Look Yor (ลูกยอ) Morinda citrifolia Linn

Morinda citrifolia Linn

CHINESE : Hai ba ji, Wu ning (Singapore), Luo ling (Singapore, Taiwan)

ENGLISH : Canary wood (Australia), Indian mulberry, Large-leaved morinda, Noni (Hawaii), Noni fruit, Noni plant, Nonu (Samoa), Pain killer tree (Caribbean)

FRENCH : Nono (Tahiti)

MALAY : Bengkudu, Bengkudu daun besar, Bengkudu laki-laki, Mengkudu (Indonesia), Pacel (Indonesia)

TAMIL : Munja pavattay

TELUGU : Maddi chettu, Molagha SPANISH : Mora de la India, Noni (Puerto Rico).


Major use

The plant is reported to have a broad range of therapeutic effects, including antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antitumor, antihelmin, analgesic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory, and immune enhancing effects.


Ethno-botanical information

PLANT: The whole plant is used to treat aching bones (Wee and Hsuan, 1990).
LEAVES: In Malaysia, the heated leaves are applied to the chest and abdomen to treat coughs, nausea, colic and enlarged spleen. In Philippines, the juice of the leaves is given in arthritis (Wee, 1992). The leaves are also used to wrap joints affected by arthritis. For the treatment of headache, local application of leaves on forehead is done (Review, 2001). The juice of the leaves is applied ingout (Jain and DeFilipps, 1991). A decoction of the leaves taken orally is effective for the treatment of fever, dysentery and diarrhoea. A poultice of fresh leaves cures furunculosis (Nguyen and Doan, 1989).
FRUIT: In Japanese and Chinese medicine, Morinda is used as an anti-pyretic and as a tonic. In Indochina, the fruit is prescribed for lumbago, asthma and dysentery (Wee YC, 1992). The processed fruit juice is in great demand for different kinds of illnesses such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle aches and pains, menstrual difficulties, headaches, heart disease, AIDS, cancers, gastric ulcers, sprains, mental depression, senility, poor digestion, atherosclerosis, blood vessel problems and drug addiction (Wang et al, 2002). The fruit when consumed together with a little salt is stomachic, aperient, effective in dysentery (Nguyen and Doan, 1989). The fruit is also used for throat and gum complaints, and leucorrhoea (Jain and DeFilipps, 1991).
ROOT: The root is used as a cathartic and febrifuge (Jain and DeFilipps, 1991). The root bark has beneficial effects in hypertension, osteodynia and lumbago (Nguyen and Doan , 1989).


Pharmacological studies

ANALGESIC. The fruit extract showed a significant, dose-related, central analgesic activity in the treated mice and the efficacy of the extract was 75% as strong as morphine, yet non-addictive and side effect free (Wang et al, 2002).
ANTHELMINTIC. An ethanol extract of the tender Noni leaves induced paralysis and death of Ascaris Lumbricoides within a day (Wang et al, 2002; Review, 2001). Moderate activity was demonstrated by the extracts of M. citrifolia at a lower minimum effective dose of 5 mg per ball on pine wood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Muhammad et al, 1997).
ANTI-ANGIOGENIC. (Hornick et al 2003).
ANTI-BACTERIAL. A crude ethanol extract and hexane fraction from M. citrifolia showed anti-tubercular activity (Saludes et al, 2002). Acubin, L-asperuloside, and alizarin in the Noni fruit, as well as some other anthraquinone compounds in Noni roots, are all proven anti-bacterial agents and have been shown to be active against infectious bacteria strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus morgaii, Staphylococcus aureus, Baciillis subtilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Shigela (Wang et al, 2002).
ANTI-HYPERTENSIVE. The total extract of Noni roots was shown to have a hypotensive effect. Ethanol and hot water extract of the Noni roots lowered the blood pressure in an anesthetised dog (Wang et al, 2002).
ANTI-INFLAMMATORY activity of M. citrifolia fruit powder was demonstrated by inhibition of COX-1 with the IC50 of 163 mg/mL versus aspirin and indomethacin at COX-1 inhibition of IC50 of 241 and 1.2 μg/mL respectively (Li et al, 2003).
ANTI-NEOPLASTIC. (Hirazumi et al, 1994, Hirazumi and Furusawa, 1999, Furusawa et al, 2003, Liu et al, 2001, Review, 2001 Wang and Su, 2001, Wang et al, 2002, Arponsuwan and Punjanon, 2006).
ANTIOXIDANT. (Mohd et al, 2002)
ANTI-PROTOZOAl. The chloroform extract of M. citrifolia was shown to have anti-malarial activity with an IC50 of less than 25 μg/mL against Plasmodium falciparum (Ancolio et al, 2002).
ANTI-VIRAL. 1-methoxy-2-formyl-3-hydroxyanthraquinone isolated from Noni root suppressed the cytopathic effect of HIV infected MT-4 cells, without inhibiting cell growth (Wang et al, 2002). Inhibitory effect on UVB induced AP-1. A novel iridoid dimer showed significant inhibition of UVB-induced Activator Protein-1 (AP-1) activity in cell cultures (Sang et al, 2003).
INSECTICIDAL. The ripe fruits of the plant are very toxic to most Drosophila species except Drosophila sechellia and octanoic acid was found to be the active component for the general toxicity of the fruit. Hexanoic acid had a unique effect, causing reversible coma but no mortality. Decanoic acid was inactive. A mixture of these three acids in proportions similar to those found in the fruit mimicked the effects of the ripe fruits (Jean-Pierre et al, 1996).
SEDATIVE. Lypophilised aqueous extracts of the plant showed central analgesic activity suggesting sedative properties of the plant (Review, 2001).