INTRODUCTION:

Apamarga (A.aspera) is an important and easily available Ayurvedic herb mentioned in Vedic literature. People worship God with this plant in Hindu culture from ancient time, reason behind this may be, its various health benefits. Atharvaveda referred this drug as the “Lord of all plants” on earth because it can increase life span by wiping away all the diseases. Apamarga is useful to cure diseases caused by thirst and hunger, defects of the organs, speech; sterility, physical debility and all other ailments. Yajurveda has referred Apamarga by saying “Apamarga, please prevent us from ill actions and bad dreams”. Accordingly, Apamarga can enhance the will power and controls the minds of the persons who ever uses it¹. Phytochemical constituents isolated from plant are mainly flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, saponins, phytosterols; phenolic compounds etc which possesses activities like anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-oxidant, hypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, spermicidal and other various important medicinal properties². Traditionally, the plant is used in pneumonia, diarrhoea, dysentery, asthma, cough, dropsy, ulcers, piles, rheumatism, scabies snake bite and other skin diseases.

Apamarga (A.aspera) formulation with honey helps stimulate digestion owing to its digestive and appetizer traits. A handful of seeds may help to burn fat and shed surplus weight. The topical application of Achyranthes aspera leaves extract speeds up the wound healing process owing to its astringent and anti-inflammatory actions. Additionally, it also offers relief from ulcers due to gastroprotective activity. A paste of the roots is applied in opthalmia and opacity of the cornea in eye complaints. An infusion of the roots is a mild astringent and it is used for bowel complaints, night blindness, skin diseases and other complaints; it is also given in cases of menorrhagia, piles and inflammation. The juice of leaves or plant is used in large doses hasten labour pains or may cause abortion. The ash of the seed containing a high proportion of potash and therefore the ash is an important constituent alkaline medicine³.

Distribution:

It grows throughout the tropical and warmer regions of the world. The weed is also found in many other countries of Asia as well as Africa, America, Europe and Australia. It was found to be the most prevalent herb in Shivbari sacred grove of Himachal Pradesh, India and an exotic medicinal plant of district Lalitpur, Uttar Pradesh, India⁴.

Morphology:

It is a small herb, 1 - 3 feet high, commonly found as a weed throughout India upto 3000 feet Root: Cylindrical root, 0.1-1.0cm in thickness, slightly ribbed, gradually tapering, yellowish-brown in color, secondary and tertiary roots present. Stem: Square, yellowish-brown, branched, hairy, erect, cylindrical, solid, and hollow when dry. Leaf: Simple, subsessile, slightly acuminate estipulate, wavy margin obovate, petiolate or elliptic, ovate, opposite, decussate, and pubescent due to the presence of thick coat of long simple hairs. 5-22cm long with 2-5cm broad. Occur in various sizes. Type of stomata are present on the lower epidermis is anomocytic. Flower: Arranged in long spikes form in inflorescences, 8- 30cm long, 3-7mm wide, bisexual greenish-white, numerous, sessile, bracteate with two bracteoles, one spine lipped, actinomorphic, hypogynous, 5 perianth segments, membranous, 5 stamens, short filament, anther, two celled, 7 gynoecium bicarpellary, syncarpous, ovary superior, single ovule; style, single stigma, white or red flower. Flowers appear during summer Fruit: An indehiscent dry utricle enclosed within bracteoles, persistent, and perianth. Seed: These are round at the base, sub-cylindric, truncate at the apex, endospermic, brown coloured⁵.

Phytochemical screening:

Freshly prepared extracts of different parts of plant were prepared in solvent such as alcohol, distilled water and pet ether and tested for the presence of various active phytocompounds like carbohydrates, alkaloids, amino acids, proteins, glycosides, phenolic compounds, saponins, flavonoids, tannins etc. Hydro-alcoholic extract was prepared using air dried coarse powder of the sample with Ethanol: Distilled water (50:50), with continuous hot extraction using Soxhlet apparatus and filtered. The extract was concentrated to get dry residue and stored in the desiccators and subjected to phytochemical screening. For extraction of flowers and fruits, flowers and fruits were carefully cleaned to remove foreign, earthy matter, and residual materials and extracted with pet ether. Phytochemical investigation was carried out for screening various types of secondary metabolites

Table1: Phytochemical study of different parts of Apamarga (A. aspera) ⁶.

