A Literary Review on Vriddhadaru and Kankola as Renoprotective Medicinal Plants
Dr. Priyanka Chakraborty1, Dr. O.P Gupta2
1. PG Scholar, Department of Kayachikitsa, Government Ayurvedic college and hospital, Guwahati, Assam, Pin-781014
2. Professor, Department of Kayachikitsa, Government Ayurvedic college and hospital, Guwahati, Assam, Pin-781014.
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Priyanka Chakraborty, PG Scholar, Department of Kayachikitsa, Government Ayurvedic college and hospital, Guwahati, Assam, Pin-781014.
Received Date: January 12, 2021
Publication Date: February 01, 2021
Abstract
Background: The green ecology is surrounded by innumerable plants having different medicinal values. Some of them are in use but a lot is yet to be discovered and used for the human tribe so that they need not be dependent on artificial and toxic chemicals. Ayurveda has a holistic approach. It nourishes and clears out the toxins from the body and believes in the organic way of treatment.
Purpose: In Ayurveda, there has been mentioning of various medicinal plants that are efficient in protecting the kidneys from disease causing harmful agents. Out of several herbal plants, Vriddhadaru and Kankola have their independent efficacy in renoprotection.
Methods: The review has been established based on both Ayurvedic classics and modern experimental studies.
Result: The article establishes the fact that Vriddhadaru and Kankola can be used as a single drug or as combined treatment with other medicinal herbs as nephroprotective.
Conclusion: Various nephroprotective plants are being used regularly by Ayurvedic practitioners for the management of nephropathy. Among them, vriddhadaru and kankola can prove to be effective in the management of nephropathy.
Keywords: Ecology, Ayurveda, Vriddhadaru, Kankola, Nephroprotective.
Abbreviations
ACE- Angiotensin-converting enzyme, ARB- Angiotensin II receptor blocker
eGFR- estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate
Introduction
The kidneys play a vital role in maintaining the homeostasis of the body. The drugs or the toxic chemicals in the form of edible items that are ingested have to get eliminated from the body. The greatest proportion of drug excretion occurs through the kidneys. This makes the kidney more vulnerable to toxicity and acute injury. As a result, nephrotoxicity has become one of the major causes of nephropathy in the world’s population.Obesity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and drugs are the major risk factor for renal dysfunction as of today.
The damage to the nephrons can be both reversible and irreversible. The impairment in renal function leads to decreased eGFR and retention of metabolic by-products resulting in progressive renal failure. The lifechanging microvascular complications are now challenging the morbidity and mortality with high health cost rates to every group of society. Nephropathy is one of the causes of End-stage renal disease with an increased incidence of dialysis and renal transplantation.
In modern medicine, ACE inhibitors and ARB are the drug of choice for the management of progressive nephropathy. In the end stage, Renal replacement becomes the only option for decreasing the progression. This as a result not only increases more side effects and risks but also increases the cost rates which a few patients can avail themselves. (27,23)
Ayurveda approaches holistic management which destroys disease from the root. Several plants are having medicinal values and yet to be discovered. Various nephroprotective plants can be used regularly by ayurvedic practitioners for the management of nephropathy. Among them, vriddhadaru and kankola may have the efficacy to be effective in the management of nephropathy.
Method
The review has been done based on Brihat trayee, Ashtanga hridaya, Bhavprakash Nighantu and other experimental and evidence-based research papers on Vriddhadaru and Kankola.
VRIDDHADARU
BOTANICAL NAME: Argyreia speciosa Linn fam.
FAMILY: Convolvulaceae
SYNONYMS(18) : vriddhadaru, vriddhadaraka, samudrasosha, chagalanghri, antakotarapushpi
VERNACULAR NAMES: (18,35)
Sanskrit: vriddhadaru
Hindi: samanadar ka pat, samundrasokha, ghav-patta
Bengali: bichtarak, guguli
Marathi: samundarsokh, samudrasoka
Gujarati: samundarsosh, vardhara
Malayalam: samudrapaccha, samudraphala
Tamil: samutrappalai
Telegu: samudrappala
Kannada: chandrapada
English: elephant creeper, woolly morning glory
Morphology (6,35,29)
Vriddhadaru is a woody climber found throughout India, up to an altitude of 300m, common in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and South India. The stem is white and tormentose in the young stages. The older stems are mostly transversely elongated. The lower surface of the leaf is entirely covered with hairs on the upper surface of the leaf is green, glabrous and shows the markings of nerves by slight depression. The flower is bell-shaped; the outer part is white and the inner is violet. The fruit is green when it is unripe and white on ripe. The seeds are 0.5-0.75 cm long and more or less triangular.
