Preliminary study of anti-inflammatory action of Sri Lankan “dasapanguwa”

Abstract

The herbal mixture known as “Dasapanguwa” which is frequently used as a traditional medicine in Sri Lanka, contains ten components, including the dried rhizome of Zingiber officinale (Inguru), dried stem of Gerontogea corymbosa (Pathpadagam), dried berries Solanum xanthocarpum (Katuwalbatu), dried seeds of Coriandrum sativum (Koththamalli), dried leaves of Justicia adhatoda (Pawatta), dried stem of Tinospora cordifolia (Rasakinda), dried stem of Coscinium fenestratum (Venivalgata), dried rhizome of Alpinia calcarata (Araththa/Snap ginger), dried stem of Glycyrrhiza brachycarpa (Valmee) and dried stem of Solanum melongena (Eggplant) as most common combination. The objectives of this project were to extract the chemical constituents of each ingredient and the dasapanguwa mixture decoction, to determine the anti-inflammatory action of each extract in dasapanguwa as well as dasapanguwa mixture using the “Heat-Induced Hemolysis” assay. In the present study, the individual ingredients were extracted by deionized water and the dasapanguwa mixture decoction was screened for their anti-inflammatory assay; Heat-Induced Hemolysis. Water extracts were collected according to the ayurvedic traditional method. According to the obtained results of the anti-inflammatory assay, the ability to inhibit protein denaturation (anti-inflammatory activity) varied in the order of dasapanguwa mixture 523.2±31.0 μg/mL > Glycyrrhiza brachycarpa 560.8±59.8 μg/mL > Alpinia calcarata 572.9±18.6 μg/mL > Coscinium fenestratum 787.9±39.4 μg/mL > Solanum xanthocarpum 1634.3±39.0 μg/mL > Gerontogea corymbosa 1880.4±312.2 μg/mL > Tinospora cordifolia 3662.2±366.4 μg/mL > Justicia adhatoda 4184.9±109.6 μg/mL > Zingiber officinale 4290.3±991.9 μg/mL > Coriandrum sativum 5531.7±1883.0 μg/mL > Solanum melongena 6930.3±45.5 μg/mL. The highest IC50 value resulted in the dasapanguwa mixture and the individual extraction of Solanum melongena resulted in the least IC50 value. This study supported the traditional ayurvedic practice of using “Dasapanguwa” as a good source of anti-inflammatory activity. The combination of ten herbals is given higher anti-inflammatory activity than individual herbals.