A Review of Hagakhak Plant

Raphael Fernando T. Adolfo

Introduction

Dipterocarpus is a genus of flowering plants and the type genus of family Dipterocarpaceae. It is the
third largest and most diverse genus among Dipterocarpaceae. They are well-known for timber, but less
acknowledged for its medicinal importance. The genus has about 70 species, occurring in Southeast
Asia. It is an important component of dipterocarp forests. Its
generic name comes from Greek and means "two-winged fruits".
Dipterocarpaceae is the most important forest tree family in
natural and close-to-nature forests in Southeast Asia. It is the
most important forest tree family in natural and close-to-nature
forests in Southeast Asia. Dipterocarps usually grow in mixed
tropical rain forests, where they often constitute the dominant
floristic element. Hagakhak plant plays an important role in
wildlife conservation just like the other Philippine Native Trees.
Wild pigs, wild deer’s, and even bees benefit from its
fruits/flowers. The hagakhak tree is harvested from the wild for
its timber, which is traded internationally. The hagakhak tree
yields large quantities of oleo-resin called balau or minyak
keruing. It is used locally as a coat for waterproofing paper, use in
making baskets and boats, as a varnish for walls and furniture, it
is also use as lithographic ink. The conservation status pf the
hagakhak tree is critically endangered (IUCN 2006).

Family

Dipterocarpaceae

Other vernacular names

Philippines: hagakhak, Bicol: anahuon, Ibanag: kamuyao, Indonesia:

kambong, kaladana, Malaysia: keruing kasugoi, Other names: balau,
binaguan, lipuut,

Geographical Distribution

Philippines – Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Rizal, Quezon, Camarines Sur,

Marinduque, Mindoro, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Panay, Samar,
Leyte, Zamboanga, Agusan del Sur, Surigao, Davao, Basilan. Borneo –
Sabah, Kalimantan. Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
Cultivation Details:

In much of South-East Asia, the majority of dipterocarp trees flower and fruit together at intervals of five
to six years, thought to be triggered by the El Niño-Southern Ocean Oscillations. Members of this genus
generally only regenerate naturally in the shade of the forest. Seedlings and saplings can persist in dense
forest shade for many years. In their first 2 years the young plants cannot tolerate major openings in the
canopy, but after they are well established (about 120 cm tall) the canopy can be opened up around
them to speed up their growth. Dipterocarp fruit is eaten by a variety of animals, but insects tend to
prefer the fruit of specific tree species. All of the known insect predators of dipterocarp fruit, up to
germination, are beetles and moths. Individual dipterocarp can trees can produce millions of fruit each,
but these are often destroyed by insects, particularly beetles and moths. This destruction can have a
major effect on how many seeds germinate, and could be the reason why many dipterocarp species fruit
are overwhelm predators and why the hagakhak tree is critically endangered. Dipterocarpus validus
have often large seeds with a very restricted range of dispersal and therefore, also a restricted
geographical distribution can be observed.

Habitat

Throughout Southeast Asia, dipterocarps occur in various habitat types or forest formations, although
most are in lowland evergreen rain forest. In the Philippines dipterocarps are known to occur in lowland
evergreen rainforest, on lower slopes or plains near streams, or on low hills up to 300 meters in altitude.
The common dipterocarp species include: apitong Dipterocarpus grandifloras, hagakhak. Dipterocarpus
validus, tangile Shorea polysperma , red lauan Shorea negrosensis, almon Shorea almon , mayapis
Shorea palosapis, yakal Shorea astylosa, guijo Shorea guiso, and white lauan Shorea contorta.
Description

A medium sized or large tree of up to 50 m tall, bole branchless

for up to 30 m, up to 175 cm in diameter, buttresses frequent
on older trees, blunt or thin, up to 2.5 m tall and 1.5 m long.
Bark surface smooth, on older trees scaly and pale yellowish-
brown or grey color. Buds lanceolate, rufous tomentose; leaves
elliptical-oblong to ovate, 15 – 25 cm x 7.5 – 12 cm. base
cuneate to obtuse and apex acute to acuminate with an up to 1
cm long acumen, secondary veins 22 – 28 pairs straight beneath
sparsely puberulent. Petiole 3.5 -5 cm long, stipules lorate,
outside densely rufous tomentose. Stamens about 30, fruit
calyx tube turbinate, smooth, glabrous. 2 larger fruit calyx lobes
up to 25 cm x 3.5 cm, 3 shorter ones up to 6 mm x 6 mm.
Dipterocarpus validus is common and frequently gregarious
both in primary and secondary forest and occurs in flat land, in
freshwater swamp, on river banks, or occasionally on low hills
up to 300 m altitude. The density of the wood is 720 – 870 kg/m3 at 15% moisture content.
Dipterocarpaceous plants are a well-known and an abundant source of stilbenoids.

