General features: It is botanically named as Hygrophila spinose T, in English it is known as Swampweeds but in Bengali commonly termed as Kulekhara and in Hindi, Talimakhana. It is a flowering plant existing approximately in 100 varieties, all of them belong to the Acanthaceae family. The genus of this herb is Hygrophila whereas the species is Spinosa T. In ancient Ayurveda, Kulekhara is mentioned in the name of Kokilasha meaning ‘eyes like Kokila’ an Indian black shaded song bird having close appearance like cuckoo. Many claim that the herb is a native of India that afterward spread to the different parts of globe by the explorers. It is an ancient aquatic shrub and grows mainly in the swamp area under tropical or subtropical climate therefore distributed in the temperate regions around the world like, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brazil, Africa and many parts of the Southeast Asia and Central America. Its leaves are mostly homomorphic and pinnately divided in either filiform or linear segments. The flowers have several petals whose colors range from white to purple. In India it is always considered to be a precious herb and often used in Ayurvedic medicine over the centuries. Its use is continued even today for remedy or prevention toward many chronic illnesses. According to Ayurveda it is an aphrodisiac, also exerting numerous health promoting effects but particularly effective in the case of renal illnesses.
Traditional uses: The sweet leaves are often used in Bengali cooking particularly along with small fried fishes while adding lemon / lime juice and honey. The extract of leaves are widely known for aphrodisiac effect but exerts hypnotic action also. The extracted oil from whole plant shows considerable antibacterial effect preventing and curing several types of infections. The aqueous leaf extract is frequently used as a folk medicine in treating diarrhea, urinary discharges, inflammation, pain, anemia or abdominal disorders. It has also diuretic, spasmolytic and hypotensive effect. Some even claim to have the anti-hepatotoxic activities. The whole seeds or its extract is used in treating several blood disorders, gonorrhea, spermatorrhea, fever and nausea. In numerous occasions, the grinded seeds mixing with buttermilk is consumed to treat leucorrhea and diarrhea. The alcoholic extract of entire plant can prevent urinary problems, dysuria and painful micturition. The decoction of roots are also beneficial for rheumatism, gonorrhea and hepatic disorders.
Phytochemical constituents: The plant contains considerable amount of phytosterols, carbohydrates, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids and several unidentified alkaloids. In addition to those, it stores few fatty acids like uronic, palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids. Below is the list of chemicals found in different parts of Kulekhara / Talimakhana.
Flowers – Apigenin – 7-O- glucuronide, Apigenin – 7- O – glucoside.
Plant – Lupeol, Betulin and Stigmasterol.
Roots – Alkaloids, Steroids, Tannins, Proteins, Flavonoids, Carbohydrates, fats and oils.
Leaves – Alkaloids, Carbohydrates, Proteins, Steroids, Glycosides, Flavonoids, Tannins, Phenolics, fats and oils.
Regarding the nature of phytosterols the major components are β – sitosterol and Lupeol. β – Sitosterol is mainly found in the leaves whereas Lupeol exists mostly in the roots. Among the other exotic components are 25-oxo-hentriacontanyl acetate and methyl-8-n-hexyltetracosanoate.
Medicinal effects: The plant, Kulekhara / Talimakhana displays numerous different beneficial actions on health acting as 1) anti-convulsant, 2) hepatoprotective, 3) antifungal, 4) anti-neoplastic, 5) anti-spasmodic, 6) anti-inflammatory, 7) diuretic, 8) anti-pyretic, 9) hypotensive, 10) vasodilatory, 11) anabolic and androgen mimicking effect, 12) bronchodilatory, 13) anti-tumor promoting action.
Pharmacological effects: The various pharmacological effects of H-Spinosa / Kulekhara have been studied in detail. Although numerous phytocomponent are identified but many of the effects are thought to be composite by origin which is presumably very dependent on the nature considering the exactness of composition. A few of the important pharmacological actions are explained below including the physiological interpretations.
