Charcteristic and Chemical Compound of Arecha catechu L. Seeds

Areca catechu L.

Areca catechu L. is a plant family Arecaceae which can reach 15-20 m tall with an upright stem diameter of 15 cm. The fruit germinate after 1.5 months and 4 months later and have crested the small leaves wich are not open yet. Formation of new rod occurred after 2 years and produce fruit at the age of 5-8 years depending on state land. This plant is flowering at the beginning and end of the rainy season and has a lifetime of 25-30 years. Fruit seeds reddish brown to maroon, somewhat squiggly younger with color. In the field of seed slices looked perisperm dark brown with irregular folds penetrate a little whitish-colored endosperm (Depkes RI, 1989).

Classification of the Areca nut :
Kingdom                      : Plantae
Divisio                         : Magnoliophyta
Class                           : Liliopsida
Order                          : Arecales
Family                         : Arecaceae
Genus                         : Areca
Species                       : A. catechu
Binomial Name            : Areca

Betel nut has a fairly good economic value with the benefits of a diverse and wide spread area. Benefits include nut seeds for industrial materials such as in leather tanning, textile industries, industrial dyes, cosmetics, beverages and pharmaceuticals, as well as a stimulant and food seasoning. The leaves of the betel plant can also be used as a cure respiratory disorders. Rods are used for building materials, plumbing. While the root is used for de-worming and indigestion. Productivity nut seeds from several countries (in million tonnes) since 1961 can be seen in the following table :

Countries	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Bangladesh India Indonesia Kenya Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Taiwan, China Thailand World	62.995 120.000 13.000 TT 6.500 1 8.000 3.718 TT 428.428	23.369 141.000 15.000 TT 3.000 1 19.203 10.075 TT 423.296	25.051 195.900 18.000 TT 2.500 5 25.807 24.358 TT 583.242	24.120 238.500 22.812 100 4.000 16 32.270 111.090 13.250 892.316	47.000 330.000 36.200 90 2.500 37 51.463 165.076 20.500 1.305.732

 Source : FAO (2003)

Betel nuts contain 0.3 to 0.6% alkaloids, such as arekolin (C₈H₁₃NO₂), arekolidine, arekain, guvakolin, guvasine and isoguvasine, condensed tannins, hydrolyzed tannin, flavan, phenolic compounds, acid error, gum, lignin, oil evaporates and does not evaporate, and salt (Wang et al., 1996). It also contains tannin red 15%, 14% fat (palmitic, oleic, stearic, caproic, caprylic, lauric, myristic acid), starch and resin. Fresh seeds contain approximately 50% more alkaloids in comparison to seeds that have experienced the treatment. Nonaka (1989) mentions that betel nuts contain proanthocyanidin, a condensed tannin that included the flavonoid. Proanthocyanidin have the effect of antibacterial, antiviral, antikarsinogenik, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergy, and vasodilation (Fine, 2000). The chemical composition of areca seed can be seen in the following table :

Chemical compound	Total (%)
1.      Moisture content 2.      Total polisakarida 3.      Crude protein 4.      Fat 5.      Crude fiber 6.      Polifenol 7.      Red tannin 8.      Arecolin 9.      Ash	38,9 - 56,7 17,8-25,7 6,2-7,5 9,5-15,1 11,4-15,4 11,1-17,8 15* 0,12-0,24 1,1-1,5

                                % dry based (exept : moisture content)

                        Source : -  Jayalaksmi and Mathew (1982)

                                     - *(Wang and Lee, 1996)

 Another compounds in areca seed are arecaidine, choline, guvacine, guvacoline, and tannin from containing glucose ester group pirogalol group. Plain and hemostatic properties of tannin are believed to strengthen the gums and stop the bleeding (Haerudin, 2003). Nut crops as potential anticancer effects of antioxidants, and antimutagenic (Wang et al., 1996; Lee and Choi, 1999). Etanolik areca nut extract showed antioxidant activity with IC₅₀ of 45.4 ug / ml (Lee and Choi, 1999). Pinang able to induce cell cycle arrest in oral epithelial cell culture-KB (Chang et al., 2001). Based on these data, betel nuts have the potential to be developed as a cytotoxic agent which can be combined with chemotherapeutic agents so as to increase the sensitivity of cancer cells.

Varian age of Areca nut	IC50 (µg/ml)	Antioksidan activity (equivalent to trolox) TEAC
1 month 2 month 3 month 4 month 6 month 8 month Arecoline HBr	13,47598 13,21283 12,10392 10,51488 12,05928 10,63328 -78446,7	0,7583 0,7753 0,8466 0,9718 0,8879 0,9616 -
*Areca extract	4.5	-
*BHT	13.0	-
*L-asam askorbat	7.5	-

               Source : - Wetwitayaklung (2006)

                            - * Yong (2009)

Varian age of Areca nut	Yield (%)
1 month 2 month 3 month 4 month 6 month 8 month	21,85 20,59 16,10 23,41 18,88 13,77

                         Source : Wetwitayaklung (2006)