Centella Asiatica (L.): Precious Traditional and Modern Medicinal Herb

Key points

Centella Asiatica (CA) has been used as treatments for thousands of years in the orient. In folklore it is a minor feature in the longevity myth of the Tai Chi Chuan master Li Ching-Yun. He purportedly lived to be 256, due in part to his usage of this herb in traditional Chinese medicine. Nowadays it is gaining popularity in the West.

In the world of beauty skincare products, CA makes up one of the fastest growing Korean skincare categories at the present time. Mostly, Centella products in the form of “cica creams” or “cica balms”known to improve skin elasticity and boost hydrationboth of which can have a regenerative and anti-aging effects.

CA is perennial medicinal herb belonging to the Umbellifere (Apiceae)family.The leaves are reniform, shovel-shaped, emerging alternately in rosettes at the nodes. It is commonly known as mandukparni, Indian pennywort, jalbrahmi and Gotu Kola,

This creeping herbaceous plant is with prostrate or semi-erect stems and rooting at the nodes, with a height varying between 10 and 45 cm. It is indigenous to warmer regions of both the hemispheres including India, Sri Lanka, South-East Asia, parts of China, Western South Sea Islands, Mexico, South East USA, South Africa, Columbia, Eastern South America, Venezuela and Madagascar.

The most abundant bioactive compounds found in CA are represented by asiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic, and madecassic acid fromthe triterpene class, beside of other compounds such as brahmoside, centelloside, glycosides, alkaloids and flavonoids.

These various chemicals have dermatological and pharmacological activity. As for a cosmetic purpose, CA is used as an active compound in skin care preparations because of its antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-cellulite and anti-aging activity.

CA hasbeen referred into the French pharmacopoeia in 1884, in the ancient Chinese Shennong Herbal 2,000 years ago and in Indian Ayurvedic medicine 3,000 years ago. In the following different case studies are its therapeutic roles:

1. Skin Moisturizer

In vivo tests formulations containing 5% of CA extract showed the best efficacy in improving skin moisture by increase of skin surface hydration state and decrease in trans epidermal water loss (Ratz-Łyko, et al.,2016).

2. Anxiolytic Agent:

CA is reputed for its beneficial effects in various neurological disorders, clinical trial revealed that, administration of 70% hydro-ethanolic extract of (CA) regularly for two months reduced stress, attenuated anxiety, negated depression and enhanced adjustment and attention in patients without any side effects like vertigo, nausea, and dizziness or mental weakness (Jana et al., 2010).

3. Memory Enhancing:

Aqueous extract of the herb showed significant effects onlearning and memory and decreased the levels ofnorepinephrine, dopamine and 5-HT and their metabolites inthe brain, because it contains brahmicacid, isobrahmicacid, brahminoside and brahmoside, which has psychotropic, sedative and anti-convulsant properties (Shahaet al., 2017).

4. Wound Healing

Wound is the physical break of functional tissues. According to (Arribaset al., 2022), CA might enhance wound healing resulting from improved angiogenesis. This might occur due to its stimulating effect on collagen I, Fibroblast Growth Factor (FGF) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) production. Besides, CA has shown an anti-inflammatory effect.

5. Food Application:

CA essential oil has multi-functional properties of in food application; it could provide an alternative source of antioxidants. Comparison of antioxidant activity of the essential oil of CA and synthetic antioxidant butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) in sunflower has shown strong antioxidant activity in lipid containing foods, that could be due to its terpenes and phenolic contents.(Hashim, 2011)

Extraction is essential to obtain the maximum amount of the desired compounds using the minimum amount of the plant. In the following, different types of technique utilized to extract bioactive compounds from CA:

Maceration:

In this technique the plant materials of CA are soaked in organic solvents like ethanol, methanol, or a mixture of alcohol and water are typically used at a specific temperature and time.

In a Study by (Sitiet al, 2020) 50% aqueous ethanol were used as extracting solvents via maceration (solid-liquid) with 1:10 ratio (g/ml) of raw plant material to solvent. Thus, 70 g of dried C.A was immersed in 700 mL of solvent.The mixtures were macerated at 40 °C for 48 h and filtered using filter paper.

Steam Distillation:

In this technique distilled water is been used to extract oil or hydrosol from dry and fresh leaves of CA to separate specific components at a particular boiling point and condensation.

References:

Adenan, M. I., Jusri,, N. A., Radzun, K. A., Hafiz, Z. Z., 2018. Comparative Study on Anti-Acetylcholinesterase andAnti-Inflammatory Activities of Date and Apple VinegarsFortified with CentellaAsiatica. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7 (4.14) : 116-120.

Arribas-López, E.; Zand, N.;Ojo, O.; Snowden, M.J.; Kochhar, T. A. , 2022. Systematic Review of the Effect ofCentellaasiatica on Wound Healing.Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health ,19:3266.

Gohil K.J., Patel J.A., Gajjar A. K., 2010. Pharmacological Review on Centellaasiatica: A Potential Herbal Cure-all. Indian J Pharm Sci.; 72(5):546-556.

Hashim, P., 2011.Centellaasiatica in food and beverage applications and its potentialantioxidant and neuroprotective effect.International Food Research Journal 18(4): 1215-1222.

Idris, F.N.;MohdNadzir,M., 2021. Comparative Studies on DifferentExtraction Methods of Centellaasiaticaand Extracts Bioactive CompoundsEffects on Antimicrobial Activities.Antibiotics, 10, 457.

Jana, U., Sur, T.K., Maity,L.N.,Debnath,P.K. and Bhattacharyya , D., 2010. A clinical study on the management of generalized anxietydisorder with Centellaasiatica.Nepal Med Coll J 2010; 12(1): 8-11.

Jatayu, D.; Nursyam, H.; Hertika, A., 2018. Antioxidant Effect of CentellaasiaticaEthanolic Extract to Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) Level on Cyprinuscarpio Liver. Research Journal of Life Science, 5( 3): 163-172.

Ratz-Łyko, A., Arct, J., &Pytkowska, K. 2016. Moisturizing and Antiinflammatory Properties of Cosmetic Formulations Containing Centellaasiatica Extract. Indian journal of pharmaceutical sciences, 78(1), 27–33.

Soyingbe OS, Mongalo NI, MakhafolaTJ., 2018. In vitro antibacterial and cytotoxic activity of leaf extracts of Centellaasiatica (L.) Urb, Warburgiasalutaris (Bertol. F.) Chiovand Curtisiadentata (Burm. F.) C.A.Sm - medicinal plants used in South Africa. BMC Complement Altern Med. 18(1):315.

Wan-Joo,K. Jaehoon,K.,Bambang,V.,Raymond, R, 2009.Extraction of Bioactive Components from CentellaAsiatica Using Subcritical Water. Journal of Supercritical Fluids The 48(3):211-216.

Shahab, U.,  Khorshed, A.,  Zannatun and Nahar, N., 2017. The therapeutic use of Centellaasiatica .International Journal of Chemistry; 1(2):21-26

Siti, N. H.M.,Azmina,M.S.M. N. , 2020.Chemical fingerprint of CentellaAsiatica’s bioactive compounds in the ethanolic and aqueous extracts .Advances in Biomarker Sciences and Technology.2: 35-44.

Zahara, K., Yamin, B. and Shaista, T., 2014. Clinical and therapeutic benefits of Centellaasiatica .Pure Appl. Bio., 3(4): 152-159.