Figure 1
Phytochemistry
Figure 2
Seeds: The seeds yield fatty oil which is found to contain the glycosides of palmitic acid, oleic acid, stearic acid, behenic acid, linoleic acid and linolenic acid. (6,13,21).
The free amino acids reported in the seeds are glutamic acid, glycine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, praline and alpha-aminobutyric acid. (6,22)
Fruits: Beta-sitosterol, p-hydroxycinnamoyl octadecanolate, n-triacontanol and caffeic acid were reported in fruits of vriddhadaru. (6,32)
Leaves: The petroleum ether extract of the leaves of vriddhadaru yielded 1-triacontanol, epifriedelinol acetate, epifriedelinol and beta sitosterol. (6,15)
The leaves were found to contain flavonoids, quercetin, kaempferol and kaempferol 3-0-L-rhamnopyranoside. (6,33,31)
Roots: The hexane extract of the roots of vriddhadaru yielded tetradecanyl palmitate, 5,8-oxidotetracosan-10-one. (6,16)
Two aryl esters characterized as stigmasteryl-p-hydroxy cinnamate and hexadecanyl p-hydroxycinnamate along with coumarin scopoletin were isolated from the root. (6,7)
Ayurvedic Pharmacology (9,18)
Rasa – katu, tikta, kasay
Guna – laghu, snigdha
Vipak – madhura
Virya – ushna
Dosha karma – vata-kapha samak
1. Vriddhadaru has been mentioned as Rasayan in Chakradatta (Rasayanadhikara), Bangasena (Rasayan) and Vrindamadhava.
2. Bhavprakash has mentioned vriddhadaru in the treatment of aamvat, vatarsha, sotha, prameha. It exhibits shukra, ayu, bala, medha, agni, swara, kanti vriddhi.
3. According to Kaideva Nighantu, along with rasayana effect, vriddhadaru can be used in sotha, aamvat, vatarsha, vatameha.
4. Powder of vriddhadaru root being dried after giving bhavana with shatavari swaras if taken with ghrita for one-month results medha and smriti.
(Bhaisajya Ratnavali, Rasayan prakaranam,13)
Dose (18) : 3-6g (root powder) and 1-3g (seed powder)
Parts used (18) : root and seed
Pharmacological Activities of Vriddhadaru
1.Immunomodulatory effect: (25)
A 95% ethanolic extract of dried root of Argyreia speciosa was reported to stimulate both cellular and humoral immunity.
2.Anti-oxidant effect and hepatoprotective: (24)
Ethanol extract and ethyl acetate extract (200mg and 400mg/kg) of Argyreia speciosa root showed hepatoprotective activity against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. They also showed in-vivo anti-oxidant activity against oxidative stress in rats.
3.Anti- diabetic activity: (14)
The ethanolic extract of Argyreia speciosa recorded an improvement percentage of glucose level and glycogen content.
4.Nephroprotective effect: (14)
On the histopathological study of diabetic rats, the ethanolic extract of Argyreia speciosa in photomicrographs of kidneys (H&EX200) showed that the Argyreia speciosa reversed the abnormal histology of renal cortex areas induced by alloxan with normal glomeruli, bowman’s capsule and associated tubular structures.
5.Wound healing effect: (2)
The leaves of Argyreia speciosa increases the rate of wound contraction, breaking strength, hydroxyl protein content and reduced epithelialization point.
Kankola
Figure 3
BOTANICAL NAME: Piper cubeba Linn. Fam
FAMILY: Piperaceae
SYNONYMS(10,18) : gandhamaricha, sugandhamaricha, katukaphala, kola, katuphala, bahuphala, bahuphala, sthoola maricha, madyochosita, krutaphala, kolaka, dweepa maricha, koshaphala, madhavochita, rudrasanmita, kankushtha.
VERNACULAR NAMES(18) :
Sanskrit: kankola
Hindi: kababchini, sheetalchini
Bengali: kababchini
Marathi: himsimiri
Gujarati: tadamiri
Tamil: valmulaku
Telegu: tokamiriyalu
Arabic: kababesini, habbul-urus
English: tail pepper, cubeb
Morphology (1)
Figure 4
Kankola is a creeper with a strong stem. The leaf is 5-6 inches long, heart-shaped and dark green. The flowers are small and found in clusters. The fruits are round similar to maricha but a little big than later. The fruits are having a strong smell. It is also known as tail pepper because of the stalk in fruits. The fruit is collected before it gets ripe. The seed is hard and white.
