Research on Aristolochia indica Linn

A Research on 'Aristolochia indica Linn'

A.    Introduction:                                   

 Local Name     :          Ishworee

            Common Name:         The Indian Birthwort

            Scientific Name:         Aristolochia indica Linn

            Availability      :          Throughout the year

            Habitat             :          Southern India and Sri Lanka

Aristolochia is an important genus widely cultivated and had long been known for their extensive use in traditional Chinese medicine. The genus has attracted so much great interest because of their numerous biological activity reports and unique constituents, aristolochic acids. In 2004, we reviewed the metabolites of Aristolochia species which have appeared in the literature, concerning the isolation, structural elucidation, biological activity and literature references. In addition, the nephrotoxicity of aristolochic acids, biosynthetic studies, ecological adaptation, and chemotaxonomy researches were also covered in the past review.

B. Uses of Herbs

Direct Use:

 1. The plant has been used as a traditional medicine for post-delivery-infections and snakebites.                                                                                                                                          2. The plant is used as an aphrodisiac, anthelmintic and appetizer.

           3.  The leaves of the plant are crushed and rubbed on the snake bitten    areas. 10-20 ml of this juice mixed with pepper powder is given internally for 6-7 times in a day.

Indirect Use:

1.      Crushed root is advised for reducing itching. 

2.       The juice of the leaves is used to relieve snake bites and coughs.

3.      The roots of the plant are mixed with honey and are used to relieve leprosy in traditional medicine.

3. Methods of Preparation:

Six Herbal Compositions for effective treatment of HIV and AIDS are provided to reduce their hardships, method for preparation thereof and a method for the treatment of AIDS using said compositions. These compositions are prepared by extracting pulverized powder from various parts of the plants. These compositions mainly reduce viral load, increase the strength of immunization system and CD4 Count. Solvent extraction was done using Soxhlet apparatus with solvents in the increasing order of polarity from Hexane, choloroform, acetone and methanol. Extracts were concentrated under vacuum using Buchi rotavapour. Concentrated extracts were stored in air tight screw cap vials till further use.

In addition to its carcinogenicity, aristolochic acid is also highly nephrotoxic and may be a causative agent in Balkan Nephropathy. However, despite these well-documented dangers, aristolochic acid still is present sometimes in herbal remedies, primarily because of substitution of innocuous herbs with Aristolochia species. The alcoholic extract is more toxic than the water extract.

At last, I would like to thank our O.B.T. teacher Mr. Amit Sijapati for giving us this project which helped us to know about medicinal herbs. We also enjoyed a lot researching about the different kinds of medicinal herbs.

Submitted By: Romit Maharjan

                8 'B'