Adhatoda Vasica (Vasaka)
Introduction:      Adhatoda vasica grows through out the Indian peninsula up to an altitude of 1300 m, on wastelands in a variety of habitats and types of soils. It is also cultivated as hedge plant and the twigs and leaves are used as ‘green manure’. It is also found in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. Adhatoda vasica has been used as traditional medicine for over 2000 years. It is an Ayurvedic medicinal plant, which has been used as home remedies for several diseases. Our Vedas mentioned that Adhatoda vasica could treat cold, cough, chronic bronchitis and asthma. It also works as sedative expectorant, antispasmodic, anthelmintic and controls bleeding. Major Chemical Constituents:      Major chemical constituents that plays role in treating disease are alkoloids, phytosterols, triterpenes, flavonoids, fatty acids, hydrocarbons and essential oil. Pharmacological Actions Bronchodilatory and antiasthamatic activity:1,2,3 Vasicine, quinazoline alkoloid that is present in all parts of plant, showed bronchodilatory activity both in vitro and in vivo. The combination of two alkoloids, vasicine & vasicinone, showed a potent broncodilatory activity. Adhatoda vasica reduced ovalbumin and PAF-induced allergic reactions. A fraction containing the minor alkaloid vascinol and about 20% vasicine inhibited ovalbumin-induced allergic reactions about 37% at a concentration of 5 mg. Expectorant:4,5 Some of the study showed that vasicinone from leaves of the Adhatoda vasica works as an expectorant and antispasmodic agent. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity:6,7,8,9,10 The results of the studies show that Adhatoda vasica had potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect. Previous studies suggested that natural herbs and shrubs play an important role in hampering oxidative damage and toxicity. Bleeding control: 11,12 Adhatoda vasica has antihemorrhagic activities, beneficial in DUB and thus a useful remedy in disorders of the uterus, and especially used as a uterine hemostatic in menorrhagia and metrorrhagia. Another study revealed that, epithelialization and percent healing were excellent in extract Adhatoda vasica when compared with extract of Berberis aristata. Herb Drug interactions There are no known herb drug interactions. Safety Large doses can cause diarrhea and vomiting and because of the uterotonic activity it should not be used during pregnancy. The LD50 of Adhatoda vasica via PO was 290mg/kg body weight of mice. Reference 1 Gupta OP, Anand KK, Ghatak BJ, Atal CK 1977 Pharmacological investigations of vasicine and vasicinone- the alkaloids of Adhatoda vasica. Indian Journal of Medical Research 66(4):680 2 Bhalla HL, Nimbkar AY 1982 Preformulation studies III. Vasicinone, a bronchodilatory alkaloid from Adhatoda vasica Nees (absorption, potency and toxicity studies). Drug Dev. Indian. Pharma 8(6):833 3 Mullar A, Antus S, Bittinger M et al 1993 Chemistry and pharmacology of the antiathamatic plants, Galpinia glauca, Adhatoda vasica, Picrorrizha kurroa. Planta Mediaca 59S:A586 4 Gupta, C.M., Bhaduri, A.P., Khanna, N.M., 1971. Biologically active quinazolones and related compounds. J. Sci. Ind. Res. 30, 101 – 106. 5 Lahiri, P.K., Pradhan, S.N., 1964. Pharmacological investigation of vasicinol -an alkaloid from Adhatoda vasica Nees. Ind. J. Exp. Biol. 2, 219 – 223. 6 Sarwat S., et al. Reversal of Cadmium Chloride–Induced Oxidative Stress and Genotoxicity by Adhatoda vasica Extract in Swiss Albino Mice Biological trace element research 2006;111(1-3):217-28. 7 Kumar M, Samarth R, Kumar M, Selvan S, Saharan B and Kumar A. Protective Effect of Adhatoda vascia Nees Against Radiation-Induced Damage at Cellular, Biochemical and Chromosomal Levels in Swiss Albino Mice. eCAM 2007;4(3)343–350 8 Srinivasarao D., Jayarraj I., Jayraaj R., Prabha M., A Study of Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory activity of Vasicine against Lung damage in rats. Indian J. Allery Asthma Immunol 2006; 20(1): 1-7 9 Cueller MJ, Giner RM, Recio MC et al. 1998. Screening of anti-inflammatory medicinal plants used in traditional medicine against skin diseases. Phytother Res 12: 18-23. 10 Chakraborty A. and Brantner AH., Study of Alkaloids from Adhatoda vasica Nees  on their Antiinflammatory Activity. Phytother. Res. 15, 532–534 (2001) 11 Atal, C.K., Sharma, M.L., Khajuria, A., Kaul, A., Arya, R.K. Thrombopoietic activity of vasicine hydrochloride. Indian J. Exp. Biol. 1982; 20(9): 704-709. 12 Rajput N, Nigamp JM, Srivastava DN, Katiyar AK., Evaluation of Adhatoda vasica and Berberis aristata as wound healing agents in goats. Indian Journal of Veterinary Surgery 2004; 25 (2) 13 Claeson UP, Malmfors T, Wikman G, Bruhn JG, Adhatoda Vasica : a critical review of ethnopharmacological and toxicological data. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 72 (2000) 1 – 20