Mangosteen Studies - Review of Research on Mangosteen
The researchers from all over the world have conducted many mangosteen studies to investigate the effect of xanthones, given the fact that mangosteen has been used widely by traditional folks to treat certain health problems with positive results. The mangosteen studies were completed either in vitro or in vivo environment. What are in vitro and vivo? Below outlines the differences:
In Vitro: Latin for “in glass”. The study is made under standard controlled condition environment. The advantage of this study is it is helpful in indentifying the effect of certain medicine on particular bacteria without disturbance of other outside factors. For instance, a researcher can culture the bacteria in a petri dish and expose the bacteria to penicillin within controlled environment. This controlled setting eliminates other factors such as temperature, chemicals, other contamination from other bacteria. The disadvantage of this study is it is extrapolating the results obtained to the effects on the human body. In actual environment, other factors such as saliva, temperature, pH may impact the result in a positive or negative way.
In Vivo: Latin for "within the living". The study is done using animals instead of using the partial or dead organism in a controlled condition. A common example is using the rat to investigate certain drug effects.
None of the mangosteen studies were completed on human so far. What does this mean for mangosteen? Does it mean it is a poor scientific evidence? No, it is just mean that the science of mangosteen is still at its early stage. The mangosteen studies have validated the application of this traditional folk medicine under in vitro or vivo conditions. Without the proof of human cllinical trials does not mean the mangosteen is lack of these properties.
Below is the tabulated summary of a few selected mangosteen studies from various independant scientific groups or researchers:
Type of Study
Results of Mangosteen Studies
Author
Facility
Reference
in vitro
The investigators studied the effect of gamma-mangostin, a xanthone contained in the mangosteen fruit on C6 rat glioma cells. This research has demonstrated that gamma-mangostin is one of the candidates of the drugs for treatment of brain diseases accompanied with inflammation.
Nakatani K, Nakahata N, Arakawa T, Yasuda H, Ohizumi Y.
Department of Pharmaceutical Molecular Biology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences,Tohoku University, Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, 980-8578, Sendai, Japan.
Researchers used rats to study the anti-inflammatory effect of the mangosteen fruit. They concluded that “mangostin produces significant anti-ulcer activity in experimental animals.”
Shankaranarayan D, Gopalakrishnan C, Kameswaran L.
University of Madras
Pharmacological Logical Profile of mangostin and is derivatives. Arch Int Pahrmacodyn Ther. 1979; 239(2): 257-269.
in vitro
The investigators found that an extract from the pericarp of the mangosteen fruit killed SKBR3 breast cancer cell and showed that the extract had potent antioxidant and cancer killing properties.
Moongkarndi P, Kosem N, Kaslungka S, Luanratana O, Pongpan N, Neungton N.
Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahidol University, Sri Ayudthaya Road, Rajdhevee, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.
The researchers investigated the effects of alpha-mangostin on the oxidation of human LDL (bad cholestrol) which is a risk factor for atherosclerosis. They concluded that mangosteen can protect the LDL from oxidative damage. In other words, it is a potent antioxidant.
Williams P, Ongsakul M, Proudfoot J, Croft K, Beilin L.
University of Western Australia, Department of Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital, Australia.
In this experiment, Polysaccharides from the pericarp of mangosteen, were extracted from the fruit. The results showed that with this extract, the S.enteritidis (bacteria) in cultured monocyte was killed. In other words,mangosteen posseses anti-bacteria property in this study.
Chanarat P, Chanarat N, Fujihara M, Nagumo T.
Department of Clinical Microscopy, Faculty of Associated Medical Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Thailand.
These researchers examined the effects of six xanthones extracted from the pericarp of the mangosteen fruit on the human leukemia cell line HL60. All xanthones displayed the ability to kill the cancer cells. Among them, alpha-mangostin (a xanthone) showed the most potent ability.
Matsumoto K, Akao Y, Kobayashi E, Ohguchi K, Ito T, Tanaka T, Iinuma M, Nozawa Y.
Gifu International Institute of Biotechnology, 1-1 Naka-Fudogaoka, Kakamigahara, Gifu 504-0838, Japan
If you are researching for other particular topic regarding mangosteen studies, here is a good resource to browse through: Pubmed , and type in “xanthones”or “mangosteen” in the search tab to retrieve the original abstract with details.
Reference
David A. Morton, Ph.D., The Xanthone Effect, Orem, Utah, USA, Sound Concepts, 2005.
Mangosteen, Available from http://www.pubmed.gov (Assessed May 15th 2009)
The researchers from all over the world have conducted many mangosteen studies to investigate the effect of xanthones, given the fact that mangosteen has been used widely by traditional folks to treat certain health problems with positive results. The mangosteen studies were completed either in vitro or in vivo environment. What are in vitro and vivo? Below outlines the differences: 
