dried stems in jaundice, anaemia, polyuria and skin diseases.
The stem contains alkaloidal constituents, including berberine; bitter principles, including columbin, chasmanthin, palmarin and tinosporon, tinosporic acid and tinosporol.
The drug is reported to possess one- fifth of the analgesic effect of sodium salicylate. Its aqueous extract has a high phagocytic index.
Alcoholic extract of the stem shows activity against E. coli. Active principles were found to inhibit in vitro the growth of Myco bacterium tuberculosis.
Oral administration of alcoholic extract of the root resulted in a significant reduction in blood and urine glucose and in lipids in serum and tissues of
Toddalia asiatica (Linn.) Lam. 663
alloxan diabetic rats. (Phytother Res.
2003 17 (4), 410—3.)
A significant reduction in levels of SGOT, SGPT, ALP and bilirubin were observed following T cordfolia treatment during CC14 intoxication in mature rats. (I. Toxicol Sci. 2002, 27 (3), 139—46.) The plant extract showed in vitro inactivating activity in Hepatitis- B surface antigen. (Indian Drugs, 1993, 30, 549.)
A new hypoglycaemic agent was isolated from the plant; it was found to be 1,2-substituted pyrrolidine.
The starch from roots and stem, used in chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, contains a polysaccharide having 1—4 glucan with occasional branching points.
Dosage Stem—3—6 g powder; 20— 30 g for decoction. (API, Vol. I.)
Tinospora crispa
Linn. Miers ex Hook. f. Thoms.
Synonym T. rumphii Boerl.
Family Men ispermaceae.
Habitat Assam.
Ayurvedic Guduuchi (related species).
Action Plant—diuretic, as powerful a febrifuge as cinchona.
The plant contains a bitter principle picrotein and furanoditerpene glycoside, tinocrisposide.
Stem, roots and tubers contain a diterpenoid—tinosporan, which appears to be closely related to columbin.
Tinospora malabarica
Miers ex Hook. f.
