Piper betle

Nuts have many uses, both industrial and domestic. For instance, the ivory nut, or tagua, is a source material for the manufacture of buttons and turnery articles. The kola nut supplies ingredients for popular cola beverages in the United States (see Carbonated beverages). StTychnos nux-vomica provides the important medicine and poison, strychnine. The areca or betel nut is chewed by the Indian and Malayan people as a narcotic a slice of the nut is placed in a leaf of the pepper plant Piper betle) together with a pinch of lime the mixture is an acrid, astringent narcotic that dyes the mouth red, blackens and destroys the teeth. The areca nut contains, among other alkaloids, arecoline, an active anthelminthic widely used in veterinary practice for the treatment of tapeworm infections. 

The areca nut is sometimes erroneously referred to as the betel nut (Trivedy et al. 1999). Betel refers to a combined preparation of the areca nut (Areca catechu) and lime (calcium hydroxide), rolled into the leaf of the betel pepper (Piper betle) (Morton 1998). 

Jeng JH, Hahn U, Lin BR, Hsieh CC, Chan CP, Chang MC. (1999). Effects of areca nut, inflorescence piper betle extracts and arecoline on cytotoxicity, total and unscheduled DNA synthesis in cultured gingival keratinocytes. J Oral Pathol Med. 28(2) 64-71. 

Chinese hamster ovary cells. The number of aberrant metaphases increased in cultures with 15 mL tobacco extract per milliliter of growth media Water extract of the dried leaf, administered to mice at a dose of 9.40 g/kg, 6 days a week for 10 months, was active on bone marrow. A combination of Piper betle, Areca catechu, and Nicotiana tabacum was used . Seed, administered orally to adults with oral cancer and oral submucosal fibrosis and to healthy chewers, was active. An average of 6 quids of tobacco leaf, Areca nuts, and lime were chewed daily T . ... 

Areca nuts (betel nuts) are the seeds of Areca catechu (Palmae/Arecaceae), a tall palm cultivated in the Indian and Asian continents. These nuts are mixed with lime, wrapped in leaves of the betel pepper (Piper betle) and then chewed for their stimulant effect, and subsequent feeling of well-being and mild intoxication. The teeth and saliva of chewers stain bright red. The major stimulant alkaloid is arecoline (up to 0.2%) (Figure 6.36), the remainder of the alkaloid content (total about 0.45%) being composed of related reduced pyridine... 

Methylpiperbetol Piper betle (Piperaceae) bitter, bronchodilatory] PAF-R antagonist (5) [PAI -... 

Many of the world s population (more than 200 million people worldwide) chew betel nut quid, a combination of areca nut, betel pepper leaf (from Piper betle), hme paste, and tobacco leaf. The major alkaloid of the areca nut, arecoline, can produce chohnergic adverse effects (such as bronchoconstriction) (1) as well as antagonism of anticholinergic agents (2). The lime in the betel quid causes hydrolysis of arecohne to arecaidine, a central nervous system stimulant, which accounts, together with the essential oil of the betel pepper, for the euphoric effects of chewing betel quid. 

Betel Leaf Oil (Piper betle L) There s a lot of different betel species in the tropics. The oil from the Philippines has 2.38% allylpyrocatechol [11]. 

Betel. Dried leaves of Piper betle L.. Piperaceae. Habit. India, Ceylon. Malay Archipelago. Const . 0.2-1% volatile oil, chavibetol. chavicol, cadinene. allylpyrocatechol. Re/- Ueda. Sasaki, J. Pharm, Soc. Japan 71, 559 (1951), C.A. 45, 9137 (1951). 

Balasubrahmanyam, VR. and A.K.S. Ra-wati990. Betelvine (Piper betle, Pipera-ccae) Economic Botany 44(4) 540—543. 

Betel nut quids consist of areca nut Areca catechu) wrapped in betel vine leaf Piper betle) and smeared with a paste of burnt (slaked) lime. It is chewed for the euphoric effects of the major constituent, arecoline, a cholinergic alkaloid, which appears to be absorbed through the mucous membrane of the mouth. Arecoline has identical properties to pilocarpine and normally has only mild systemic cholinergic properties however asthmatic subjects seem to be particularly sensitive to the bronchocon-strictor effects of this alkaloid and possibly other substances contained in the nut. 

Areca catechu (Arecaceae, betel nut) is the world s most commonly used masticatory. This palm seed is used in conjunction with Piper betle leaves, Acacia catechu bark, lime, and other accompaniments (Gowda, 1951) by perhaps 1 billion of the world s inhabitants daily. Arecoline (52) is the most commonly studied alkaloid of Areca catechu seeds. This alkaloid has muscarinic action (mimics acetylcholine and binds to acetylcholine receptors) (Wink, 1993). Low doses produce vasodilation and a fall in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Arecoline exerts stimulatory effects on the gastrointestinal tract and enhances diaphoresis. Arecoline has an LD50 s.c. of 100 mg/kg in mouse. This alkaloid is a feeding deterrent to certain insects (Wink, 1993). 

Arecoline, a constituent of the fruits of Areca catechu (betel nuts), is probably built from nicotinic acid. Pieces of betel nuts mixed with lime and further ingredients and enveloped in leaves of Piper betle are chewed in South-East Asia as a stimulant. The physiologically active component is arecaidine, formed from arecoline by hydrolysis (F 3). 

Betel oil is distilled from the leaves cither fresh ot dried, of Piper betle [Chavica betle Miq.). Thn yield is from -5 to 1 pet cent-j but if the leaves are bleached hy being kept in a warm shady place the yield may reach 4 per cent The oil varies considerably in characters according to the nature of the raw material, and the lolJowing results have been obtained by various investigators — ... 

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