Plant part	test	Aqueous extract	Alcoholc extract	Pet ether extract
Root	Carbohydrate	-ve	+ve	-ve
	Alkaloid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Amino acid	-ve	+ve	-ve
	Protein	+ve	+ve	-ve
	saponin	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Glycoside	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Phenolic comp	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Steroid	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Tannins	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Flavanoid	+ve	+ve	+ve
Stem	carbohydrate	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Alkaloid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Amino acid	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Protein	+ve	+ve	+ve
	saponin	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Glycoside	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Phenolic comp	-ve	+ve	-ve
	Steroid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Tannins	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Flavanoid	-ve	+ve	-ve
Leaf	Carbohydrate	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Alkaloid	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Amino acid	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Protein	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Saponin	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Glycoside	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Phenolic comp	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Steroid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Tannins	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Flavanoid	-ve	+ve	-ve
Seed	Carbohydrate	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Alkaloid	+ve	-ve	-ve
	Amino acid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Protein	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Saponin	-ve	-ve	-ve
	Glycoside	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Phenolic comp	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Steroid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Tannins	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Flavanoid	+ve	-ve	-ve
Whole plant	Carbohydrate	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Alkaloid	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Amino acid	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Protein	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Saponin	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Glycoside	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Phenolic comp	+ve	+ve	_-ve
	Steroid	+ve	+ve	+ve
	Tannins	+ve	+ve	-ve
	Flavanoid	+ve	+ve	-ve

Table 2: Phytochemical screening of hydro-alcoholic extract of seeds of Apamarga (A. aspera)⁷.

S. No.	Test	Result
1	Carbohydrates	-ve
2	Proteins	-ve
3	Amino acid	-ve
4	Glycosides	-ve
5	Alkaloids	+ve
6	Tannins	+ve
7	Steroids	-ve
8	Phenolic compound	+ve
9	Coumarin	+ve
10	Saponin	+ve
11	Resin	+ve
12	Starch	-ve

Table3: Phytochemical screening of pet ether extract of fruit and flower of Apamarga (A. aspera ) ⁸.

S. No.	Test	Result
1	carbohydrates	+ve
2	proteins	-ve
3	alkaloids	+ve
4	tannins	-ve
5	steroids	-ve
6	flavanoids	+ve
7	saponin	+ve

Pharmacological actions:

Anti-microbial:

An essential oil isolated from the shoots of Apamarga (A.aspera) a exhibited antifungal activity against Aspergillus carneus. The methanolic extract shows the maximum antibacterial activity against S. salivarius. Ethyl acetate extract of the seed stem and leaf, ethanol and methanol extracts of the leaf and stem, ethanolic extract of the leaves and stem, aqueous flower extract shows antibacterial activity. Both antibacterial and antifungal activity of petroleum ether, chloroform and methanol extracts of dried leaves have been reported^9,10,
11.

Larvicidal:

Root extract was found to have pronounced insect molting hormonal activity. Ethanol crude extract showed high larvicidal activity on the tick larvae against Boophilis microplus. Larvicidal saponins from leaf extracts have been tested against Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus. Ethyl acetate leaf extract was found to be active against Aedes subpictus mosquito larvae¹².

Antifertility:

The plant has been reported extensively as an antifertility agent. Whole plant benzene extract has shown abortifacient effect in mice with maximal activity. The aerial parts of the plant were reported to prevent pregnancy in adult female rats. The extracts of leaves, roots, and seeds of the plant have been used for control of fertility, in placental retention, and in postpartum bleeding. The benzene extract of the stem bark shows abortifacient activity in the rat. The ethanol extract of the root was found to be reproductively toxic and had spermicidal action in vitro and in vivo studies. In vitro contraceptive spermicidal activity of composite extract of Apamarga (A. aspera) on human semen has been reported¹³.

