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Morphology:
In the Indian system of medicine, giloy also known as
amrita and botanically known as Tinospora Cordifolia is a
frequently used herb.
It falls under the Ayurvedic category of Rasayana, or
rejuvenator tonics It is a climber that is easily
available throughout the countryside of Indian
sub-continent. Clinging on to other big trees like that of
margosa and mango, it throws aerial roots, thus fully casing
the host plant or tree.
A deciduous, woody climber. The leaves are heart
shaped with pointed leaf tip, dark green and borne
on a stout leaf stalk. The flowers are unisexual
(male and female flowers are separate), small,
yellow or greenish yellow. Flowers are borne on
nodes of old stem. They appear when the plant is
leafless. The fruits are called drupes, which are
found in clusters. Fruits look like bunch of red
cherries. Each drupe is small and globose. Fruits
turn red when ripened. The seeds are crescent
shaped.
Ayurvedic
Pharmacodynamic Properties:
| Rasa |
: |
Tikta
(bitter), Kashaya (astringent) |
| Guna |
: |
Laghu
(light), Snigdha (unctuous) |
| Virya |
: |
Ushna
(hot) |
|
Vipaka |
: |
Madhura (sweet) |
|
Doshakarma |
: |
Pacifies all three doshas (tridoshic) |
Useful parts:
Root, stem, leaf
Chemical constituent:
Guduchi contains number
of chemical constituents belonging to the different groups,
viz. terpenoids, alkaloids, lignans, steroids. Leaves of
Guduchi are rich in
protein (11.2%) and are fairly rich in calcium and
phosphorus. Stem of Guduchi
has reported to contain alkaloids like berberine, palmatine,
tembetarine and magnoflorine;
Its roots have reported to contain other alkaloids like
choline, tinosporin, isocolumbin, palmatine,
tetrahydropalmatine and mangnoflorine.
The
bitter principles have been identified as columbin,
chasmanthin and palmarin.
Medicinal properties:
The stem is bitter,
astringent, sweet, thermogenic, anodyne. It has
hypoglycemic, CNS depressant, antibacterial, antimicrobial,
antipyretic, antiinflammatory, antiarthritic, antiallergic,
hepatoprotective, analgesic, immunosuppressive,
immunostimulant, antineoplastic, antistress, antitumour,
adaptogenic, antileishmanial, antioxidant, hypotensive,
diuretic activities.
Medicinal Uses:
-
It stimulates the function of macrophage and neutrophil to
produce leucocytosis
-
It inhibits lipid peroxidation and free radical formation,
lowers the lipid levels especially cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol
in body
-
Guduchi is found very effective in preventing fibrous changes and promoting
regeneration of the liver against CCl4 induced hepatic
toxicity.
-
It
helps in raising the efficiency of protective WBC (white
blood cells) and builds up the body’s own protection
mechanism known as immune system thus helping in
generalized weakness.
-
It has anti-inflammatory property, hence it is used to treat various
painful conditions as gout and other kind of joint pains .
-
It is described as Medhya Rasayana in Charak Samhita and helps to increase the memory,
increase the concentration and recovering lost
memory .
-
It is used in various skin problems like eczema, psoriasis,
acne and leprosy.,
-
It is
antipyretic hence
used to treat fevers like bird flu, swine flu, ,
intermittent and chronic fevers and throat infection.
-
It is a great diuretic agent which helps in removing renal
stones and reducing blood
urea from the blood. It is immensely helpful in digestive
disorders as colitis, worm infestation, abdominal pain, vomiting and other liver disorders.
It possesses
antineoplastic activity and show cytotoxic effect on tumor
cells by reducing GSH (glutathione) concentration.
-
It alleviates body heat, thirst, burning sensation to the
skin and vomiting if any, due to pitta.
-
It also works well in the cutaneous rashes and condylomata,
in the secondary stage of syphilis.
Dose: Decoction-50-100ml
; Powder-3-6gm ; Sattva -1-2gm
Important formulation:
Amritarishta;
Guduchi
lauha; Guduchyadi churna; Guduchyadi kwatha
Summary:
By viewing recent clinical studies about Guduchi, it can be
concluded that guduchi is a powerful rasayana herb, it has anti
oxidant activity and anti ulcer activity.
Various Studies and
researches done on Guduchi's immune-boosting capacity show
it to be linked to ornamental the function of protective
cells called macrophages. The plant is used to perk up the
immune system and the body's struggle to infections. The
giloy satva (tinospora) is used in dyspepsia, fevers, and
urinary diseases.
Other research team has founded that extract of Tinospora cordifolia
roots acts as hypoglyceamic agent and was more prominent than
glibenclamide – A potent drug modern medicine for hyperglycaemia. It
is also effective in hyper-reactive malarious splenomegaly and acts
as antitumor activity.
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