Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
China, India, and Sri Lanka. The herb has only been identified in Africa as occurring in Kaduna and
other northern parts of Nigeria. It may be an introduced species as it is not widely known in the country.
Ethnomedicinal Uses —
Andrographis paniculata
is is used in traditional medicine for the
treatment of many ailments. It has been used as an antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, anti-
hypercholesterolemic, and antiviral agent. The leaves are used in Nigeria for the management of
hypertension.
186
In the Indian subcontinent, it is used as an immunostimulant, for hypertension, and
for cold and colic pains in children; it is a diuretic, an emmenagogue, an astringent, an emollient, a
gastric and liver tonic, an antipyretic, and a “blood purifier.” It is recommended in the Indian tradi-
tional system of medicine for gonorrhea, leprosy, boils and skin eruptions, scabies, and chronic and
seasonal fevers because of its supposedly blood-purifying properties.
187
In China, the herb known as
Chuanxinlian
,
Yijianxi,
or
Lanhelian
is described as bitter and cold
and is used as an antipyretic, detoxicant, and anti-inflammatory and is thought to remove “patho-
genic heat” from the blood.
A. paniculata
is used for the treatment of pharyngolaryngitis, diarrhea,
dysentery, cough with thick sputum, carbuncle, sores, and snakebites. Various preparations and
compound formulas of the herb have been used to treat infectious and noninfectious diseases, with
significant effective rates reported for conditions such as epidemic encephalitis B, suppurative otitis
media, neonatal subcutaneous annular ulcer, vaginitis, cervical erosion, pelvic inflammation, her-
pes zoster, chicken pox, mumps, neurodermatitis, eczema, and burns.
188
Constituents —
A. paniculata
contains diterpenes, diterpene-glycosides, lactones, and flavonoids.
The main active chemical constituent is the diterpene lactone andrographolide, a colorless, crystalline
substance with a very bitter taste. Andrographolide is considered a marker compound for the identifi-
cation of this herb. Another bitter principle isolated from the leaves is a compound called kalmeghin.
Flavonoids occur in the roots and leaves. The aerial parts contain alkanes, ketones, and aldehydes.
Chinese investigators isolated five lactones—chuanxinlian, deoxyandrographolide, andrographolide,
neoandrographolide, and 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide—from the aerial parts of the
plant. A diterpene glucoside (deoxyandrographolide-19-beta-D-glucoside) has been detected in the
leaves, and six diterpenoids of the ent-labdane type, two diterpene glucosides and four diterpene
dimers (bis-andrographolides A, B, C, and D), have also been isolated from aerial parts. Two fla-
vonoids identified as 5,7,2′,3′-tetramethoxyflavanone and 5-hydroxy-7,2′,3′-trimethoxy flavone were
isolated from the whole plant. Previous reports indicated that 12 flavonoids and 14 diterpenoids have
been isolated from the aerial parts of the plant in China.
189,190
Pharmacological Studies —
Andrographis paniculata
extracts and isolates are known to pos-
sess a variety of pharmacological activities and have been tested against a variety of biological sys-
tems to correlate the observed traditional uses with evidence from laboratory and clinical studies.
They exhibit antipyretic, antiinflammatory, antimalarial, antihepatotoxic, antityphoid, antihyper-
tensive, and antifungal activities. Their use as a general immunostimulant agent has also been the
subject of many investigations. A study conducted at Bastyr University (USA) showed a significant
rise in the mean CD4 lymphocyte level of HIV subjects after administration of 10 mg/kg androgra-
pholide, the main constituent extracted from the leaves of the plant.
191
In another study conducted
on the cellular processes and targets modulated by andrographolide treatment in human cancer
and immune cells, andrographolide treatment inhibited the
in vitro
proliferation of different tumor
cell lines, representing various types of cancers. The compound exerts direct anticancer activity
on cancer cells by cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase through induction of cell cycle inhibitory
protein and decreased expression of cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4). Immunostimulatory activ-
ity of andrographolide is evidenced by increased proliferation of lymphocytes and production of
interleukin 2. Andrographolide also enhanced the tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) production
and CD marker expression, resulting in increased cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes against cancer
cells, which may contribute to its indirect anticancer activity.
Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of
A. paniculata
and its constituents have been vali-
dated in several experimental models. For example, in nicotine-induced inhibition of mitochondrial
