Biological source, habitat, collection and cultivation , macroscopic identification,microscopic character,chemical constituents , pharmacological activity like hypogycemic activity, antidiebetic activity, hepatoprotective activity, anti-inflammatory activity, ulcer preventive activity , antimalaerial activity, anticarcinogenic activity, antiviral activity ,antihelmintic activity, anticytotoxic activity,anti central nervous system depressent activity of swertia chirayita plant

1. SHAILENDRA SHAH
DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE,
NOBEL COLLEGE
POKHARA UNIVERSITY
June 24, 2018HCDs Seminar 1
1
Swertia chirayita
(Chiraito)

2. Contents2
 Classification
 Source
 Habitat
 Cultivation and Collection
 Macroscopic Character
 Microscopic Character
 Chemical costituents
 Traditional uses
 Pharmacological activity
 Formulations
 References

3. Classification
June, 2018
3
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Angiosperm
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Gentinales
Family: Gentianaceae
Genus: Swertia
Species: S. chirayita
Common name: Chiraito

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Biological Source:
Swertia chirayita, belonging to family Gentianaceae,
collected in flowering stage and dried, it should
contain not less than 1.3% of bitter principle of
chirayita.

5. Habitat
June, 2018
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 Found in the temperate Himalayas at altitudes of
1,200-3,000 m. from Kashmir to Bhutan and in the
khasi hills in meghalaya at 1,200-1,500 m.

6. Collection and Cultivation
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Chirayito is collected during November when the
seeds become biologically mature having high
potentiality of viability
a) Chirayito prefers to grow in acidic soil condition
with pH of 4.7 to 5.5 .
b) It is better to sow seeds between February and
April, into moist, fertile nursery beds.

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c) The seeds are covered with a thin layer of soil.
Mulching is necessary for better germination.
Frequent water spraying is done to maintain the
moisture content of soil.
d) When the seeds start to germinate, the mulching
materials should be removed.
e) Storage: Air tight containers, Protection from
light and moisture

8. Macroscopic Identification
June, 2018
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 S. chirayita is an annual/biennial herb 0.6–1.5 m
tall.
 It has an erect, around 2–3 ft long stem, the middle
portion is cylindrical, while the upper is
quadrangular, with a prominent decurrent line at
each angle.
 Its stem is orange brown or purplish in color with
large continuous yellowish.

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 Leaves are lanceolate, in opposite pairs, no stalks,
acuminate, cordate at the base, sessile, five to
seven nerved and 4 cm long.
 The root is simple, yellowish, somewhat oblique, or
geniculate, tapering and short, almost 7–8 cm long
and usually half an inch thick.
 Flowers are small, numerous, tetramerous, large
leafy panicles, green-yellow, and tinged with purple
and green or white hairs.

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 The calyx is gamophyllous with four lobes, corolla-
four lobes twisted and superimposed, united at the
base where they have pairs of nectaries on each
lobe covered with long hairs.
 Stamens 4, opposite the corolla lobe, at the base of
the corolla.
 Ovary unilocular with ovules laminal placentation
parietale; two stigmas.
 Capsules are egg-shaped, 2-valved with a
transparent yellowish pericarp.

11. June 2018
 Seeds are numerous,
very small and dark
brownish in color.
 Multi-colored corolla and
the presence of nectaries
support cross-pollination
in S. chirayita.
11

12. Microscopic Character
June 2018
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 The young stem in T.S. show a single-layered
epidermis with striated cuticle, parenchymatous
cortex and single-layered endodermis
 In older stems, secondary growth prominent, both
external and internal phloem present pith
parenchymatous, cortical cells contain calcium-
oxalate crystals.

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 The leaf consists of a single-layered epidermis with
a thick cuticle.
 Mesophyll cells and little differentiated cruciferous
type of stomata present in the lower epidermis,
spongy tissue predominant, large fan-shaped
collateral vascular bundle in the mid-rib region.

