Herbal Andrographis and Hepatitis

Andrographis paniculata is also known as Andrographis is a herbaceous plant, genus Andrographis, belonging to the family Acanthaceae, native to India and Sri Lanka. It has been used in traditional Siddha and Ayurvedic in treating the common cold, flu, upper respiratory infections, infectious diseases, diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, pneumonia, swollen lymph nodes, leprosy, bronchitis, sore throats, tuberculosis, chicken pox, etc.
Hepatitis is characterized by the destruction of a number of liver cells and the presence of inflammatory cells in the liver tissue caused by excessive alcohol drinking, disorders of the gall bladder or pancreas, including medication side effects, and infections. There are many other infective agents that can cause inflammation of the liver, or hepatitis. However, the term is unfortunately commonly used to refer to a particular group of viruses such as Hepatitis A, B, and C.

The Ingredients
Beside the main ingredient andrographolides, giving the plant a bitter taste, other ingredients includediterpene lactones, such as: neoandrographolide, andrographiside, 14-doexy-11, 12-didehydro andrographolide, etc., flavonoinds viz., oroxylin, wogonin, andrographidines A, B, C, D, E, F.

The benefits
Picroliv (active principle from Picrorrhiza kurroa) with major chemical constituent of andrographolide (active constituent of Andrographis paniculata) was tested in HBsAg positive serum samples obtained from hepatitis B virus (HBV) associated acute and chronic liver diseases and healthy HBsAg paitnets, found that Picroliv also inhibited purified HBV antigens (HBsAg and HBsAg) prepared from healthy HBsAg carriers amd may be considered as a potential agent against HBV. In anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) study of andrographolide, a diterpenoid lactone extracted from Andrographis paniculata, reseachers found that activated p38 MAPK phosphorylation, which stimulated nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated HO-1 expression, and this was found to be associated with its anti-HCV activity. Other in the study of infective hepatitis,  Kalmegh(Andrographis paniculata Nees)showed as a promised agent as on the total assessment 80% cases of this series were cured and 20% patients were relieved.

The Side effects
1. Antifertility
Dry leaf powder of A. paniculata increases the risk accumulating of glycogen and cholesterol in the testis, and increased activities of lactate dehydrogenase in testis and alkaline phosphatase in testis and ventral prostate, thus reducing the risk of fertility.
 2. People with gallbladder disease may want to consult with their doctor before using because of the herb stimulating gallbladder contraction effect.

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References 
(1) Antifertility effect of Andrographis paniculata (Nees) in male albino rat" by Akbarsha MA, Manivannan B, Hamid KS, Vijayan B., posted in (PubMed)
(2) In vitro studies on the effect of certain natural products against hepatitis B virus by Mehrotra R, Rawat S, Kulshreshtha DK, Patnaik GK, Dhawan BN.(PubMed)
(3) Andrographolide exerts anti-hepatitis C virus activity by up-regulating haeme oxygenase-1 via the p38 MAPK/Nrf2 pathway in human hepatoma cells by Lee JC, Tseng CK, Young KC, Sun HY, Wang SW, Chen WC, Lin CK, Wu YH.(PubMed)
(7) Clinical studies on kalmegh (andrographis paniculata nees) in infective hepatitis by Chturvedi GN, Tomar GS, Tiwari SK, Singh KP.(PubMed)