Habitat:

Bhringaraj consists of whole plant of Eclipta alba Hassk.; a herbaceous annual, 30 - 50 cm high, erect or prostrate, much branched, strigosely hirsute, often rooting at nodes, a common weed of moist places found throughout India ascending upto 1700 m.

Morphology Description (Habit):

Eclipta alba is an annual herbaceous plant, commonly known as King of Hairs.

Root - Well developed, a number of secondary branches arise from main root, upto about 7 mm in dia., cylindrical and greyish in color. Stem - Herbaceous, branched, occasionally rooting at nodes, cylindrical or flat, rough due to oppressed white hairs, node distinct, greenish, occasionally brownish. Leaf - Opposite, sessile to subsessile, 2.2 - 8.5 cm long, 1.2 - 2.3 cm wide, usually oblong, lanceolate, sub-entire, sub-acute or acute, strigose with appressed hairs on both surfaces. Flower ? White in color; Solitary or two - together on unequal axillary peduncles. Fruit - Achenial cypsella, one seeded, cuneate, with a narrow wing, covered with warty excrescences, brown. Seed - 0.2 - 0.25 cm long, 0.1 cm wide, dark brown, hairy and non endospermic.

Parts Used:

Whole Plant

Phytochemistry:

The herb is rich in coumestans, such as wedelelactone and demethylwedeloactone, polypeptides, polyacetylenes, thiophene derivatives, steroids, triterpenes and flavonoids, which are responsible for its hepatoprotective, antihaemorrhagic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and other therapeutic activities.

As per Ayurveda:

           Rasa (Taste)                 : Astringent, Bitter

           Guna (Property)           : Rough, Sharp

           Veerya (Potency)         : Hot

           Vipaka (End Result)      : Pungent

Pharmacological Actions:

As per Ayurveda, Bhrinagaraj is Kaphavatahara. The herb is extremely rejuvenative (Rasayana) for hair.

The primary pharmacological actions of this therapeutic are summarized as under:

Central Nervous System: 

i. Oxidative stress is believed to contribute to neuronal damage induced by cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury. Bhringaraj has been observed to exert cerebroprotective and antioxidant impact against experimentally-induced global cerebral ischemia.2

ii. Parturient females display impulsive behavior represented in the form of aggressive bouts when exposed to conspecifics. Prolonged aggression during the postpartum period could affect maternal care. Eclipta alba is traditionally known to induce neuropsychiatric alterations; administration of Bhringaraj extract has been observed to possess significant anti-aggressive activity.3,4

iii. The herb has been observed to exert significant improvement in retrieval memory.5

Digestive System : 

i. Eclipta alba, traditionally known as bhringraj, has been used in Ayurvedic medicine for more than 1000 years in India. It is used for the treatment of infective hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver enlargement and other ailments of liver and gall bladder in India. Eclipta alba extract and phytochemicals isolated from active fractions display anti-HCV activity in vitro and in cell culture system. The standardized Eclipta alba extract or its isolates can be used as an effective alternative and complementary treatment against HCV.6

ii. ?Wedelolactone? isolated from the dried leaves of Eclipta alba (L.) is reported to be effective as a potential hepatoprotective, antibacterial and anti hemorrhagic.7

Endocrinal System : 

i. The plant extract is reported to possess anti-diabetic activity. A bioactivity-guided isolation approach based on alpha-glucosidase inhibition was used to identify the constituents contributing towards the inhibition of the enzyme and probably contributing towards its anti-diabetic activity. Four echinocystic acid glycosides were thus isolated, of which eclalbasaponin VI, isolated from the n-butanol fraction, was found to be the most potent (IC50 54.2 +/- 1.3 microM).8

ii. The extract possesses antidiabetic effect associated with alpha-glucosidase and aldose reductase inhibition.9

Musculoskeletal System: 

i. Exerts potent anti-inflammatory10 and analgesic11 effects.

Skin and Hair: 

i. The herb significantly potentiates hair growth promotion. In an animal study, the result of treatment with 2 and 5% petroleum ether extracts were observed to be better than the positive control minoxidil 2% treatment.12,13

Others : 

i. The herb has been observed to possess anticancer (antiproliferative) potential.14

Indications:

Premature greying of hair

Excessive hair fall

Liver dysfunction and loss of appetite

Stress, nervousness and anxiety

Impaired memory and sleep disorders

References:

1. The Ayurvedic Pharmacopeia of India, Part-1, Volume-2.

2. Mansoorali KP, Prakash T, Kotresha D, et al. Cerebroprotective effect of Eclipta alba against global model of cerebral ischemia induced oxidative stress in rats. Phytomedicine. 2012 Sep 15;19(12):1108-16.

3. Banji D, Banji OJ, Annamalai AR, Shanthmurthy M. Impact of the aqueous extract of Eclipta alba on maternal aggression in rats. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2010 Apr;23(2):138-42.

4. Lobo OJ, Banji D, Annamalai AR, Manavalan R. Evaluation of antiaggressive activity of Eclipta alba in experimental animals. Pakistan Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences. 2008 Apr;21(2):195-9.

5. Banji O, Banji D, Annamalai AR, Manavalan R. Investigation on the effect of eclipta alba on animal models of learning and memory. Indian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. 2007 Jul-Sep;51(3):274-8.

6. Manvar D, Mishra M, Kumar S, Pandey VN. Identification and evaluation of anti hepatitis C virus phytochemicals from Eclipta alba. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2012 Dec 18;144(3):545-54.

7. Upadhyay K, Gupta NK, Dixit VK. Development and characterization of phyto-vesicles of wedelolactone for hepatoprotective activity. Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy. 2012 Sep;38(9):1152-8.

8. Kumar D, Gaonkar RH, Ghosh R, Pal BC. Bio-assay guided isolation of alpha-glucosidase inhibitory constituents from Eclipta alba. Natural Product Communications. 2012 Aug; 7(8):989-90.

9. Jaiswal N, Bhatia V, Srivastava SP, et al. Antidiabetic effect of Eclipta alba associated with the inhibition of alpha-glucosidase and aldose reductase. Natural Product Research. 2012;26(24):2363-7.

10. Kumar SS, Sivakumar T, et al. Evaluation of Anti -Inflammatory Activity of Eclipta alba in rats. Ancient Science of Life. 2005 Jan;24(3):112-8.

11. Sawant M, Isaac JC, Narayanan S. Analgesic studies on total alkaloids and alcohol extracts of Eclipta alba (Linn.) Hassk. Phytotherapy Research. 2004 Feb;18(2):111-3.

12. Datta K, Singh AT, Mukherjee A, et al. Eclipta alba extract with potential for hair growth promoting activity. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2009 Jul 30;124(3):450-6.

13. Roy RK, Thakur M, Dixit VK. Hair growth promoting activity of Eclipta alba in male albino rats. Archives of Dermatological Research. 2008 Aug; 300(7):357-64.

14. Chaudhary H, Dhuna V, Singh J, et al. Evaluation of hydro-alcoholic extract of Eclipta alba for its anticancer potential: an in vitro study. Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 2011 Jun 22;136(2):363-7.

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