Department of Pharmacology, National College of Pharmacy, Balraj Urs Road, Shivamogga (Dist) 577201
*Corresponding Author E-mail: syedshafeeq.r1994@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Herbel formulations are in great demand in the developed world for primary health care due their efficacy, safety and less side effects, a wide group of medicinal plants had been used over centuries as, cytotoxic, anti- inflammatory, anti-oxidant, the plant Cassia auriculata linn is a weidly used medicinal plant in india, and popular in indigenous system of medicines like Ayurveda and siddha, flower of this plants used in skin disorders, rheumatism, bark and leaves as astringent and anthelmintic, powered parts are used for opthalmia, conjunctivitis, diabetes etc. The present review is an effect to give a detailed survey on pharmacological activities of plant.
KEYWORDS: Opthalmia, Avarike, Bisexual, anti-tuburcular, Terminal, Infloresence,.
INTRODUCTION:
Cassia auriculata Linn (Family: Caesalpiniaceae) commonly known as Tanners Senna, is distributed throughout hot deciduous forests of India and holds a very prestigious position in Ayurveda and Siddha systems of medicine. Its bark is used as an astringent, leaves and fruits are used anthelminthic1, The root cures tumors, skin diseases, and asthma; leaves are anthelmintic, good for ulcers, diarrhea, and leprosy; and the flowers are used in the treatment of urinary discharge, diabetes, and dysentery2. C. auriculata is also one of the major components of a beverage called “kalpa herbal tea” which has been widely consumed by people suffering from diabetes mellitus, constipation, and urinary tract diseases3. An alter-native preparation for diabetes medication is a mixture called “avarai panchaga choornam” which is prepared from dried and powdered plant parts and commonly used for opthalmia, con-junctivitis, and urinary infections (equal amount of leaves, roots, flowers, bark, and unripe fruits)4.
The plant has been reported to possess antipyretic5, hepatoprotective6 anti peroxidative7 and microbicidal activity8. The flowers are used to treat urinary discharges, nocturnal emissions, diabetes and throat irritation9. They are one of the constituent of polyherbal formulation
“Diasulin”in the concentration range of 40 mg/dl which is proven to have anti diabetic activity10. The dried flower bud powder is used as a substitute for tea in case of diabetic patients and it is also supposed to improve the complexion in women. The present investigation deals with extraction of essential oils, their GC analysis and purification from the leaves of Cassia auriculata linn.
Botanical Name:
Cassia auriculata L, densistipulatatanb:
Family:
fabaceae (caesalpiniaceae)
Vernacular Names11:
Kannada - Avarike,
Hindi - tarwar,
English – Tannners cassia(avaram senna),
Tamil - avaria, Telugu - tamgedu.
Avaram (Cassia auriculata Linn), family Caesalpiniaceae, is also known as Avaram tree, The leaves are alternate, stipulate, paripinnate compound, very numerous, closely placed, rachis 8.8-12.5 cm long, narrowly furrowed, slender, pubescent, with an erect linear gland between the leaflets of each pair, leaflets 16-24, very shortly stalked 2-2.5 cm long 1-1.3 cm broad, slightly overlapping, oval oblong, obtuse, at both ends, mucronate, glabrous or minutely downy, dull green, paler beneath, stipules very large, reniform-rotund, produced at base on side of next petiole into a filliform point and persistent.
Its flowers are irregular, bisexual, bright yellow and large (nearly 5 cm across), the pedicels glabrous and 2.5 cm long. The racemes are few-flowered, short, erect, crowded in axils of upper leaves so as to form a large terminal inflorescence (leaves except stipules are suppressed at the upper nodes). The 5 sepals are distinct, imbricate, glabrous, concave, membranous and unequal, with the two outer ones much larger than the inner ones. The petals also number 5, are free, imbricate, crisped along the margin, bright yellow veined with orange. The anthers number 10 and are separate, with the three upper stamens barren; the ovary is superior, unilocular, with marginal ovules.
