1.0 INTRODUCTION:

Herbal medicines are thought to be a plentiful supply of components that can be utilized to make drug-like, non-pharmacopeial, or artificial medications. Other than that, many plants have played a crucial part in the evolution of human civilizations all across the world. Herbal folk remedies have long been recognized as essential in the basic health care of ethnic groups all over the world^1,2.

Medicinal plants are a goldmine of putative medications, and there has been a growing understanding of the relevance of medicinal plants in recent years. Plant-based medicines are readily available, lower priced, safe, and effective, with few adverse effects³. Nepal is rich in biological resources, with medicinal and aromatic plants being particularly well-known.

Local people and herbal practitioners collect plants and plant resources for therapeutic use from a variety of ecosystems, including forests, bushland, meadows, and cultivated fields, and employ them as crude medications. It is well known that the methods used by indigenous peoples, healers, jhakris, and amchies to treat a disease with a certain plant are very different from one another ⁴.

Astilbe rivularies is an herb that develops up to 2.5 meters tall. Lower leaflets are generally further split into compound leaves. Leaflets are 3-5, 3-8cm long, oval, long-pointed, with a heart-shaped base, from stalked to stalk-free, and rough on the veins. Long hairs cover the leaf-stalks and rachis. Stipules are joined to the stalk and are roughly 1cm long. The petals are carried in triangular bunches of tiny greenish yellow blossoms. Villous glandular peduncle flowers are bracteate, with lance-shaped bracts that are about 2mm long. Sepals are persistent, oblong, and basally adnate to the ovary. Petals are absent. The filaments of the stamens are 2.5mm long and located opposite the sepals. Each carpel is conical, oval, with a short style.

The active compounds in plants, such as alkaloids, polyphenols, tannin, and phenolic compounds, have medical relevance because they have a specific physiology in the body.

The Saxifragaceae family's rhizomatous perennial herb Astilbe rivularis. The species has been classified as vulnerable. Traditional healers have been using this plant to heal lesions⁵, hemorrhage after pregnancy, soreness, extreme fatigue, cholera, and gastroenteritis⁶. It is an important medicinal plant utilized by ethnocultural groups in India and Nepal's Eastern Himalayan area. Almost every component of the plant is utilized as medicine, with the rhizome being the most popular⁷.

Morphology:

Table1: Taxonomical classification of Astilbe rivularis

Taxonomical classification of Astilbe rivularis
Domain:	Eukaryote
Kingdom:	Plantae
Phylum:	Spermatophyte
Subphylum:	Angiospermae
Class:	Dicotyledonae
Order:	Saxifragaies
Family:	Saxifragaceae
Genus:	Astilbe
Species:	Astilbe rivularis

Astilbe rivularis grows in between 0.6 to 2.5 meter tall. It has brown long succulent hairy stems, leaves are 2 or 3 pinnated; common petiole and petioles are brown and long. Leaves are petiolate, tightly to widely elliptic, elongated or expansively, trigonal, closely polyhedral or lobed. Vessels are fibrous.

Four to five angiosperms are present, which are green, oblong or ellipse to elongated. Flowers are missing and 0.2 – 2.4mm wide⁶.

Habitat:

There are 20 species in the genus. Astilbe rivularis is the most frequent species among them¹¹. Astilbe rivularis (Saxifragaceae) is widely used in traditional and local medicines in Darjeeling and Sikkim, parts of the Eastern Himalaya known as Buro-okahti in Nepalese and Pango in Lepcha languages. The plant is commonly available in the temperate Himalayas between 1700-2900 m altitude. Astilbe is a genus of 18 perennial herb flowering plants belonging to the family Saxifragaceae that is native to Himalayan ravines and woods in Asia and North America⁸. The Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Nepal, India, and Southern Tibet are the most common locations¹¹.

Fig: 1. Astilbe rivularis

Astilbe rivularis includes two variety:

1. Astilbe rivularis var. angustifoliolata H. Hara

2. Astilbe rivularis var. myriantha (Diels). J.J, Pan

Phyto-Constituents:

Astilbe rivularis was subjected to phytochemical screening. Methanol crude extracts of Astilbe rivularis were found to be rich in alkaloids, tannins, and coumarins¹². The therapeutic usefulness of the rhizome of Astilbe rivularis (AR) in lowering various forms of illnesses as well as diabetes was discovered in a survey on the usage of medicinal plants by tribes and local populations of Darjeeling's mountainous terrain. As a result, phytochemical classes were studied in the methanolic extract of the rhizome, followed by GC-MS identification of main phytoconstituents. In vitro, Astilbe rivularis rhizome extract exhibited antioxidant and antibacterial properties. When compared to normal cells like Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK-293) and Liver (WRL-68), the extract demonstrated a much stronger cytotoxic effect against the Neuroblastoma cell line (SHSY5Y).

The main chemical compounds found are astilbic acid, astilbin, aticoside, dimethylaesculetin, and dimethylaesculetin. Peltoboykinoleic acid, daucosterol, eucryphin, palmitine acid, scopoletin, sitosterol, and stilbene are examples of these compounds^11.

