Pergularia daemia (Asclepiadaceae) is a perennial herb growing widely along the road sides of India. It has been used in folk medicine for the treatment of liver disorders.
Pegularia Research
Hepatoprotective effect of extracts from
Pergularia daemia Forsk.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2006 Apr 4; Pharmacy Department, Kalabhavan, The
M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
The aim of this work is to study the hepatoprotective effect of crude
ethanolic and aqueous extracts from the aerial parts of Pergularia daemia.
The aqueous and ethanolic extracts obtained from aerial parts of
Pergularia daemia were evaluated for hepatoprotective activity in rats by
inducing liver damage by carbon tetrachloride. The ethanolic extract at an
oral dose of 200mg/kg exhibited a significant protective effect by
lowering serum levels of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, glutamic
pyruvic transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin and total
cholesterol and increasing the levels of total protein and albumin levels
as compared to silymarin used as a positive control. These biochemical
observations were supplemented by histopathological examination of liver
sections. The activity may be a result of the presence of flavonoid
compounds. Furthermore, the acute toxicity of the extracts showed no signs
of toxicity up to a dose level of 2000mg/kg. Thus it could be concluded
that ethanolic extract of Pergularia daemia possesses significant
hepatoprotective properties.
Ethnomedicine of Dharwad district in Karnataka,
India--plants used in oral health care.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2004 Oct;94(2-3):261-6. PG Department of Botany,
Karnatak University, Dharwad 5800 03, Karnataka, India.
The present ethnomedicine survey covers the Dharwad district of Karnataka
in southern India. It was revealed that 35 plants belonging to 26 families
are being used to treat different types of oral ailments like toothache,
plaque and caries, pyorrhea and aphthae. Sixteen of these plants were new
claims for the treatment of oral ailments not previously reported in the
ethnomedicinal literature of India. Basella alba, Blepharis repens,
Capparis sepiaria, Oxalis corniculata and Ricinus communis are used for
the treatment of aphthae; Azima tetracantha, Caesalpinia coriaria, Cleome
gynandra, Gossypium herbacium, Leucas aspera, Merremia chryseides,
Pergularia daemia, Prosopis juliflora and Solanum nigrum are used to treat
tooth ache and Cassia hirsuta and Cassia tora are used in the treatment of
plaque and caries.