ฟ้าทะลายโจร (FA – THA – LAI)

น้ำลายพังพอน (NAM-LAI PANGPON); สามสิบดี (SAM SIP DEE);

ฟ้าทะลายโจร (FA-THA-LAI CHON)

Andrographitis Habra

Andrographis Herb

Category Antidiarrheal; antipyretic’ anti-inflammatory in laryngitis.

          Andrographis Herb is the dried aerial part of Andrographis paniclata (Burmann filius) Nees (Justicia paniculata Burmann filius), DMSc Herbarium Nos. 821 854 (Family Acanthaceae).

Constituents It contains a large quantity of bitters which mainly are andrographolide, neoandrographolide, and deozyandrographolide.  It also contains andrographoside, deoxyandrographoside, ninandrographolide, 17-deoxy-11oxoandrographolide, 14-deoxy-11,12-didehydroandrographolide (dehydroandrographolide), dideoxyandrographolide (andrograpanin), homoandrographolide, andrographan, andrographon, andrograhphsterin,   -sitosterol-D-glucoside, and flavonoils.

Description of the plant Annual herb,up to 1 m high, erect, stem acutely quadrangular. Leaves simple, opposite, lanceolate, acute, glabrous, entire-slightly undulat,2 to 12 cm long and  1 to 30 cm long; terminal  and axillary, bract small, pedicel short.

Calyx 5-partite,small, linear,  Corolla tube narrow about 6 mm long; limb not shorter than the tube, bilabiate; upper lip oblong, white with a yellowish top; lower lip broadly cuneate, trifid white with violet marking.  Stamens 2,  inserted in the throat and far exserted, anthers basally bearded.  Superior ovary, 2-celled, style far exserted.  Capsule erect, linear-oblong, 1 to 2 cm long and 2 to 5 mm wide, compressed , longitudinally furrowed on the broad faces, thinly glandular-hairy.  Seed small, subquadrte (Fig. 1)

Description Odour, slight and specific; taste, extremely bitter.

          Macroscopical  Surface and transverse sections of the leaf through lamina and midrib region show the following characters:  Upper epidermis, a layer of cells; stomata absent: covering trichomes, glandular, unicellular and multicellule persent; cicatrices rarely seen; lithocysts, fairly large

27 μm x 210 μm to 30 µm x 210 µm in size and 49 µm thick.  Palisade cells, columnar.  Collenchyma occurs in the midrib, beneath upper and lower epidermis.  Spongy cells, parenchymatous.  Vessels, spiral, scalariform and reticulate.  Lower epidermis, a layer of wavy-walled cells; stomata; covering trichomes and lithocysts present (Figs. 2a,2d)

          Transverse section of the stem shows the following characters:  epidermis, a layer of cells’ stomata, diacytic; covering trichomes and lithocysts present.  Collenchyma, densely found at the corners of stem.  Parenchyma, containging chlorophyll.  Endodermis, al layer of thick-walled cells.  Vessels,

spiral, scalariform and pitted.  Pith, large parenchymatous cells (Fig. 2c)

          Andrographis Herb in powder possesses the diagnostic microscopical characters of the unground drug (Fig.2d)

Packaging and storage Andrographis Herb should be kept in well-close contained containers or baled with a gunny sack, in a dry place.  It should be sued within 1 year and air-dried every 2 to 3 months.

Identification

          A.  To about  1 g of the sample, in powder, add 20 ml of  ethanol, boil in a water-bath and filter.  To the filtrate, add 300 mg of  decolorizing charcoal, stir and filter (solution A) To 1 ml of solution A, add 2 drops of  a 5.7 per cent w / v solution  of potassium hydroxide in methanol: a purplish red colour develops.

          B.  To 1 ml of solution A, add several drops of I ethanolic potassium hydroxide TS until it shows a red colour.  Set saide for 10 to 50 minuter: the colour is changed to yellow.

