**8.2 Antimicrobial activity**

It has been reported that *A. marmelos* can protect against a wide variety of pathogenic organisms such as antibacterial, antitumor, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, *Medicinal Uses with Immense Economic Potential and Nutritional Properties… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102876*

antifungal [1]. Marmelide, which is extracted from *A. marmelos*, has been found to have more potential and economical than ribavirin, which is an antimicrobial drug activity (**Figure 3b**). The primary phase of a replicative cycle such as adsorption as well as penetration can be inhibited by marmelide, which shows due to the virucidal activity [74]. Dhar et al. show the *A. marmelos* juice acquired antiviral potential against the Ranikhet disease virus [75]. A study of *A. marmelos* fruit extract by Rani and Khullar in 2004 has been reported that *Salmonella typhi* is well affected by methanolic extract. The antimicrobial action of essential oil extracted from *A. marmelos* not only affects *S. typhi* but also effectively reduces the spore germination assay of pathogens [76]. Different concentration of *A. marmelos* extract has different inhibition rate such as 0.05% extract dose can prevent 100% over fungi,

whereas 0.04% dose can have 90% prevention and 0.03% dose having 75% prevention [77]. Antimicrobial action can also be observed in *A. marmelos* juice, fruit, and leaf extract. *A. marmelos* leaf extract is very much effective over Filariae [78] and also intestinal parasites such as *Ascaris lumbricoides* and *Entamoeba histolytica* can be prevented by fruits and its powder, which is a great advantage over other plants, and it is economically feasible [79]. *A. marmelos* seeds also take part in this action, and it has been observed in the disc diffusion assay that an anthraquinone observed in Bael seed is effective over *Candida albicans* and *Aspergillus species*. Aflatoxin is a family of toxins produced by the fungus *Aspergillus flavus*, and it has adverse effects on the plants, but it can be easily prevented by the oil of *A. marmelos* leaf extract [80]. (þ)-4-(2′-hydroxy-3′-methylbut-3′-enyloxy)-8H- [1, 3] dioxolo [4,5-h] chromen-8-one and 2-isopropenyl-4-methyl-1-oxa-cyclopenta [b] anthracene-5,10-dione are the different compounds isolated from bael and have possessed antimicrobial activity [81]. *Klebsiella pneumonia, Entercococcus faecalis, Streptococcus faecalis,* and *Micrococcus luteus* have been inhibited by *A. marmelos* fruit juice. Many times fish is attacked by the various pathogenic organisms, and this can be easily prevented by application of *A. marmelos* leaf extract. It is reported that for the survival of fish, the effectiveness of *A. marmelos* leaf extract enhanced with the dose of 5 g per Kilogram of the body weight. Leaf extract can enhance the hemoglobin level, pathogen clearance action except that it can also increase WBC count, lysosomal activity, and RBC count [81]. Dermatophytic fungi prevention is observed by methanolic *A. marmelos* extract with a concentration of 400 μg/mL [19]. *A. marmelos* extract prepared by using different solvents provides various applications with various concentrations of dose. Antiparasitic action of *A. marmelos* extract reported on cattle tick and 100% effective to prevent adult cattle tick and larvae of *Rhipicephalus microplus* with 0.3% methanolic extract. Besides this, 0.2% methanolic extract of *A. marmelos* can have 100% prevention over the larvae of *R. microplus* [82]. The concentration of 0.5–2 mg/mL of the extract of *A. marmelos* leaf is generally found very effective as an antifungal [83]. It has been reported that *A. marmelos* extracted by different methods and by using different substances such as petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol, etc., have different activities over different species [84]. *A. marmelos* extract can reduce the production rate of CD4þ T-cells CEM-green fluorescent protein in the human body affected by human immuno deficiency virus (HIV-INL4.3) [85]. *Enterococcus faecalis* can be prevented by the application of acetone extract of green fruit, which produces xanthoarnol [83]. The dose of 40 mg/mL concentration of methanolic *A. marmelos* leaf extract is applied in Agar diffusion method for both the Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria [86]. The adverse effect of many organisms can be prevented by a quinone compound [87], and activities of Gram-positive bacteria by alkaloid Shahidine extracted from *A. marmelos* [88]. Both the *Shigella flexneri* and *Shigella dysenteriae* can shows its resistance properties over β-lactam, and these are more convenient to β-lactam antibiotics [89]. Bark of *A. marmelos* tree shows antibacterial activity over few specific bacterial strains by Agar diffusion method where the solvents used are methanol and hexane [90]. It contains α-phellandrene and α-pinene, which acquired antimicrobial activity, and this has been observed in the estimation of MIC by Agar diffusion method [91].