The fruit is a short legume, 7.5–11 cm long, 1.5 cm broad, oblong, obtuse, tipped with long style base, flat, thin, papery, undulately crimpled, pilose, pale brown. 12-20 seeds per fruit are carried each in its separate cavity13.
Photograph showing Cassia auriculata14.
Fig. 1: Plants of Cassia auriculata
Fig.2: Flowers of Cassia auriculata.
Fig.3: Fruits of Cassia auriculata.
Flowers are used for spermatorrhea. Dried powder of flowers mixed with goat milk and taken orally to prevent white discharge in kancheepuram district of Tamil nadu. Flowers are also used as food stuff by tribal people of Andhra Pradesh. Flowers are mixed with hole plant of Enicostemaaxillare and fruits of cuminumcyminum, given to cattle along with grass for three days prevent heat diseases. Other parts are used in urinary discharges and cures tumours, skin diseases and asthma. Powder of bark is used for fixing teeth and decoction for chronic dysentery and various skin disorders and body odour widely used in Rheumatism ,Conjunctiritis and diabetes15.
It is reported for ulcer, leprosy and liver disease16. The antidiabetic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant and hepatoprotective17 effect of Cassia auriculata have been reported. It was also observed that flower and leaf extract of Cassia auriculata shown to have antipyretic activity18.
1. In vitro evaluation of anticancer effect of Cassia auriculata leaf extract and Curcumin through induction of apoptosis in human breast and larynx cancer cell lines.:
Curcumin a plant product from Curcuma has long been demonstrated as an effective drug against various types of cancers. In this study, we found the ethanolic leaf extracts of Cassia auriculata (CALE) to have anticancer effect in a dose dependent manner in both human breast carcinoma (MCF-7) and human larynx cancer (Hep-2) cell lines. When Cassia auriculata extract and curcumin were combined, a synergistic effect of activity at a much lower concentration of both curcumin and CALE was noted. Analysis of mechanism reveled nuclear fragmentation and condensation associated with DNA laddering in gel electrophoresis and appearance of the A0 peak indicative of apoptosis. In addition the MCF-7 and Hep-2 cells showed decreased expression of anti apoptotic Bcl-2 protein and increased expression of Bax/Bcl-2 ratio upon treatment. These data suggest that the combination of curcumin and CALE could deserve consideration as an effective combination against cancer19.
The immunomodulatory activity of Cassia auriculata (CA)-derived polyphenols was tested on aged rats. Rats (24-26 months old) were given CA polyphenols supplementation at doses of 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg for 28 days. Flow cytometry analysis of CA polyphenols-treated aged rats showed increased T and B cells percentage along
with enhanced proliferation of splenocytes in both resting and LPS-stimulated cells. Increased percentage of pan T cells is further supported by an elevation of CD4+, CD8+, and CD4+CD25+ regulatory cells. In terms of innate immune cell activity, CA polyphenol supplementation reduced the oxidative burst activity of neutrophils in response to PMA and Escherichia coli activation. Our results collectively show that polyphenols derived from CA boost T cell immunity by increasing the number of T cells and its sensitivity towards stimulants and decreasing ROS production by neutrophils that could potentially harm multiple biological systems in aged individuals20.
The herbal plants are widely used as therapeutic agents. In this present study we evaluated the efficiency of Cissus quadrangularis, Michelia champaca and Cassia auriculata against hyperuricemia also called metabolic arthritis) is a disease due to a congenital disorder of uric acid metabolism. These three plant extract was tested with potassium oxonate and allopurinol to check activity against the gout disease. Then finally it was confirmed that given plant extract with those two chemicals reduced uric acid level in the blood and showed significant changes biochemical assays such as Creatinine, Urea, Total protein, Albumin, Globulin, and Albumin Globulin Ratio. The tests for rheumatoid arthritis such as RA test, C-Reactive protein test, and Antistreptolysin O test showed negative result after treatment21.
4. Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Flower Extracts of Cassia auriculata.:
The phytochemical profile and antibacterial activities of flower extracts of Cassia auriculata. Studies on the antibacterial activity of ethanol, methanol and aqueous extracts of dry flower and ethanol, methanol and acetone extracts of fresh flower of Cassia auriculata was conducted using agar disc diffusion method. The microorganisms used include Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella paratyphi A, Escherichia coli, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Vibrio cholerae and Shigella dysentrae. The maximum activity was observed against all organisms except Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae22.
In the present study methanol, chloroform and aqueous extracts of Cassia auriculata leaf were subjected for antimicrobial activity by well‑diffusion method against six bacterial strains namely Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis. The results revealed that the methanol and chloroform extracts exhibited strong inhibitory activity against all the tested organisms (zone of inhibition of 12‑20 mm), except Pseudomonas aeruginosa (zone of inhibition 10 mm or nil). The aqueous extracts showed moderate activity by „Zone of inhibition ≤12 or nil). The extracts were screened for their phytochemical constituents by standard protocols‟ and were shown to contain carbohydrates, proteins, alkaloids, flavonoids, steroids, saponins and tannins. The antibacterial activity of these extracts is possibly linked to the presence of flavonoids, steroid, saponins and/or tannins. Further studies are needed to determine the precise active principles from Cassia auriculata23.
6. Anti-oxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Cassia auriculata (Flowers):
Fresh flowers of Cassia auriculata were extracted with ethanol and evaluated for antioxidant activities by 2,2-Diphenyl 1-picryl hydrazyl solution (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3- ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sul- phonic acid (ABTS) assay and anti inflammatory activites by humen blood cell (HRBC) membrane stabilization method and Inhibition of albumin denaturation method. The results obtained showed that the ethanolic crude extract of Cassia auriculata flowers can be considered as good sources of anti-oxidants, anti- inflammatory and can be incorporated into the drug formulations24.
the bactericidal activity of the different flowering stages of the Cassia auriculata, before dried stages were analysed after extraction with different solvents like DMSO, methanol and water. Different concentrations of potential methanol extracts of the three flowering stages were found to be active against ten different human pathogens. The highest activity was observed by methanol extract of the fresh flowers with 19 and 18mm of inhibition zone against Proteus mirabilis and Staphylococcus aureus respectively. Antioxidant property of the methanol extract was checked and was found to be moderately effective. Presence of some conditionally essential amino acids like Arginine, cysteine, glutamine, glycine, proline and tyrosine and essential amino acids like histidine, lysine, threonine, methionine, isoleucine and tryptophane were screened for its presence in the methanol extracts of all three stages of the flowers and 4 conditionally essential amino acids and 3 essential amino acids were detected using paper chromatography25.
8. Antidiabetic effects of Cassia auriculata Flower Extracts.:
T2DM was induced by a combination of high fat diet and low dose streptozocin. Rats in different groups were treated with Cassia auriculata L. flower extract at two different doses viz. 300mg and 500mg/Kg body weight and the hypoglycemic potential as well as lipid lowering and antioxidant properties of CAE in liver and pancreas were evaluated. T2DM rats showed significantly elevated glucose and reduced c-peptide levels in serum. Also there was significant increase in serum marker enzymes of liver toxicity-alanine transaminase (SGPT), aspartate transaminase (SGOT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) along with significant reduction in liver glycogen and increase in lipid peroxidation levels. There was also deregulation in lipid levels in plasma and liver and significant reduction in antioxidant enzymes in plasma, liver and pancreas. Encouragingly, treatment with Cassia auriculata extract caused significant improvement in the glucose, insulin, lipid levels in plasma and the antioxidant status of liver and pancreas26.