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15. Chemical Constituents
June, 2018
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16. Plant part used Traditional uses
June, 2018
 Root
 Whole plant
 An effective tonic for
general weakness, fever,
cough, joint pain,
asthma, and the common
cold
 For headaches and blood
pressure, Tremor fever,
cure malaria
 Treat skin diseases such
as eczema and pimples
16
Traditional uses

17. Plant part used Traditional uses
June, 2018
 Whole plant  Used in liver disorders,
stomach disorders like
dyspepsia and diarrhea,
intestinal worms,
 Hiccups and vomiting,
ulcers, gastrointestinal
infections, and kidney
diseases
 Excessive vaginal
discharge
17

18. Pharmacological activity18
1.Hypoglysemic activity
 A xanthone was isolated from the hexane fraction of the
Swertia chirata plant, identified as 1, 8-dihydroxy-3,
5dimethoxyxanthone (swerchirin).
 It has a very significant blood sugar lowering effect in
fasted, fed, glucose loaded and tolbutamide pretreated
albino rat models. The ED50 for 40% blood sugar
lowering in male albino rats (body weight 140165 g) is
23.1 mg/kg/oral(S.S Gupta).

19. 192.Hepatoprotective activity
 Methanolic extract of the whole plant showed overall
protection of 81% and 78% against paracetamol and
galactosamine, respectively, when animals were
admintrated with a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight
(Karan at. el.). Water extract of the whole plant is also
used to treat liver disorders (H.B. Singh).
3.Antioxidant activity
 The methanolic extracts of Swertia chirata from aerial
part shows antioxidant activity and hypothesized that it is
largely due to the presence of flavonoids and secoiridoid
(Suryawanshi at. el.).

20. 20
4.Anti-inflammatory
 The anti-inflammatory effects of aqueous suspension of
total xanthones of Swertia chirata aerial parts in 5
percent gum acacia were investigated against
Carrageenin, 5-HT, Dextran, Bradykinin and PGE1
induced hind paw oedema in albino rats at a dose level of
50 mg/kg body weight (oral route).
 In experimental models of acute and subacute
inflammation, antiinflammatory effects of S. chirata was
found to be less effective when compared with standard
antiinflammatory drugs like phenylbutazole (50 mg/ kg,
i.p) and betamethasone (0.5 mg/kg, i.p) (C. N. islam).

21. 21
5.Ulcer preventive activity
 The ethanolic extract of S. chirata significantly reduced
the intensity of gastric mucosal damage induced by
indomethacin and necrotizing agents (Rafatullah et al).
 It has been also found that pretreatment of rats with
ethanolic extract of Swertia chirata significantly
prevented ethanol-induced gastric wall mucus depletion
and restored the non-protein sulfhydryl content in the
glandular stomachs.
 Extracts of S. chirata and a few other plants in
combination also possess antiulcerogenic activity.

22. 22
6.Antileishmanial activity
 The antileishmanial activity of amarogentin rich S.
chirata extract was examined in free as well as two
different vesicular forms (liposomes and niosomes).
 Medda et al. reported that the vesicular bound
amarogentin was found to be more active leishmanicidal
agent in comparison to free amarogentin.
 In case of both vesicular forms, niosomal form was found
to be more effective than the liposomes vesicular form at
the same microviscosity level. Hence, amarogentin
incorporated in liposomes or niosomes may have clinical
application in the treatment of leishmaniasis.

23. 237.Antimalerial activity
 In vitro conditions, aqueous and organic solvent extracts
obtained from Swertia chirata were tested on malaria
strain Plasmodium falciparum FCK 2. The antimalarial
activity of the plant extracts on thin blood smears was
followed by quantification of the activity by use of [35S]-
methionine incorporation into parasite proteins to
determine the value that inhibits (IC50) and have
significant inhibitory effect on P. falciparum (Bhat et al).

24. 24
8.Anticarcinogenic activity
 Crude extract and a purified Amarogentin rich extracts
from the Swertia chirata has potential to activate all the
four detoxification enzymes (GST, GPx, SOD and CAT), in
different degrees after the treatment. The activation of the
enzymes shows significant reduction in the formation of
malondialdehyde (MDA) during lipid peroxidation and
inhibition of incidence as well as multiplicity of DMBA
induced papillomas(Saha et al.).
 Several varieties of xanthones isolated from the S. chirata
showed potent anti-carcinogenic activity (Banerjee et al.).

25. 259.Antihelminthic activity
 The crude aqueous (CAE) and methanolic extracts (CME)
of S. chirata whole plant showed an antihelmintic effect
on live Haemonchus contortus.
 Moreover, in the in vivo study, the whole plant of S.
chirata administered as crude powder (CP), CAE and
CME at the dose of 3 g/kg to sheep naturally infected
with mixed species of gastrointestinal nematodes,
showed a significant reduction in egg per gram of faece
(M. B. Bajpai). The extracts of S. chirata are used in the
treatment of helmintic disease (Chaudhuri et. al.).

