Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorders cause by single point mutation in the sixth codon of the beta globin chain which affect the amino acid constituent of goblin chain leading to change in the hemoglobin affinity toward oxygen and also changes the hemoglobin solubility under low oxygen pressure .This mutation and their consequences of symptoms are the reasons of the high mortality rate in SCD , especially in children of developing country such as Sudan where the chemotherapy is choice of the good income parents and alongside the adverse effect of this medications so there are emerging needs for traditional drugs which are consider safe treatments with reasonable price.[1,2]
Some of medicinal plants are thought to be responsible for observed antisickling action for their high contain of phenolic compounds and antioxidant nutrients. Antioxidants (scavengers of free radicals) are thought to be major components of these antisickling action thus different antisickling agents have different degrees of effect according to amount of antioxidant. [3] So that the higher antioxidant property of an antisickling agent enables it to reduce oxidative stress that contributes to sickle cell crisis. Hyphaene thebaica common name is African doum palm it is a type of desert palm tree with edible oval fruit which belongs to the family Arecaceae. Doum palm is native to the northern half of Africa; it tends to grow along the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan in the areas which contain ground water. The extracts of Hyphaene thebaica was used in treatment of hypertension, bilharzias and as a haematinic agent. doum fruit extracts contain high amount of flavonoids, phenols used as antioxidant and antibacterial activities which can alleviate the adverse effects of oxidative stress.[4]
phytochemical components show medicinal values of these plants, which produce definite and various physiological action on human body. Some
of the most important of these components are flavonoids, alkaloids and phenolic
compounds [5].
Phytochemicals are extensively present at different level in many medicinal
plants and used in herbal medicines to treat different ailment such as cough, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and various types of bacterial infections. It is also
used to treat sickle cell crises associated morbidities among the less privileged
classes of the society [6].
Doum Palm (Hyphaene thebaica)
Hyphaene thebaica its common name is African doum palm it is a type of desert
palm tree with edible oval fruit which belongs to the family Arecaceae. The doum
palm is native to the northern half of Africa. It grows in the west from Mauritania
and Senegal, and east to Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania.
It tends to grow along the Nile River in Egypt and Sudan in the areas which
contain ground water. The various extracts of Hyphaene thebaica used in the
treatment of hypertension, bilharzias and as a haematinic agent. Several studies
have recorded that doum fruit extracts contain high amount of flavonoids, phenols
used as antioxidant and antibacterial activities which can alleviate the adverse
effects of oxidative stress [7].
Chemical composition of Doum fruit
Doum fruit has a high-quality protein varied between 2.86 and 5.01%, high
proportion of lysine and cysteine of crude protein varied between 4.09–4.16%
and 0.2–1.62%, respectively, the limited amino acid threonine, crude fat varied
between 1.2 and 8.4%, crude fiber varied between 52.26 and 66.5%, the most
important carbohydrates component was mannose varied between 13 and 75.9%,
also the presence of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron sodium and negligible
amount of nickel, cobalt and molybdenum. Phytochemical compounds of doum
fruit such as tannins, saponin, steroids, glycosides, flavonoid, terpenes and
terpinoids were found at low and moderate concentrations [7].
Chemical structure of doum fruit phenolic compounds
Different total soluble phenols values in doum were published in different studies;
it ranged from 45.08 to 64.90 mg GAE/g DW . While it recorded the highest
values in pitted doum fruit extracts varied from 1 16.26 to 139.48 mg GAE/g DW
. The bioactive potential of fruits and vegetables attributed to their high content
of polyphenols [28 The most abundant phenolic compounds recorded in doum
were metoxicinnamic acid, sinapic acids (hydroxycinnamic acids), chlorogenic
acid, catechin, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acids, 3,4 di hydroxycinnamic
acid, caffeic acid, 2-hydroxycinnamic acid, Epicatechinand cinnamic acid,
respectively Doum pulps exhibited higher caffeic acid contents in comparison to
the domestic fruits . The highest four concentrations of phenolic compounds in
doum fruit aqueous extracts were found to be 3-OH tyrosol, E-vanillic acid,
catechin and chlorogenic acid, while the lowest were of alpha-coumaric acid,
cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid and coumarin [7].
Total flavonoids content and compounds of Doum fruits
The total flavonoids content in different extracts of doum fruit extracts varied
widely ranging from 24.04 to 47.17 mg rutin/g DW . Similar results found that
the content of flavonoids (mg/g) of fruits of H. thebaica, in the quercetin
equivalent was 46.28 mg/g DW . HPLC analysis of aqueous doum fruit extracts
showed 11 flavonoid compounds . The highest concentrations were quercetin,
hesperetin, naringin and rutin compounds . Five flavone glycosides were isolated
4
and identified from doum fruits namely, luteolin 7-O-ßglucuronoide, apigenin 7-
O-ß-glucuronoide, luteolin O-ß-glycoside, luteolin 7-O-rutinoside.[7]