In the therapeutic model, ethanol (40%, 4 g/kg b.w., p.o.) was administered to rats for 21 days and the intoxicated rats were treated with MECA. and silymarin for next 7 days. In the prophylactic model, MECA and silymarin were administered simultaneously along with a combination of isoniazid (27 mg/kg, b.w.), rifampicin (54 mg/kg, b.w.) and pyrazinamide (135 mg/kg, b.w.) for 30 days. After the study duration, serum levels of AST, ALT, ALP, total bilirubin, total cholesterol, total protein, albumin were estimated along with hepatic catalase (CAT), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), malondialdehyde
(MDA) and liver histopathology in each group. Results: Administration of tarvada root extract significantly (p50.01 and p50.05) lowered the elevated levels of serum AST, ALT, ALP, total bilirubin, total cholesterol, total protein and restored the abnormal levels of enzymatic antioxidants and MDA in liver due to toxicant administration in a dose-dependent manner27.
10. The Inhibitive Effect of Extract of Flowers of Cassia Auriculata.:
Polyphenolics of air dried flowers of Cassia auriculata was tried as a corrosion inhibitor on Aluminum and Mild steel in 2M HCl at 30 ± 1℃ by weight loss, polarization study and impedance methods. It was ascertained that the percentage of inhibition increases with the increase in concentration of the extracts but decreases with an increase in tem-perature. The inhibitive effect of the extract of flowers of Cassia auriculata could be attributed to the presence of some phytochemical constituents in the extract which is adsorbed on the surface of the Aluminum metal and Mild steel28.
11. Isozyme diversity in Cassia auriculata L.:
Cassia auriculata is considered to be one of the important dye yielding and medicinal plants in India. In the present study seeds from fourteen different localities were collected all over India and nine enzymes were screened by native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) technique and thirty-four putative loci were totally detected. Cluster and factor analyses indicated that there are two major distinct groups or clusters, and thus, seeds collected from a few different localities are enough to capture the genetic variation held by this species. Also isozyme analysis is a reliable, efficient and effective marker technology for determining genetic variations in C. auriculata29.
From the present review, the plant was found to be contains various medicinal properties. It has been prove to be effective as anti-cancer, immunomodulatory, anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic activities, there is a need to explore its maximum potential in the field of medicinal and pharmaceutical sciences for movel and fruitful applications.
The authors are thankful to principal of national college of pharmacy to carry out this work.
1. Siva, R. and Krishnamurthy, K.V. 2005. Isozyme diversity in Cassia auriculata L, African J of Biotechnology 4: 772-775.
2. Mhaskar KS, Blatter E, Caius JF, eds. Indian Medicinal Plants.Vol. IV. Delhi, India: Indian Books Centre; 2000:1212–4.
3. Thabrew MI, Munasinghe TM, Senarath S, Yapa RM. Effectsof Cassia auriculata and Cardospermum halicacabum teas onthe steady, state blood levels of theophylline in rats. DrugMetabol Drug Interact 2004; 20:263–72.
4. Juan-Badaturuge M, Habtemariam S, Thomas MJK.Antioxidant compounds from a south Asian beverage andmedicinal plant, Cassia auriculata. Food Chem 2011; 125:221–5.
5. Parmar Y, Chakraborthy GS. Evaluation of Cassia auriculata leaves for its potent biological activity. J Pharmacol online 2011; 2:128‑33.
6. Bates SH, Jones RB, Bailey CJ. Insulin‑like effect of pinitol. Br J Pharmacol 2000; 130:1944‑8.
7. Akah PA, Nwafor SV, Okoli CO. Antiinflammatory activity of plants. J Nat Remedies 2003; 3:1‑30.
8. Vedavathy S, Rao KN. Antipyretic activity of six indigenous medicinal plants of Tirumala Hills, Andhra Pradesh, India. J Ethnopharmacol 1991; 33:193‑6.
9. Kumar RS, Ponmozhi M, Viswanathan P, Nalini N. Effect of Cassia auriculata leaf extract on lipids in rats with alcoholic liver injury. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2002; 11:157‑63.
10. Latha M, Pari L. Antihyperglycaemic effect of Cassia auriculata in experimental diabetes and its effects onkey metabolic enzymes involved in carbohydrate metabolism. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol 2003;30:38‑43.