Anti-cancerous:

The plant has been reported to have cancer chemopreventive activity and antitumor property. Non alkaloid fractions of the plant were found to be valuable antitumour promoters. Leaves extracted in methanol were found to have inhibitory activity against human pancreatic cancer cells indicating its anti-proliferative and anti-cancer properties. Swiss albino mice induced by intraperitonial injection of mineral oil was used to screen anti-cancerous efficacy of Apamarga (A. aspera)^14,15,16.

Hypoglycaemic:

Ethanolic leaves extract of Apamarga (A.aspera) has shown in-vivo anti diabetic activity against Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats¹⁷.

Hypolipidemic:

The alcoholic extract of Apamarga (A. aspera) was found to lower serum cholesterol (TC), phospholipid (PL), triglyceride (TG) and total lipids (TL) in triton induced hyperlipidemic rats. In sesame oil feed rats, hypolopidemic efficacy of the plant was tested. The plant’s activity on sesame oil induced lipid peroxidation has been reported¹⁸.

Antinociceptive and Anti-inflammatory:

Alcoholic extract of Apamarga (A.aspera) has been reported for Antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory activity¹⁹.

Antioxidantand wound healing activity:

Antioxidant potential of the Aqueous extract of the plant was evaluated by using (DPPH) scavenging assay. The extracts responded significantly in both the wound models tested. Also, the plant exhibited good antioxidant effect by preventing the formation of free radicals in the two models studied²⁰.

Diuretic:

Methanolic extract of whole plant of Apamarga (A. aspera) was investigated for its diuretic potential. The methanolic extract treated rats showed high diuretic effect as compared to control but this effect was less than furosemide. Significant increase in renal clearance of sodium, potassium and chloride ions was observed in treated and standard groups²¹.

Anti-fistula-in-ano and piles:

Apamarga (A. aspera) is one of the ingradient of Ksharsutra- an Ayurvedic para-surgical measure is used in the treatment of fistula-in-ano. Ksharsutra can be used as a nonoperative treatment of high rectal fistula. The plant juice and ash were mentioned to be used to treat bleeding piles²².

Anti-arthritic:

Anti-arthritic activity of Achyranthine from Apamarga (A. aspera) has been reported. Ethanolic plant extract has shown antiarthritic activity. The plants efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis was also reported²³

Neuropharmacological:

Methanol extract of the plant was reported to have neuropharmacological (central nervous system depressant) activity. Its antidepressant and analgesic activity were reported ²⁴.

Anti-hepatitis:

Efficacy of the plant was tested as an ingredient of a formulation in patients of acute viral hepatitis Hepatoprotective activity of the plant was also observed ²⁵.

Anthelmintic:

The crude extract from leaves was preliminary screened for anthelmintic activity when tested against earthworms (Pheretima posthuma)²⁶.

DISCUSSION:

Morphological study of Apamarga (A. aspera) shows salient diagnostic features which would help in crude drug identification. While observing the phytochemical analysis, the different extractive solution of crude drug powder of Apamarga showed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, saponins, resins, flavonoids. The whole plant and its parts have been widely studied for its pharmacological activities and finds its position as a versatile plant having a wide spectrum of medicinal activities. The plant possesses many therapeutic and pharmacological activities, such as spermicidal, antiallergic, cardiovascular, nephroprotective, abortifacient, cancer antiparasitic, hypoglycemic, analgesic, antipyretic. It is used in treatment of many diseases like, boils, bronchitis, cold, cough, boils, colic, debility, dropsy, dysentery, ear complications, and headache.

CONCLUSION:

Study on macroscopic features of Apamarga (A.aspera) facilitate identification of genuine drug. Preliminary phytochemical study helps in standardizing the drug and give us an idea of phytochemistry of plant. pharmacological activities appeal for its use in prevention and cure of various ailments. Because of large number of phytoconstituents responsible for wide range pharmacological activity, this plant is called as “Lord of all plants”. It is now essential to conduct the next level of research by designing novel drug so that large scale population benefited with this rich heritage of our country.

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Received on 30.12.2022 Modified on 31.01.2023

Res. J. Pharmacognosy and Phytochem. 2023; 15(2):145-148.

DOI: 10.52711/0975-4385.2023.00022