Phytochemistry
Piper cubeba is rich in alkaloid, glycosides, flavonoids, tannins and anthraquinones. It contains mainly cubebin, cubeb oil, cubebic acid. The plant also contains piperine, sesamin, cubebinin, yatein, cubeninone. (1)
Cubebin, hinokinin, yatein, dihydrocubebin, etc. have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anti-oxidant and anti-cancer activities. (26,34,20,5,19)
Several polyhydroxy cyclohexanes have been isolated from Piper cubeba and have shown to display tumor inhibitory, anti-leukemia and antibiotic activities. (3)
Figure 5
Ayurvedic Pharmacology (10,18)
Rasa: katu, tikta
Guna: laghu, ruksha, tikshna
Vipak: katu
Virya: ushna
Karma: vata-kapha hara, hridya, dourgandhya hara, krimi, agnimandya, ruchya, asyadourgandhya, deepan, pachan.
Dose (18) : 1-3g (powder)
Parts used (18) : fruit
Pharmacological Activities of Kankola
1.Anti-microbial activity: (4)
The study showed that the ethanolic extract of Piper cubeba under various extracts like carbon tetrachloride, benzene, chloroform, ethylactetate, acetone, ethanol and distilled water has anti-bacterial effect against Escherichia coli, Bacillus megaterium, Staphylococcus albus, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and has anti-fungal effect against Aspergillus niger.
2.Anti-oxidant activity: (26)
The result of the study suggested that the ethanolic extract of the Piper cubeba has higher free radical scavenging activity in comparison to Piper nigrum due to presence of phytochemical constituents especially polyphenols.
3.Nephroprotective activity: (26)
An experimental study by Unani medicine showed the nephroprotective effect of Kababchini (Piper cubeba) against Gentamicin induced nephrotoxicity in Wistar rats. The efficacy was assessed based on biochemical estimation (urea and creatinine) and histopathological examination of the kidney pre and post-treatment.
4.Diuretic activity: (17)
The study showed that the increased urine volume significantly and also potentiates excretion of sodium in urine output.
Discussion
According to Ayurveda, vrikka roga occurs due to the vitiation of Pachak pitta, samana vayu, apana vayu and avalambak kapha. These dushita dosha again vitiates the agni, dhatus, lasika, vasa and oja resulting in increased production of dravamsa or drava padartha leading to bahudrava. The abaddha meda leads to the avarana of apan vayu in the pakwasay region ultimately results vrikka dosha. The oja which got vitiated by the kleda comes out through the mutravaha srota leading to oja kshay. At last, in the samprapti of vrikka dosha(nephropathy), agnimandyata, dhatu kshay and oja kshay are seen. (12)
The extract of Vriddhadaru and Kankola independently has showed various specific activities which can establish the fact that they can be used in Nephropathy.
Katu rasa present in both Vriddhadaru and Kankola possess guna like laghu and ruksha also does the shoshan of drava padartha, kleda and kapha. As kapha and kleda have sheeta guna; ushna virya in vriddhadaru being opposite does samprapti bhedana. Katu vipaka present in Kankola also helps to destroy kleda and kapha. (11,8)
Kashaya and tikta rasa present in both Vriddhadaru and Kankola do the kleda and meda shoshana and help in mitigating the bahu Drava and abaddha meda from the srota. (11,8)
Here in vrikka dosha (nephropathy), apan vayu and samana vayu are dushta due to ruksha, laghu and sheeta guna. So, ushna virya and madhura vipaka and snigdha gunatmaka dravya (11,8) like Vriddhadaru may work well. And as it is a rasayana, it helps in the rejuvenation of the viable nephrons.
Conclusion
Ayurveda is based on holistic approach to the treatment of diseases. It has been shown both in classics and modern researches that vriddhadaru and kankola have efficacy in the management of nephropathy. Studies have mentioned their activity as anti-oxidant, immunomodulatory, anti-diabetic, diuretic and nephroprotective. This article has tried to establish the fact that vriddhadaru and Kankola have the potential in the management of Nephropathy as Reno protective drugs independently.
SOURCE OF SUPPORT: None
CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None declared
AUTHOR DECLARATION: We wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.
References
9.Bhavprakash Nighantu, Purvakhanda, Guducyadi varga, samudraphala
10.Bhavprakash Nighantu, Purvakhanda, Karpuradi varga, sheetalchini
18.Acharya Priyavrata Sharma, Dravyaguna vijnan, volume 2
23.J Larry, Jameson et al, “Harrison’s nephrology and acid base disorder”.
27.Neil Turner et al, Oxford textbook of clinical nephrology
33.Daniel M, 1989; “Polyphenols of some Indian vegetables”; Current Science; 58:1332-4
Volume 2 Issue 1 February 2021
©All rights reserved by Dr. Priyanka Chakraborty
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