General features: The botanical name is Justicia Adhatoda but in India it is commonly called Vasaka (in Hindi and Tamil) whereas in Bengali it is known as Basak often used as expectorant to cure common cold or simple bronchial problems. It is a shrub belonging to the Acanthaceae family. Like the most members of Acanthaceae, Justicia Adhatoda / Basakhas numerous medicinal roles. It is catalogued in the ancient Indian Ayurvedic medicine and also included in the Unani practice of early Persian and Middle Eastern therapeutic usages. Its medicinal role has been known since 4000 – 5000 B.C. In English, the shrub is identified as Adulsa or Malabar nut. It is a native of South East Asian nations like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and China. From there it traveled to the Persia and Mediterranean regions in ancient days. It is a wild shrub that grows almost everywhere under tropical climate. The leaves are 12 – 15 cm in length and 4 – 5 cm broad. The leaves grow opposite and by nature. They are lanceolate, petiolate tapering towards apex and base. The flowers are white and inside the floral arrangement there exists large dense spikes. The trunk has long upward moving branches and the bark is partly yellowish in color. The fruits are club shaped capsules. Almost all parts of the shrub is used for medicinal purposes, leaves, fruits, flowers and roots. The leaves contain essential oil and quinazoline alkaloids. The roots also have similar quinazoline alkaloids in addition to its glucosides forms. The fruits and flowers have extra level of numerous polyphenols like Kaempferol and its glucosides and other flavonoids like Quercitin and its derivatives. These phyto contents vary considerably according to the places of origin.
Common uses: Justicia Adhatoda / Basak is claimed to be an Indian herb. From the ancient times it is used for therapeutic purposes following the recommendation of Ayurvedic medicine in order to provide relief from common ailments like, cough, asthma, nasal congestion, bleeding disorders, respiratory infections, uterine bleeding, and excessive menstruation and also in the case of nose-bleed. The decoction made from leaves is widely used in India to treat various lung problems, curing the respiratory ailments like, bronchitis, chest congestion and even offering asthmatic relief. The extract helps breaking up the phlegm accumulated within chest by thinning out the mucous subsequently helping remove it from the system. The components within extract also enable to dilate the bronchioles as well as bronchi and successively widens the airways. Eventually deep breathing is felt easier providing the needed relief. The extract can prevent constant coughing also. Overall the extract from leaves acts as a good expectorant. The existence of quinazoline alkaloids is seen responsible for those beneficial actions particularly Vasicine, providing comfort during pulmonary problems working as expectorant. Bromhexine is a synthetic analog of Vasicine which is currently marketed as mucolytic and bronchodilator medication. Besides helping pulmonary causes, the entire herb shows some other health benefits that include improvement of gum health, skin diseases like scabies, hemorrhoids, fever and occasional cases of hemorrhages. It is further used in treating the ulcers, infections caused by the micro-organisms, fevers and even cancers. It is also frequently used as anti-inflammatory drug including the treatment for Arthritis. As for further addition the plant is loaded with Vitamin C.
The major therapeutic uses of Basak are cited below:
- Cough medicine for thick sputum and also during chronic coughing or due to Tuberculosis.
- Offering comfort providing asthma relief.
- Curing upper respiratory infections.
- Common cold.
- Bronchitis.
- Sinisitis.
- Throat pain, sore throat, throat irritation including ulcers of throat.
- Tonsilitis.
- Nose-bleeding due to excessive heat.
- Angina pectoris.
- High blood pressure.
- Constipation.
- Dengue fever.
Phyto Chemicals and medicinal actions: Chemical analysis indicates that, in general the plant as a whole contains sugars, proteins, lipids, Vitamin C, Sodium, Calcium, Sulphur, iron and zinc. The major alkaloids contents that are identified are Vasicine, Vasicinone, Vasicinolone, Palmatine and Berberine. The phyto-medicinal components exist in higher level in the roots than leaves and fruits. The plant has super high level of Vasicine alkaloids and Vitamin C. The level in root are Vitamin C ~ 5.2 % and Vasicine alkaloids ~ 7.5 % of the dry matter whereas in the leaves; Vitamin C ~ 2.5 % and alkaloids ~ 4.5 %. Both parts also contain fairly high level of Calcium (root ~ 3.1 % and leaf ~ 1.5%) and Sulphur (1.2 – 1.3 %). In addition to those components the plant possesses essential oils, fats, resins, sugar, gum etc.