11. https://en.m.wikipedia.org
12. Dassanayake MD, Fosberg FR. A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon-Complete Set. Taylor and Francis US; 1980 Jun 1.
13. Dassanayake, M.D. and Fosberg, F.R. (1981): A Revised Handbook to the Flora of Ceylon (Vol. II). Smithsonian Institution and National Science Foundation, Washington D.C., Amerind Publishing Co Pvt Ltd, New Dellhi.
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senna_auriculata
15. Siva R, Krishnamurthy KV. Isozyme diversity in Cassia auriculata L. African Journal of Biotechnology. 2005; 4(8):772-5.
16. Kumar RS, Ponmozhi M, Viswanathan P, Nalini N. Effect of Cassia auriculata leaf extract on lipids in rats with alcoholic liver injury. Asia pacific journal of clinical Nutrition. 2002 Jun 1;11(2):157-63.
17. Kumar RS, Ponmozhi M, Viswanathan P, and Nalini N. Activity of cassia auriculata leaf extract in rats with alcoholic liver injury, J of Nutritional Biochemistry, 2003; 14:452-58.
18. Vedavathy S, Rao KN. Antipyretic activity of six indigenous medicinal plants of Tirumala Hills, Andhra pradesh, India. Journal of ethnopharmacology. 1991 may 1; 33(1-2):193-6.
19. R. Prasanna, C.C. Harish, R. Pichai. The anti-cancer effect of cassia auriculata leaf extrats, in cell biology international, volume 33, issue 2, February 2009, page 127-134.
20. John, C. M., Sandrasaigaran, P., Tong, C. K., Adam, A., and Ramasamy, R. (2011). Immunomodulatory activity of polyphenols derived from Cassia auriculata flowers in aged rats. Cellular Immunology, 271(2), 474-479. DOI:
21. Jeevalatha. A, Kandeepan, C., Sivamani, P. International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Vol. 4, Issue, 4, pp. 444 - 450, April, 2013.
22. .Maneemegalai S, Naveen T. Evaluation of antibacterial activity of flower extracts of Cassia auriculata. Ethnobotanical Leaflets. 2010;2010(1):3.
23. T. Murugan, J . Albino Wins and M. Murugan. The Antimicrobial and Photochemical Evaluation of Cassia auriculata, Indian J Pharm Sci 2013; 75(1):122-125.
24. N. Muruganantham, S. Solomon and M. M. Senthamilselvi. The Anti-oxidant and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Cassia auriculata in British Journal of Pharmaceutical Research 8(1): 1-9, 2015, Article no.BJPR.18059.
25. P. Sujith, and P.K. Senthilkumar. The Bactericidal Activity of Extracts of Different Flowering Stages of Cassia Auriculata. The International Journal of Microbiological Research 3 (2): 158-162, 2012.
26. J. Syam Praveen Kumar, M. Tharaheswari, and S. Subhashree. The anti-diabetic flower extract of cassia auriculata in American Journal of Phytomedicine and Clinical Therapeutics AJPCT [2][6][2014]705-722.
27. Ashish V. Jaydeokar, Deepti D. Bandawane. The Hepatoprotective potential of Cassia auriculata roots on ethanol extracts Pharm Biol, 2014; 52(3): 344–355.
28. A. Rajendran1, C. Karthikeyan. The Inhibitive Effect of Extract of Flowers of Cassia Auriculata in 2 M HCl on the Corrosion of Aluminium and Mild Steel, International Journal of Plant Research 2012, 2(1): 9-14.
29. R. Siva and K.V. Krishnamurthy. The Isozyme diversity in Cassia auriculata L, African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (8), pp. 772-775, August, 2005.
Received on 08.03.2018 Modified on 13.04.2018
Accepted on 20.05.2018 ©A&V Publications All right reserved
Res. J. Pharmacology and Pharmacodynamics.2018; 10(3): 141-145.
DOI: 10.5958/2321-5836.2018.00026.5