26. 2610.Antiviral activity
 The inhibitory effect on the plaque formation of HSV-1
with S. chirata plant extract was carried out by plaque
reduction assay. For this purpose, virus stock was seeded
with various dilutions of plant extract (1:32 to 1:256 and
also subtoxic dilution, 1:54) and observed for plaque
inhibition.
 Swertia chirata plant extract at 1:64 dilution inhibited
HSV-1 plaque formation at more than 70% inhibitory
level. In this study, plant extract of Swertia chirata
showed antiviral properties against Herpes simplex virus
type-1.

27. 27
11.Cytotoxic activity
 Cytotoxic concentration (CC50) of the test compound was
determined by conducting MTT assay. The CC50 value of
Swertia chirata was calculated at 1:54 dilution.
 The CC50 value was calculated by regression analysis
showing percent cell viability by MMT assay.
 In the plating efficiency assay toxicity of cells was
checked by serial passaging of the cells for three times
and no effect on cell growth was noticed in the treated
cell.

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12.Anti central nervous system depressant activity
 Swertiamarin, a secoiridoid glycoside isolated from Swertia
chirata was evaluated for its anti central nervous system
(CNS) depressant activity.
 It was found that swertiamarin significantly reversed the
mangiferin-induced CNS-stimulating effects in albino mice
and rats. The results indicate that swertiamarin and
mangiferin antagonize each other in vivo and thereby
reverse their CNS effects.
 The total xanthones of Swertia chirata possess significant
CNS stimulant action(Banerjee et al.).

29. 2913.Fever lowering activity
 An infusion of the herbs, prepared by extracting 15 gm of
chirayata in 250 ml of hot water with aromatics like
cloves and cinnamon, should be given in doses of 15 to 30
ml, helps in lowering the temperature.
 Water extract of the whole plant is consumed to treat
chronic fever. The extract of Swertia chirata whole plant
is used in the treatment of malarial fever (Singh et al.)

30. 30
14.Antimalerial activity
 The petroleum ether, dichloromethane, ethanolic extract
and methanol fractions of Swertia chirata showed
significant antimicrobial activities against some gram-
positive and gram-negative bacteria (Alam et al.).
15.Analgesic activity
 The ethanol extract of Swertia chirata leaf, stem, and
their different fractions i.e. petroleum ether,
dichloromethane, and methanol fraction posses analgesic
activity in Swiss albino mice animal model.
 Among different fractions petroleum-ether fraction
showed significant inhibition where as methanol fraction
showed moderate inhibition.

31. 3116.Insecticidal activity
 The different solvent extract of S. chirata has
antimosquito (insecticidal) activity against second instar
larvae of Aedes aegypti.
 The insecticidal activity of the plant extracts depends on
the concentrations of solvent as well as dose of the plant
extracts. In the different solvent extracts, chloroform
extract was more effective in killing larvae followed by
ethanol and petroleum ether extracts (Mallikarjun et al.).

32. Commercial value
32
 Swertia chirayita is one of the most important high-value
medicinal plants of Nepal prized for its anti-diabetic,
antimalarial, hepato-protective and anti-inflammatory
properties.
 It is widely used as an important ingredient in medicinal
preparations in Ayurveda, Unnani, Siddha, Tibetan and
Chinese traditional medicine.
 Nepal is one of the main exporters of this important plant
and the most significant importers are India and China.
 The large scale export of this plant has made it vulnerable
in Nepal and there is an immediate need for its
conservation.

33. Formulations
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 Diabecon / GlucoCare - 60 Tablet
 Chandraprabha Vati (B.R.) - Tablet
 Mahasudarshana Churna (B.R.) - Powder
 Phaltrikadi Kwatha (B.R.) - Powder
 Sarva-jwar-hara – Lauha (B.R.) – Tablet
 Sudarshan Churna (B.R.) – Powder
 Fluidextractum chiretae- Fluid extract of Chireta

34. Reference
June 2018
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 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC
4709473/ A Review of Swertia chirayita
(Gentianaceae) as a Traditional Medicinal
Plant(2016 Jan 12)
 Mehjabeen, W. Asma, J. Noor at.el.(2017),
Phytochemical and Biological Studies on Crude
Extract of Swertia chirata and Its Fractions,
European Journal of Medicinal Plants. Vol18,
page(1-11)

35. June, 2018
35 S. Jesmin, M. Tamzid Hossain at. el.(2007)
Investigation on Antimicrobial Activity of the Plant
Swertia Chirata HAM, J. Life Earth Sci. Vol. (2)
page(31-34)

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