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Volume 3, Issue 1, Jan-Apr, 2020.

Withania somnifera: Therapeutic Uses and Phyochemical

Constituents

Ritu Sharma1, Anita Chauhan2, Priyanka Chaudhary2*

1PG Student, Department of Botany, DPG Degree College, Gurugram, Haryana

2Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, DPG Degree College, Gurugram, Haryana

*Corresponding Author: biopriyanka88@gmail.com

Abstract

Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) commonly known as ‘winter cherry’ is an herbaceous plant

belongs to family Solanaceae or night shade family. The plant is an erect, evergreen, branching,

shrub of 30 to 150 cm in height and its leaves possess a strong smell of green tomatoes. The plant

is widely distributed in tropical region of Africa, South Africa, India, southern China and Sri

Lanka. W. somnifera is an imperative medicinal plant and has been used in ayurvedic medicines

for centuries in the treatment of several disorders such as anaemia, ulcers, asthma and high

blood pressure. Numerous pharmacological properties such as antitumour, antioxidant, anti-

stress, neuroprotective, anti-arthritic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory have been reported in W.

somnifera. These pharmacological activities are due to the occurrence of various

phytochemicals such as Withaferin A, Withanolide, sitoindosides, beta-sitosterol and

somniferine. Thus the plant has enormous useful applicability in biomedicine as well as

veterinary medicine focusing its effective role in the protection of sound health.

Keywords: Antioxidant, Ayurvedic, Herbaceous, Solanaceae, Pharmacological, Phytochemicals

Introduction

Plant is an important source of medicine and

plays a key role in world health. Medicinal

herb or plants have been known to be an

important potential source of therapeutics or

curative aids some contain active ingredients

bioactive components and substance obtained

from plant. Withania somnifera also known

as Ashwagandha ,Indian ginseng ,Winter

cherry and is recognise as an important

medicinal plant used in Ayurvedic medicine

.The term Ashwagandha describe smell of its

root like horse . This plant was first describe

in Charaka, Samhita, Sushruta, Samhita and

used for wide variety of condition for its

restorative benefits and is in use for a very

long time for all age groups and both

Withaniasomnifera is used as antioxidant,

liver tonic, astringent, antiinflammatory

agent and more recently to treat bacterial

infection, senile dementia, ulcers.

Ashwagandha is also used to inhibit the

development of tolerance and dependence on

chronic use of various psychotropic drugs

The traditional use of Ashwagandha is to

increase endurance, strength energy, health

and also increase fat, blood, muscle, cell

production (1-4). Ashwagandha or Indian

ginseng is commercially available in the form

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of fine powder and can be taken orally with

water, ghee or milk (5, 6). Phytochemically

this plant is unique because it possesses the

largest and most structurally diverse set of

withanolides with glycowithanolides being

the major bioactive constituent of Withania

somnifera.

Classification of Withania somnifera

Kingdom –Plantae

Sub- kingdom- Tracheobionta

Super division -Spermatophya

Division –Angiosperma

Class -Dicotyledons

Order – Tubiflorae

Family – Solanaceae

Genus -Withania

Species – somniferaDunal

Common name of Withania somnifera

Hindi- Asgand, Punir

Sanskrit – Ashwaganda,

English – Winter cherry

Gujrati- Ghoda, Asoda

Rajasthani- Chirpotan

Telugu- Panneru

Tamil – Ashwagandhi

Punjabi – Asgand

Goa – Fatarfoda

Habit/ Habitat

Ashwagandha is a xerophytic plant.

Wintercherry grows in drier parts of India ,

Sri Lanka ,Baluchistan ,Afghanistan , Sind

Africa , Congo, South Africa, Egypt ,

Morocco and Jordan .Withania somnifera

widely grows in drier parts of subtropical

India and occurs in Punjab plains , Madhya

Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh and northwest parts

of India like Rajasthan and Gujarat .It is

found in high altitude ascending to 5,500 feet

in the Himalayas.It grow wildly throughout

India particularly in hotter parts ,on waste

place and on road sides. Ashwagandha

widely cultivated in Bikaner and Pilani areas

of Rajasthan (7).

