Picralima Nitida Seeds

Picralima nitida is a tree and native to West Africa. The dried seeds (akuamma seeds) from this plant are used in traditional medicine throughout West Africa, particularly in Cameroon,Ghana as well as in the Ivory Coast and Nigeria. The seeds are crushed or powdered and taken orally. Akuamma seeds have opioid analgesic activity and is often used a painkiller. There are five alkaloids in Akuamma seeds : akuammidine, akuammine, akuammicine, akuammigine and pseudo-akuammigine) .
Akuammine is the main found in the seeds, comprising 0.56% of the dried powder. It is structurally related to both yohimbine and mitragynine, both of which are plant products with uses in medicine. Akuammine is the most abundant active found in the seeds from the tree Picralima nitida, commonly known as Akuamma.
In traditional African medicine, Picralima nitida seeds are used for the treatment of malaria and diarrhoea. It is used as a painkiller and for its antipyretic, anti-diabetic and anti-inflammatory effects.
The fruit pulp, possesses hypoglycaemic properties
Akuammicine from the seeds has been demonstrated to ‘stimulate glucose uptake’ supporting the traditional use of the seeds of P. nitida in the management of diabetes mellitus
The bark of Picralima nitida can be soaked in boiling water and has been shown to be effective against Trypanosomiasis or trypanosomosis -