Medicinal Uses

Phytochemically genus Dipterocarpus has reported to contain resin, coumarin and dammar. The
Resveratrol class of compounds is one of the major chemical constituent in this genus. Dipterocarpus
species showed Anti-AIDS, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-oxidant
activities. Hagakhak plant is a good analgesic, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, stimulant, and anti-
malarial. The plant part that is used is heartwood and gum resin.

Chemical constituents

The species that is used is Dipterocarpus validus. The part that is being used is Tree Bark and its chemical
constituents are the following: ε-viniferin (17), α-viniferin (11), vaticanol A (31), scopoletin (38),
bergenin (13). Its pharmacological property is its cytotoxic activity. It’s application is for Murine
leukemia P-388 cells/ The activity that this species do is ε-Viniferin, α-viniferin and vaticanol A showed
cytotoxic activity against murine leukemia P-388 cells with their IC50 values were 7,8; 17,5 and 27,0
μg/ml, respectively. The part that is being used is the Bark. Isolated compounds from the Bark of
Dipterocarpus retusus (ε-Viniferin, α- viniferin and vaticanol) showed cytotoxic activity against murine
leukemia P-388 cells.

ε-Viniferin is a strong candidate for weight loss. ε-viniferin, a

resveratrol dimer, which is present at comparable concentrations to t-
resveratrol in red wines, and has higher anti-adipogenesis (negation of
formation of fat or fatty tissue) activity in 3T3-L1 cells. In addition, ε-
viniferin was more effective than t-resveratrol in its anti-obesity and
anti-inflammatory effects in high-fat diet fed mice. These results
suggested ε-viniferin may be one of the active ingredients against
metabolic disorders in red wines, in addition to t-resveratrol.
 α-Viniferin is a stilbene trimer and a trimer of resveratrol, and has
several biological activities, which include anti-inflammatory, anti-
oxidant, anti-arthritis, and anti-tumor activities. alpha-Viniferin, an
oligostilbene of trimeric resveratrol, has been reported to have anti-
inflammatory potential in adjuvant-induced arthritis in animal models.
Alpha-Viniferin exhibited a dose-dependent inhibition on
cyclooxygenase activity, where 50% of inhibition (IC50) was shown.
Pharmacological inhibition of COX can provide relief from the
symptoms of inflammation and pain.

Vaticanol A during a phytochemical investigation on vaticanol A,

major compounds were tested for neurotoxic and cytotoxic activities.
Neurotoxicity for vaticanol A did not pose any toxic effect against
cultured cell. Vaticanol A possessed active cyctotoxic activity against
HL60 cell line. The HL-60 is derived from a single patient with acute
promyelocytic leukemia. Vaticanol A could provide a therapeutic tool
in the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia, a disease that has been
looked upon as primarily involving a block in myeloid differentiation

Scopoletin is a coumarin compound and a pharmacologically active

agent that has been isolated from several plant species. It seems to
regulate the blood pressure: when the blood pressure is high,
scopoletin helps to lower it and when it is too low it can help raise it.
Scopoletin has bacteriostatic activity against various species of
bacteria, including Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus,
Streptococcus sp., etc. Scopoletin has anti-inflammatory activity and can be used to treat bronchial
illnesses and asthma. Scopoletin regulates the hormone serotonin, which helps to reduce anxiety and
depression.

Bergenin is trihydroxybenzoic acid glycoside. Bergenin restored the

decreased hepatic contents of glutathione as well as the decreased
activities of glutathione S-transferase and glutathione reductase
towards normalization, suggesting that the hepatoprotective effects
of bergenin may consist in maintaining adequate levels of hepatic
glutathione for the removal of xenobiotics for the purpose of
detoxification. The present results indicate that bergenin has
hepatoprotective effects against hepatotoxicity.
References:

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