Antisickling activity of hydroxybenzoic acids in Cajanus cajan.

The amounts of phenylalanine and hydroxybenzoic acid in a Cajanus cajan methanolic extract were estimated. Results showed that the amount of phenylalanine and hydroxybenzoic acid per gram weight of bean was 4.92 mg +/- 0.13 mg and 21.0 mg +/- 3.0 micrograms, respectively. Sickling inhibition was observed to be efficient with the extract which contains a mixture of phenylalanine (0.69 mg/ml) and p-hydroxybenzoic acid (10.5 micrograms/ml), equivalent to those found in bean extract. The additive antisickling effect of both compounds can be therapeutically exploited for the treatment of sickle cell anemia.