Botanical description

Ashwagandha is a herbaceous plant that

belongs to family Solanaceae or night shade

family.It is evergreen shrub. The plant is

about 3 feet long and leaves of this plant

possess a strong smell of green tomatoes.

Roots are stout fleshy , whitish brown ,

leaves simple , ovate ,glabrous .Flower of

Ashwagandha is green or yellow in colour ,

borne in axillary fascicles, umbellate cymes

and give rise to red globose fruits when

mature.The root of wintercherryis 20-30 cm

long and 6-12 mm in diameter . The plant

has a characteristic odour, bitter in taste.

Seeds are yellow, reniform and 2.5 in

diameters (8). The leaves, roots, stem,

fruits, bark and seeds of Withania

somnifera are used in therapy. Roots of

Withania somnifera is the main portions of

the plant used therapeutically (9).

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Table 1:- Important phytochemical constituents of Withania somnifera

Secondary Metabolites

Secondary metabolites are a distinct type of

natural compound produced by specific

groups of bacteria, fungi, plants and

animals. Secondary metabolites present in

the plants are predominantly responsible for

treating various ailments. The most

important secondary metabolite include

phenolics , alkaloids, flavonoids,terpenoids

and glycoside which act as an important

source for single bioactive ingredients in

nutraceuticals and modern

medicine.Different type of chemical

constituents are present in Ashwagandha.

The major biochemical constituents of

Withania somnifera are steroidal alkaloids

and lactones, a class of constituents

together known as withanolids (steroidal

lactones with ergostane skeleton)

(10).Alkaloids includes ashwagandhine,

cuscohygrine, anahygrine, tropine etc.

Steroidal compounds including

steroidallactones, withaferinA,

withasomniferin-A , withanolides A-Y ,

withasomniferols A-C , withanone

etc.Apart from these contents plant also

contain chemical constituents like starch,

reducing sugar, ducitol, withaiol, acylsteryl

glucosides and a variety of amino acids

including proline, tyrosine, alanine,

glutamic acid, cystine and high amout of

iron. Withaferin A has been recently

reported to be inhibitor of angiogenesis and

thus protective in certain types of cancers

(11). Saponins an additional acyl group:

sitoindoside . The diverse active

constituents present in different parts of

plant are believed to be responsible for the

multiple medicinal properties of

Withaniasomnifera. At present, more than

12 alkaloids, 40 withanolides and several

sitoindosides (a withanolide containing a

glucose molecule at carbon 27) have been

isolated and reported from aerial parts,

roots and berries of this plant. The

concentration of major withanolides

usually ranges from 0.001 to 1.5% dry

weight(12)The reported total alkaloid

content in the roots of Indian Withania

somnifera varies between 0 .13%and 0.31%

though much higher yields(upto 4.3%) have

been recorded in plants of other region.(13)

Steroidal lactones Phenolics Alkaloides Other compounds

Withanolide A-Y

Withaferin A

Ashwagandhanollide

Withasomidienon

Withasomniferin

Withansonmiferols

withanone

Gallic acid

Cholorogenic acid

Tannic acid

Ellagic acid

Caffic acid

Kaempferol

Quercertin

Rutin

Somnifein

Somnine

Anaferine

Choline

Cuscohygrine

Anhygrine

Pseudo-withanine

Dulcitole

Glycosides

Hentriacontane

Withanamides A-1

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Table 2:- Bioactive Ingredient of Withania somnifera (14)

Pharmacological Properties of

Withania Somnifera

1. Anti-Inflammatory Properties

Ashwagandha is recognised as an anti-

inflammatory herb used for the treatment of

arthritis and asthma. Herbal formulation of

Withaniasomnifera is effective in reducing

the rapidity of pain and disability scores of

patients with osteoarthritis without any toxic

effect (15). Withaniasomniferacan inhibit

cyclooxygenase, cyclooxygenase (COX) is

the enzyme responsible for the formation of

important biological mediators of

inflammatory and anaphylactic reactions.

The phytochemicals of Ashwagandha /

Withania somnifera is a promising anti-

inflammatory and anti- arthritic drug by

modulating the level of inflammatory

mediators and ezymeswithout causing any

bad effect compared to other non- steroidal

anti-inflammatory drugs.