Aphrodisiac action – Frequently consuming 8 – 10g of grinded dry plant orally with milk for ~ 3 months in case of 50 infertile males suffering from oligospermia, necrospermia and less motile sperms showed large increase in viability even after a month also indicating subsequent improvement in the sperm morphology. In later months it helps improving the number as well as the motility while reducing the level of immaturity also. Finally, everything comes to normal. Additionally, the treatment enhances the rigidity of penile erection with simultaneous increment in the duration of mating time. As shown in the animal study, significant increase of maltase activity is noticed in dorsolateral prostate along with the fructose level within seminal vesicles confirming the anabolic plus androgenic effect. An increment of LH-FSH producing basophil cells inside the pituitary has been observed with the simultaneous rise of testosterone level. All together the sperm counts among the animals turn high adding with the increase in motility and mating behavior as well.
Anti-inflammatory, analgesic and anti-pyretic action – The experiments on animal and isolated cells confirm the anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effect of H- Spinosa / Kulekhara. The effects are observed for chloroform, alcohol or petroleum ether extracts but not in the aqueous extraction. When administered to the Brewster’s yeast induced pyrexia rats, the chloroform extract showed most efficiency in lowering the body temperature at doses 400 mg / kg of body weight. Presumably the inhibitory effect could be due to the blocking of Leukotriene – B4 or similar eicosanoids biosynthesis as proven by the experiments carried on the isolated bovine polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Interestingly, the alcohol and aqueous extracts exhibited anti-inflammatory effects whereas the petroleum extract displayed only analgesic actions. The effects are comparable to Diclofenac (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory) and Analgin (Anti-pyretic).
Hematopoietic effect – The alcoholic extract of leaves and stems after oral administration (100 – 200 mg / Kg body weight) showed significant increment of hemoglobin level, RBC count and hematocrit which also reflects in the lowering of iron in serum when compared with the vehicle treated controls. The effect is more pronounced in the cyclophosphamide induced anemic animal model.
Anti-neoplastic effect – The petroleum extract displayed antitumor action when administered in Ehrlich ascites carcinoma or sarcoma – 180 bearing mice. The tumor size is significantly reduced after three weeks of administration.
Hepatoprotective effect – In CCl4 induced liver damaged animals, the administration of aqueous extract of roots showed considerable improvement as noticed by lowering of the level of liver enzymes (ALT, AST, ALP & LDH) and bilirubin. The histopathological examination also confirmed the fact. The alkaloids are thought to be the major active ingredient. The extract also potently reduces the progression of hepatocarcinoma.
Diuretic effect – Experiments on Wister rats using the dose 200 mg / Kg showed significant increment in the urine volume and levels of Na, K and Cl in urine that confirms the diuretic property.
Antidiabetic effect – The hypoglycemic action of H – Spinosa on human is already known for a long time. In Streptozotocin induced diabetic rats, the oral use of ethanolic extract for three weeks (100 – 250 mg / Kg) brought considerable lowering of the blood glucose level. It also showed enhancement of glutathione, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S – transferase and catalase level. The experiments also proved the role antioxidants in diabetes.
Antibacterial and anthelmintic action – Both aqueous, alcoholic, chloroform and petroleum ether extract of the leaves showed inhibition of E coli (NCIM 2341), Staphylococcus aureus (NCIM 2654), Bacillus subtilis (NCIM 2195) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Interestingly, anthelmintic activity is absent in petroleum ether extract.
Antioxidant activity – The herbs shows significant antioxidant properties which is highly beneficial for health. The major antioxidants are phenolics, tannins and flavonoids.
Below is the list of major phyto-ingredients showing individual physiological characteristic.
β –sitosterol – Helps reduce benign prostatic hyperplasia and blood cholesterol.
Betulin – It exerts antitumor action inducing apoptosis as well slows down the tumor growth. Additionally, it decreases the biosynthesis of cholesterol while inhibiting maturation of sterol binding protein. It also lowers lipid content in serum, reduces the size of atherosclerotic plaque and simultaneously increases the insulin sensitivity.
Lupeol – It has anti-protozoal, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and chemopreventive effects. It is also an effective inhibitor toward prostate and skin cancers.
Stigmasterol – The compound prevents various cancers like, ovarian, prostate, breast and colon. It also decreases cholesterol absorption and acts as strong antioxidant as well as displays hypoglycemic and thyroid inhibitory effect.
