Int. J. Med. Arom.

Plants, ISSN 2249 4340

REVIEW ARTICLE

Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 340-344, June 2012

A review on chemical and biological properties of Tinospora cordifolia

L.N. SANKHALA*, R.K. SAINI, B.S. SAINI
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, College of Veterinary and Animal Science, Bikaner-334005,
India
*Corresponding Author, Tel: +91-9460067057
Article History: Received 29th February 2012, Revised 18th April 2012, Accepted 19th April 2012.

Abstract: Tinospora cordifolia (Guduchi) is an important herb in folk and ayurvedic systems of medicine. This paper
presents a critical review on chemical and biological properties of Tinospora cordifolia. Tinospora cordifolia contain
various chemical constituents belonging to different classes such as alkaloids, diterpenoid lactones, glycosides and steroids. The most important biological properties reported are antioxidant, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic,
anti-stress, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory and anti-neoplastic activities.
Keywords: Alkaloids; Immunomodulatory; Tinospora cordifolia.

Introduction
Tinospora cordifolia is a climbing shrub,
which belongs to family menispermaceae.
Tinospora cordifolia is a glabrous and succulent
shrub, which is native to and widely distributed
in India. Besides India, it is also widely distributed in Burma, Ceylon and China. It is called
Guduchi in Sanskrit and Amrita or Giloya in
Hindi .The term 'Amrita' is attributed to this
drug in recognition of its ability to impart youthfulness, vitality and longevity to its patron. Different local names of Tinospora cordifolia are
famous in different regions of India like
Shindilkodi (Tamil), Gala (Gujarati) and
Citamerdu (Malayalam). In the todays world of
modern medicine, it is also called as magical
herb due to its property of curing a lot of diseases (Srivastava 2011).
Botany
Tinospora cordifolia is a deciduous plant
that grows to 1.0 meters (3.3 feet) high by 0.5
meters (1.65 feet) wide and prefers many types
of soil ranging from acid to alkaline and partial
to full sun with moderate moisture. Stems of
Tinospora cordifolia are succulent and having
long filliform fleshy aerial roots, which arise
from the branches. Bark is thin, greyish or
creamy white in colour, when peeled fleshy
*Corresponding author: (E-mail) allensankhala<A.T.>gmail.com
2012 Open Access Science Research Publisher

stem is exposed. It often attains a great height

and mostly climbs up the trunks of large neem
trees. Leaves of Tinospora cordifolia are heart
shaped, membranous, juicy and cordate. Wood
of this plant is porous soft and white in color.
Tinospora cordifolia has greenish flowers,
which are unisexual and Bloom in summer.
Male flowers are small, yellow or green coloured occur in clusters whereas female flower
occur singly. Fruits are Pea shaped, fleshy,
shiny turn red when boiled and occur in winter.
Seeds of Tinospora cordifolia are curved and
pea sized.
Chemical constituents
A variety of constituents have been isolated
from T. cordifolia belonging to different classes
such as alkaloids, glycosides, diterpenoid lactones, sesquiterpenoids and steroids (Table 1).
T. cordifolia contains about 11.2 percent protein
and rich in Ca and phosphorus (Zhao et al.
1991; Khosa et al. 1971).
Biological properties of Tinospsora cordifolia
Antioxidant action
It has been reported that extract of
Tinospsora cordifolia has free radical scavenghttp://www.openaccessscience.com
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Chemical and biological properties of T. cordifolia

Int. J. Med. Arom. Plants

ing and antioxidant effect. Alcoholic root extract has antioxidant defence mechanism in
alloxan induced diabetic rats and it is reported
that there is significant increase in the concentration of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances
(TBARS) in liver and kidney in diabetic rats.
Decreased concentration of glutathione (GSH)
and decreased activities of superoxide dismutase
(SOD) and catalase in liver and kidney of diabetic rats were also noted. Alcoholic Tinospora
cordifolia root extract (TCREt) administered at
a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight to diabetic
rats orally for six weeks normalized the antioxidant status of liver and kidney. He also reported
that effect of Tinospora cordifolia root extract
was more potent than glibenclamide (Prince et
al. 2004).
Table 1: Active principle isolated from different
parts of T. cordifolia plant
Plant
part
Stem