          C.  Carry out the test as described in the “Thin-layer Chromatography”

(Appendix 3.1), using silica gel GF254 as the coating substance and a mixture of  85 volumes of chloroform  and 15 volumes of absolute ethanol as the mobile phase but allowing the  solvent front to ascend 15 cm above the line of application.  Apply separately to the plate, 5µl of each of the following solutions.  Prepare solution (A) by boiling  1 g of the sample in powder, with 20 ml of ethanol on a water-bath for  5 minutes, adding 300 mg of  decolorizing charcoal, stirring, and filtering.  Evaportate the filtrate under reduced pressure until dryness, and dissolve the residue in 1 ml of  andrographolide  in 1 ml of ethanol.  After removal of the plate form the chromatographic chamber, allow it to dry in air, and examine under ultraviolet light ?(254 nm), marking the quenching spots.  The chromatogram obtained with solution  (A) shows a quenching spot (

values 52 to 56), corresponding to the andrographolide spots from solution (B) and other four spots of different

 values (Table 1); see also Fig. III (Appendiz 3.1H).  Spray the plate with a 2 per cent w/v solution of 3, 5-dinitrobenzoic acid  in methanol  and then with an excess of a 5.7 per cent w/v solution of potassium hydroxide  in  methanol ; the  spot due to andrographlide is dark violet.  Two dark violet spots due to the spot numbers 7 and 9 in Table 1 and other violet and dark violet spots are also observed (Table 1); see also Fig. III (Appendix 3.1H)

Table 1

 Values of Components in Ethanolic Extract of the Aerial Part of

Andrographis paniculata  (Burm.f.) Nees

          * 4               =       neoandrographolide

             6              =       andrographolide

             9              =       dehydroandrographolide

             1-3,5,7-8   =       unknown

Foreign matter              Not more than 2.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.2)

Acid-insoluble ash         Not more than 2.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.6)

Ethanol (85 per cent) – soluble extractive  Not less than 13.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.6)

Water-soluble extractive Not less than 18.0 per cent w/w (Appendix 7.12)

Loss on drying               Not more than 11.0 per cent w/w after drying at 105˚  to constant weight (Appendix 4.15)

Total lactones content   Not less than 6.0 per cent w/w of total lactones, calculated as andrographolide, when determined by the following method.

          Basic lead acetate solution   Triturate 14 g of lead (II) oxide with 10 ml volumetric flask.  Add a solution prepared by dissolving 22 g of lead (II) acetate in 70 ml of water, shake vigorously for 5 minutes, set aside for 1 week, filter, and add sufficient previously boiled water to product 100 ml.

          Procedure   Place about 1 g of Andrographis Herb in No.180 powder,  accurately weighed, in a 100-ml round-bottomed flask, all 50 ml of ethanol (85 per cent) , reflux in a water-bath for 2 hours, and filter.  Wash the marc with sufficient amount of ethanol (85 per cent) until the last washing is almost colourless.  Combine the washings and the filtrate and allow to cool.  Add 1 ml of  Basic lead acetate solution, set aside for  15 minutes, filter, and wash the precipitate with ethanol until the last washing is no longer green.  Combine the washings and the filtrate, add dropwise with swirling 1 ml of  a 25 per cent w/v solution of sodium sulfate and mix well.  Set aside for 1 hour, add 500 mg of decolorizing charcoal, and  reflux in a water-bath for 10 minutes.  Filter thought the Buchner funnel containing 500 mg of decolorizing charcoal and wash with three 2-ml portions of hot ethanol.  Combine the washings and the filtrale, add 20 ml of distilled water, allow to cool, and neutralize with 0.1 M sodium hydroxide, using  phenolphthalein TS as indicator.  Add  5.0 ml of 0.1 M sodium hydroxide VS, reflux in a water- bath for 30 minutes, allow to cool, and titrate with 0.05 M  hydrochloric acid VS.  Perform a blank determination (Residual Titrations, Appendix 6.17).  Each ml of 0.1 M sodium hydroxide VS is equivalent tot 35.05 mg of andrographolide,

 .

Dose  6 to 9 g daily.

THAI HEBAL PHARMACOPOEIA VOLUME 1   1995