Structural presentation of some of the chemical compounds found in Astilbe rivularis are shown below:

Pharmacological Activity:

The plant extract was found to be effective against many ailments. It is used in the treatment of ulcers, bleeding during child birth, inflammation, body aches, diarrhea, and dysentery. It has been done with the help of the plant Astilbe rivularis. The root powder of A. rivularis was shown to possess anti-peptic activity in both gastric and duodenal ulcers. Aside from the rhizome, the leaflets of A. rivularis have also been proven to have anti-ulcerogenic properties. It is well known for its antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant activities⁷. Astilbe rivularis powder form is used as an astringent¹⁵. Stomach discomfort, diarrhea, dysentery, headache, cough, rheumatoid arthritis, back pain, wound healing, weakness, avian plague, peptic ulcer, and malaria have all been treated with the rhizome of Astilbe rivularis^8,9.There are some specific uses of phytoconstituents found in it that are explained below.

Antimicrobial activity:

Anti- bacterial activity was performed for test compounds to identify the activity¹⁴. Using the agar disc diffusion method, the antibacterial properties of Astilbe rivularies were found to be effective against Escherichia coli, with an extraction yield of 14.77 percent. The most potency of methanol extracts of Astilbe rivularies dried rhizome against E. coli was 100 percent¹⁵.

By using the agar well diffusion method, the antibacterial effect of Astilbe rivularies extract was evaluated against five different bacteria, including Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Ameromonas liquefaciens, Flexibactor sp., and Pseudomonas sp. It was evident that the rhizome extract showed antibacterial effect against both gram positive and gram-negative bacteria^16,17. Astilbe rivularis has a substantial impact on bacterial management and cure⁷.

Cytotoxic activity:

To assess the cytotoxic activity of the plant root extract, the standard MTT [(3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-di-phenyltetrazolium bromide)-2,5-di-phenyltetrazolium bromide] assay¹⁸. DPPH, ABTS, and DCT-DA based ROS scavenging revealed that the extract was a source of efficient anti-oxidants. Astilbe rhizome extract had a major effect on the cancer cell line, but it didn't have any effect on the other cell lines¹⁶. The results showed that Astilbe rivularis was tested in vitro for antioxidant activity using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay, and the results showed combined aspects¹⁸. As a result, frequent use of Astilbe rivularis rhizome, which contains significant antioxidants, may protect against the damaging effects of free radicals²⁰. The antioxidant activity of chromatographically isolated portions of pulverized leaves of Astilbe rivularis^{21, 22}was investigated, and five fractions were separated after solvent extraction, acid hydrolysis, and chromatographic separation²². Therefore, the anti-oxidant properties of Astilbe rivularis are well known^23,²⁴. A spectroscopy approach was used to determine the total phenolic compound^25,26.

Anti-peptic ulcer activity:

The anti-ulcer properties of fruits and vegetables have been documented in the literature, mainly from the region of the Himalayan range of Sikkim and Darjeeling ²⁷. In an experiment where Astilbe rivularis was tested as an anti-peptic ulcer agent, using wistar stained albino rats, eight rats were used for each set of experiments. Roots of A. rivularis were used as a test drug and omeprazole as a control. Gastric/duodenal lesions were counted and a mean ulcerative index was calculated. The results showed that the antiulcer activity of A. rivularis was, however, less than that of omeprazole but could protect significantly from the formation of gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer²⁸.

Anti-inflammatory activity:

Inflammation is the immune system's primary defense in the face of infections, discomfort, or membrane damage. The inflammatory stages encompass a series of processes, but each of the traditional inflammatory indicators, dolor (pain), calor (heat), rubor (redness), tumour (swelling), and functio laesa (functioning), is involved (dysfunction of the organs)²⁹.A carrageenan (1% w/v suspension) injection was given to rats in their hind feet for each set of tests that we did. The test group was given orally 100 and 200mg/kg of saline, a reconstructed mixture of A. rivularis extract, one hour before carrageenan injection. The inflammation was quantified by using a vernier caliper. The % inhibition of edoema was calculated for each group³⁰. The A. rivularis extract showed a quicker anti- inflammatory response³¹. Astilbe rivularis has been observed to show anti-inflammatory activity due to the presence of a berginin constituent³².

CONCLUSION:

Astilbe rivularis is a well-known traditionally used plant. In addition to its medical benefits as a folk medicine it claims special uses during the diseases like diarrhea, bleeding during child birth, as an anti- inflammatory, anti- bacterial, ulcer etc. Astilbe rivularis plants are widely available in Nepal and cultivated in Himalayan region of Darjeeling and Sikkim. It is also very important in number of activities like anti- peptic ulcer activity, cytotoxic activity. Chemically Astilbe rivularis contain various phytoconstituents including alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, saponins, terpenoids, steroids, reducing sugar, tannins and phenols and glycoside. It can be thus considered Astilbe rivularis as important gift from nature to mankind.

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Received on 14.05.2022 Modified on 19.06.2022

Res. J. Pharmacognosy and Phytochem. 2022; 14(4):227-230.

DOI: 10.52711/0975-4385.2022.00040

Alkaloid	Saponin	Coumarin	Glycoside	Tannins & phenol	Reducing sugar	Flavonoid	Steroids	Terpenoid
+Ve	+Ve	+Ve	-Ve	-Ve	+Ve	+Ve	-Ve	+Ve