Active principle

References

AlkaloidsBerberine
Kumar et al. (2000)
Palmatine
Kumar et al. (2000)
Choline
Kumar et al. (2000)
Tinosporine
Kumar et al. (2000)
Glycosides18-norclerodane glycoside Khan et al. (1989)
Furanoidditerpene
Bhatt et al. (1989)
glucoside
Ghosal et al. (1997)
Tinocordiside,
Sipahimalani et al. 1994
Syringin.
Pradhan et al. (1997),
SteroidEcdysterone, Makisterone Gangan et al. (1997),
A and Giloinsterol.
Maurya et al. (1998)
Roots AlkaloidsPalmatine
Sarma et al. (1998)
Whole Diterpenoid
lactones-.
plant
Furanolactone
Hanuman et al. (1986)
Tinosporon
Qudrat-l-Khuda et al.
Columbin
(1966)
Ahmad et al. (1978)
Aerial Steroids- b Sitosterol Pathak et al. (1995)
plant
and g Sitosterol
stem

Oral administration of 2.5 g and 5.0 g/kg

body weight of the aqueous extract of the roots
for 6 weeks resulted in a significant reduction in
thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS)
and an increase in reduced glutathione (GSH),
catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase
(SOD) in alloxan diabetic rats. The effect of
Tinospora cordifolia root extract (TCREt) was
most prominently seen in the case of rats given
Sankhala et al.

5.0 g/kg body weight (Stanely and Menon

2001).
Aqueous extract of T. cordifolia inhibited
Fenton (FeSO4) reaction and radiation mediated
2-deoxyribose degradation in a dose dependent
fashion with an IC50 (Inhibitory concentration)
value of 700 microg/ml for both Fenton and radiation mediated 2-DR degradation. Similarly, it
showed a moderate but dose dependent inhibition of chemically generated superoxide anion at
500 microg/ml concentration and above with an
IC50 value of 2000 microg/ml. Aqueous extract
inhibited the formation of Fe2+-bipiridyl complex and formation of comet tail by chelating
Fe2+ ions in a dose dependent manner with an
IC50 value of 150 microg/ml for Fe2+-bipirydyl
formation and maximally 200 microg/ml for
comet tail formation, respectively. The extract
inhibited ferrous sulphate mediated lipid peroxidation in a dose-dependent manner with an
IC50 value of 1300 microg/ml and maximally
(70%) at 2000 microg/ml. The results reveal that
the direct and indirect antioxidant actions of T.
cordifolia probably act in corroboration to manifest the overall radioprotective effects (Goel et
al. 2002).
Hypoglycemic effect
In Indian Ayurvedic medicine, Tinospora
cordifolia is widely used for treating the diabetes mellitus. Oral administration of an aqueous
T. cordifolia root extract (TCREt) to alloxan
diabetic rats caused a significant reduction in
blood glucose and brain lipids. The extract
caused an increase in body weight, total haemoglobin and hepatic hexokinase. The root extract
also lowers hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase and
serum acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase,
and lactate dehydrogenase in diabetic rats. Thus
TCREt has hypoglycaemic and hypolipidaemic
effect (Stanely et al. 2000).
Oral administration of the extract of
Tinospora cordifolia (TCREt) roots for 6 weeks
resulted in a significant reduction in blood and
urine glucose in alloxan diabetic rats. The extract also prevented a decrease in body weight
(Stanely and Menon 2001).

