Tinospora cordifolia

Tinospora cordifolia, also called Guduchi is an herbaceous vine of the family Menispermaceae indigenous to the tropical areas of India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

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Synonyms: Guduchi , amrita (Sanskrit), giloe , gulancha (Bengali), giloya (Hindi), gado , galo (Gujarati), duyutige , teppatige (Telugu), heartleaf moonseed (English)

According to the 1911 British Pharmaceutical Codex, "Tinospora or Gulancha consists of the dried stem of Tinospora cordifolia, Miers (N.O. Menispermaceae), a climbing shrub indigenous to tropical India. The stems are collected in the hot season and dried. The drug occurs in straight or twisted cylindrical pieces and in slices, averaging about 2 centimetres in diameter, some pieces being much smaller. Externally, they are covered with a thin, papery, brown cork, bearing the raised scars of numerous lenticels. The cork readily exfoliates and discloses a greenish cortex longitudinally wrinkled and marked with lenticels. The fracture is fibrous and the transverse section exhibits a yellowish wood with radially arranged wedge-shaped wood bundles, containing large vessels, separated by narrower medullary rays. The odour is not characteristic, but the taste is bitter."^[1]

Constituents

The active adaptogenic constituents are diterpene compounds including tinosporone, tinosporic acid, cordifolisides A to E, syringen, the yellow alkaloid, berberine, Giloin, crude Giloininand, a glucosidal bitter principle as well as polysaccharides, including arabinogalactan polysaccharide (TSP).^[2]

^[3]

Ethnobotanical Uses

According to the 1918 United States Dispensatory edited by Joseph Remington, Horatio Wood et al.:

Tinospora. Br. Add. 1900.—"The dried stem of Tinospora cordifolia Miers (Fam. Menispermaceae), collected in the hot season." Br. Add., 1900. Tinospora has long been used in India as a medicine and in the preparation of a starch known as gilae-ka-sat or as palo. It is said to be a tonic, antiperiodic, and a diuretic. Flückiger obtained from it traces of an alkaloid and a bitter glucoside. The Br. Add., 1900, recognized an infusion (Infusum Tinosporae Br. Add., 1900, two ounces to the pint), dose one-half to one fluidounce (15-30 mils); a tincture (Tinctura Tinosporae Br. Add., 1900, four ounces to the pint), dose, one-half to one fluidrachm (1.8-3.75 mils); and a concentrated solution [Liquor Tinosporae Concentratus Br. Add., 1900), dose, one-half to one fluidrachm (1.8-3.75 mils). Tinospora crispa Miers (more), which is abundant in the Philippines, is used freely by the natives under the name of makabuhay (that is, "You may live"), as a panacea, especially valuable in general debility, in chronic rheumatism, and in malarial fevers. It may be prepared in the same way and given in the same doses as Tinospora cordifolia.^[4]

References

1. ^ http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/bpc1911/tinospora.html
2. ^ Winston, David & Maimes, Steven. “Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief,” Healing Arts Press, 2007.
3. ^ [1]S.S. SINGH, S.C. PANDEY, S. SRIVASTAVA, V.S. GUPTA, B. PATRO, A.C. GHOSHCHEMISTRY AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TINOSPORA CORDIFOLIA (GUDUCHI)Indian Journal of Pharmacology 2003; 35: 83-91
4. ^ http://www.henriettesherbal.com/eclectic/usdisp/tinospora.html