Vasicine is comparable to theophylline (1, 3-dimethyl xanthine) considering its actions toward the bronchial ailments. Theophylline is a xanthine drug similar to the Caffeine. It is structurally much different to Vasicine. But both are used to treat the Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma. For this purpose, Vasicine is often used in combination with its oxidized derivative Vasicinone. In 1:1 combination, the mixture produces bronchodilation and also acts as respiratory stimulant. Interestingly, Vasicine alone shows cardiac depression whereas Vasicinone displays weak cardiac stimulation whereas in combination they nullify each other. Further Vasicine alone produces uterine stimulation in animals and this uterotonic activity is also noticed in the case of human. The effect is heavily influenced according to the degree of priming of uterus by estrogen. The compound shows rhythmic contraction of human myometrium of both pregnant and non-pregnant uteri and the ability is comparable to Oxytocin. Thus Vasicine imposes strong abortifacient role. On the other hand it is efficient in preventing post-partum hemorrhaging. Similar effect is observed in the case of Basak extract. For that particular reason pregnant women should stay away from using it. Another natural derivative, Deoxy-Vasicinone has also several biologic activities. It can act as an inverse agonist toward human TSH receptor which may help patients with Thyroid cancers. Further it inhibits NEDD8 enzyme which signifies that it may have possible role in preventing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease in human. The other alkaloid, Palmatine is normally used to treat jaundice, dysentery and few other liver diseases. It is also seen to inhibit the Flaviviruses (West Nile, Dengue, Yellow fever, encephalitis and Zika). It is further used in treating hypertension and inflammation. Vasicinolone another oxidized derivative of Vasicine has the anti-inflammatory and potent anti-microbial effect. On the other hand, Berberine another alkaloid of Basak imposes antidiabetic and anti-inflammatory role. It synergizes the effect of several anti-depressant medications. Its anti-diabetic action is comparable to Metformin often used to treat type-2 diabetes. The action is caused due to the activation of enzyme, AMPK and subsequent inhibition of the enzyme Tyrosine phosphatase 1B. It occasionally interferes with the other drug which is seen extremely adversarial. The anti-oxidant role is due to the presence of numerous flavonoids especially high level of kaempferol which produces innumerable beneficial effects on health.
Physiologic actions of major phyto-components in Justicia Adhatoda / Basak
| Name of the compounds | Pharmacological actions |
| Vasicine | Abortifacient, Uterotonic, Bronchodilatory, Expectorant,Respiratory Stimulant, Moderate hypotensive,Anti-hemorrhaging & Moderately cardiac depressive. |
| Vasicinone | Abortifacient, Bronchodilatory, Expectorant, RespiratoryStimulant & Weak cardiac stimulant & Moderate hypotensive. |
| Vasicinolone | Anti-microbial, Anti-fungal & Anti-inflammatory. |
| Palmitine | Anti-inflammatory, Anti-hypertensive, Preventive towardJaundice and Dysentery & Anti-viral particularly Zika. |
| Berberine | Anti-arrhythmic, Anti-diabetic, Anti-hyperlipidemic,Anti-aging, Anti-cancer, Anti-bacterial works againstMRSA. |
| Kaempferol | Anti-oxidant, Anti-inflammatory, Anti-microbial, Anti-cancer,Cardio-protective, Neuroprotective, Anti-diabetic,Anti-osteotropic, Anxiolytic, Analgesic & Anti-allergic. |
| Vitamin C | Prevents Scurvy, Common cold, Cardio-vascular diseases,Cancers & many chronic diseases. |
| Deoxy – Vasicinone | Acts as inverse agonist for TSH receptor, inhibits NEDD8Enzymes which possibly help prevent Alzheimer’s disease. |
Medicinal actions: The extract of Justicia Adhatoda / Basak whether leaves, roots or the entire plant is used to cure various common illnesses. In addition to those mentioned below there are further beneficial actions. The important adverse effect is its abortifacient role due to the existence of Vasicine which is the major major phyto-alkaloid.
Medicinal effects of Basak extract