#### **8.3 Antiulcer activity**

A very common disease of the gastrointestinal tract is ulcer, which can be caused by oxidative stress and presence of *Helicobacter pylori* bacteria. When mucosal flow of blood is restricted or gastro protection diminished, then the *H. pylori* bacteria affect widely as a result ulcer occurs [92]. It has been observed that *A. marmelos* seeds provide protection against aspirin-induced ulcer or

*Medicinal Uses with Immense Economic Potential and Nutritional Properties… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.102876*

pylorous-ligated ulcers on rats [93]. An *A. marmelos* seed *contains* a pyranocoumarin class compound named Luvangetin, which is responsible for antiulcer activity and very much depends on antioxidant mechanism [94]. Oral use of methanolic extract has great advantage over other medicines such as injections, and it is easier to be administered orally. In another experiment on rats that have lipopolysaccharide-induced ulcer after taking methanolic *A. marmelos* extract, improvement against ulcer is remarkable [95, 96]. It is reported that methanolic and aqueous *A. marmelos* extracts have effective antiulcer activity because they contain quercetin as antioxidant phytochemical [97].

#### **8.4 Anticancer activity**

Cancer is very big and challenging issue to survive as a healthy life in current world. The main reasons for cancer are hectic lifestyle with slow rate poisonous food. This leads to oxidative stress, which makes an easy pathway for cancer, very common disease [98]. Leaf extract of *A. marmelos* was found to be effective in inhibiting the growth of cancerous cell such as erythroleukemic HEL, T-lymphoid jurkat, melanoma Colo38, leukemic K562, breast cancer cell lines (MDA-MB 231) (isolated at M D Anderson from a pleural effusion of a patient with invasive ductal carcinoma), and Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF7), and B-lymphoid can be restricted by leaf extract of *A. marmelos* [61, 99]. Studies conducted showed that the phytoconstituents cineole, eugenol, citral, d-limonene, lupeol show antineoplastic effects. One of the important phytochemicals marmelin (1-hydroxy-5, 7-dimethoxy-2-naphtha- m-carboxaldehyde) has been found in bael, which exhibits anticancer activity against human colon cancer (HCT-116), human epithelial type 2 (HEp-2), and alveolar epithelial carcinoma cells [100]. Marmelin can also be effective to inhibit the growth of cancerous cells, leads to apoptosis, biochemical events through the induction of activation of TRADD (TNFR1-associated death domain protein), TNFα (tumor necrosis factor alpha), caspase-8, TNFRI (tumor necrosis factor receptor 1), and t-Bid, activates caspase-3 by releasing cytochrome C [101, 102]. Lupeol shows an antineoplastic effect on different neoplastic cell lines such as hepatocellular carcinoma cells, human epidermoid carcinoma cells, prostate carcinoma cell lines, human melanoma cells, and human pancreatic adenocarcinoma cells [103]. Citral is also effective to reduce the cell growth of cancerous cells by inducing apoptosis. On the other hand, Eugenol showed significant cytotoxic effects and is capable to act against malignant Caco-2 colon cells, normal human gingival fibroblast (HGF), human melanoma cell line, salivary gland tumor cell lines (HSG), and malignant HepG2 hepatoma cells [101, 102]. *A. marmelos* can show its chemopreventive action due to the presence of some important phytochemicals such as eugenol, citral, limonene, etc. [104, 105].

#### **8.5 Anti-inflammatory activity**

Inflammation is a defense mechanism and is activated when invader pathogen or foreign particles attack our system. Many indicators are there, which reflect inflammation very well; these are swelling, heat, pain, redness, etc. [67]. *A. marmelos* fruit extract shows anti-inflammatory function because of the presence of phytochemicals such as lupeol, skimmianine, and citral [106]. The main function of these phytochemicals, which are present in *A. marmelos*, is inhibiting the histamine-mediated signaling [106]. The ripened fruit juice can prevent inflammation of rectum. It has been reported that histamine-induced contraction can be antagonized by *A. marmelos* leaf and induce positive relaxant effect in the affected area [19].