2. Anticancer Properties

Cancer is the growth of abnormal cells

anywhere in a body. This abnormal cell

termed as cancer cells. There are more than

100 types of cancer like skin cancer, breast

cancer, and prostate cancer. Cancer is the

major cause of death and is increases rapidly

Withaniasomnifera has anti-carcinogenic,

chemopreventive and radiosensitizing

properties. Withaniasomnifera helps the

patients to recover from the harmful effects of

chemotheraphy.

The hydroalcoholic root extract of Withania

somnifera shows a significant decrease in

average number of skin lesions on 7, 12-

dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) induced

skin cancer in Swiss albino mice.

3. Antimicrobial Potential

Medicinal plant shows a rich source of

antimicrobial agents. The extract of

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Withaniasomniferarepresent the antibacterial

activity against Gram positive and Gram

negative bacteria (16). Bacillus,

Staphylococcus, Corynebacterium species is

found to highly susceptile to

Withaniasomnifera extracts.

Ashwagandhashow protection against

infection of Aspergillus fumigates in

AspergillosisBalb-C mice model

4. Musculotropic Activity

The total alkaloids of Ashwagandha shows

relaxant and antipasmodic effect against

many spasmogens on intestinal, tracheal and

blood vascular muscles. The pattern of

smooth muscle activity of the alkaloids was

similar to that of papaverine which suggested

a direct musculotropic action (17).

5. Cardiovascular Protection

Withania somnifera is a useful general tonic,

because of its beneficial effect on

cardiopulmonary system. Alkaloids had a

prolonged hypotensive, respiratory stimulant

action in dogs. Effect of Withaniasomnifera

is studied on the cardiovascular and

respiratory system in frogs and dogs (18).

Withania somnifera showed strong cardio

protective effect in the experimental model of

isoprenaline – induced. The pharmacological

action of the total extract of WS roots on the

cardiovascular and respiratory system

appeared due to its alkaloid content.

6. Chronic stress

Chronic stress (CS) is a result of adverse

physiologic conditions including sexual

dysfunction , cognitive deficit, gastric

ulceration, irregularities in glucose

homeostasis and change in plasma

Corticosterone level. In an exoeriment of

chronic stress Withaniasomnifera and

Panaxginseng extract is compared for their

ability to alternate some effect of chronic

stress. Both plant is able to decrease the

number and severity of reverse chronic stress

induced inhibition of male sexual behaviour,

chronic stress induced ulcers. Activity of

Withania somnifera extract is approximately

equal to the activity of Panax ginseng extract

7. Hepatoprotective Activity

Withaferin A at 10mg/ kg dose showed

significantly protective effect against CCI4-

induced hepatotoxicity in rats. It was an

effective as hydrocortisone dose for dose

(19).

8. Effect on Sexual Behavior

In folk medicine Ashwagandha is considered

as aphrodisiac and stress buster herbal drug.

Withania somnifera has the ability to restore

sexual health and improve overall vitality

while promoting a calm state of mind.

Withania somnifera is also an effective drug

for the treatment of male infertility.

Improvement in the hormone imbalance can

be the major contributing factor to fertility

improvement. (20)

Conclusions

The use of herbal drug is increasing

worldwide as they have fewer or no side

effect. The plant has been used an adaptogen

, antioxidant , anticancer , anti -inflammatory

, liver tonic, aphrodisiac , central nervous

system , hepatoprotective and more recently

as an antihyperglycaemic , antitumoral as

well as to treat senile dementia , Parkinson’s

, Alzheimer’s .The potential beneficial effect

of Withaniasomnifera in anxiety, cognitive ,

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inflammation and neurological diseases.

Withaniasomnifera is a quiet medicinal herb.

Withaniasomnifera represent a unique herb

which possess potent pharmacological

activities not only with active phytochemical

constituents but also with protein component.

Withania somnifera shows great potential as

a safe and effective in Immunomodulation

and Hematopoiesis. More research is needed

to determine if Withania somnifera can

duplicate this activity in humans and to

determine an optimal dosage range for

achieving these effects.

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