-18-dihydroeurycomanol, 14-15-dihydroxyklaineanone, eurycomanone, 13-21-dihydroeurycomanone, 13-β-21-dihydroxyeurycomanone, 14-15-β-dihydroxyklaineanone, longilactone.

Eurycomanone, 9-methooxycanthin-6-one, 14-15-β-dihydroxyklaineanone, 13-21-dihydroeurycomanone have been used as reference markers for standardisation.

A genome complexity reduction strategy to identify a series of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the genomes of several E. longifolia accessions has been applied. The occurrence of these SNPs reflects the geographic origins of individual plants and can distinguish different natural populations. This work demonstrates the rapid development of molecular genetic markers in species for which little or no genomic sequence information is available. The SNP markers that have been developed in this study will also be useful for identifying genetic fingerprints that correlate with other properties of E. longifolia, such as high regenerability or the appearance of bioactive metabolites. E. longifolia plants were collected from six geographically distinct locations in peninsular Malaysia and genomic DNA was extracted from each of the 47 plants. Five degenerate oligonucleotide-primed (DOP)-PCR primers, each with 3′ sequences of different lengths and composition, were used to amplify fragments from genomic DNA of one of these individual plants.