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Immuno-modulatory activity
The plant is used in ayurvedic medicine to
improve the immune system and the body resistance against infections. It is reported that T.
cordifolia benefits the immune system in a variety of ways. Both alcoholic and aqueous extracts of T. cordifolia have been tested successfully for immuno-modulatory activity. Pretreatment with Tinospora cordifolia reduced mortality in mice injected with 1 x 10 E. coil
intraperitoneally from 100% in controls to
17.8%. This was associated with significantly
improved bacterial clearance as well as improved phagocytic and intracellular bactericidal
capacities of neutrophils in the Tinospora
cordifolia treated group. Tinospora cordifolia
did not possess in vitro bactericidal activity
(Thatte et al. 1994). Dry stem crude extract
(DSCE) of Tinospora cordifolia contained a
polyclonal B cell mitogen, G1-4A. DSCE as
well as G1-4A also enhance immune response
in mice (Desai et al. 2002).
Treatment with T. cordifolia extract also deleted the immunosuppressive effect of CCl4 and
there is significant increment in the functional
capacities of rat peritoneal macrophages (PM)
following T. cordifolia treatment. Treatment by
T. cordifolia extract may be the critical remedy
for the adverse effect of CCl4 in liver function
as well as immune functions (Bishayi et al.
2002). It also has significantly reduced the mortality from E. coli induced peritonitis in mice. In
clinical study, it has afforded protection in
cholestatic patients against E.coli infection
(Dhuby 1997). It is believed that hyper-reactive
malarious splenomegaly (HMS) is result of immunological dysfunction due to recurrent episodes of malaria. Addition of T. cordifolia
aqueous extract to the treatment of HMS for initial six weeks accelerated the well-being with
subsidence of haemolytic state besides marked
reduction in spleen size and serum IgM as well
as rise in Hb (Singh et al. 2005).
Hepatoprotective activity
Effect of Tinospora cordifolia extract on
modulation of hepatic functions is also reported.
Treatment with T. cordifolia extract (100 mg/kg
body weight for 15 days) in CCl4 intoxicated
Sankhala et al.

342
Chemical and biological properties of T. cordifolia

rats was found to protect the liver, as indicated

by enzyme level in serum. A significant reduction in serum levels of SGOT, SGPT, ALP,
bilirubins were observed following T. cordifolia
treatment during CCl4 intoxication (Bishayi et
al. 2002).
The hepatoprotective action of T.cordifolia
was reported in one of the experiment in which
goats treated with T.cordifolia have shown significant clinical and hemato-biochemical improvement in CCl4 induced hepatopathy. Extract
of T.cordifolia has also exhibited in vitro inactivating property against Hepatitis B and E surface antigen in 48-72 hrs (Mehrotra et al. 2000).
Other properties
It has been reported that guduchi killed the
HeLa cells very effectively in vitro and thus it
indicates that guduchi needs attention as an anti
neoplastic agent (Jagetia et al. 1998). Antiinflammatory potency of water extract of
T.cordifolia has been proved by the study on
induced oedema arthritis and on human arthritis.
The effect was comparable with indomethacin
and its mode of action appeared to resemble that
of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent. The
dried stem of T.cordifolia produced significant
anti-inflammatory effect in both acute and subacute models of inflammation. T.cordifolia was
found to be more effective than acetylsalicylic
acid in acute inflammation (Jana et al. 1999). It
also has antipyretic action. The aqueous extract
of the stem antagonizes the effect of agonists
such as 5-hydroxytryptamine, histamine,
bradykinin and prostaglandins E1, and E2 on the
rabbit smooth muscle, relaxes the intestinal,
uterine smooth muscle and inhibits the constrictor response of histamine and acetylcholine on
smooth muscle. I/V exposure to aqueous extract
of T.cordifolia in doses of 5, 10 and 15.0 mg/kg
body weight produces a temporary but marked
fall in blood pressure and bradycardia in anaesthetized dogs (CSIR 1976).
Ethanol extract of root of T.cordifolia induced a marked protection against restrain stress
induced ulcerization. This activity was comparable to that of diazepam (Sarma et al. 1995).
Antiamoebic effect of crude drug formulation
containing T.cordifolia against Entamoeba
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histolytica was
also observed (Sohni et al.
1995). A herbal preparation BR-16A containing
T. cordifolia was tested in short term memory
paradigm in mice and result suggest for possibly
nootropic action of BR-16A involving cholinergic ad GABAergic modulation (Kulkarni and
Verma 1993).
Conclusion
T. cordifolia is widely used in ayurvedic
medicine for the treatment of various ailments.
It is reported that extract of Tinospora cordifolia
has good immunomodulating effect. It also has
the ability to scavenge free radicals and to block
free radicals and to inhibit radical induced
membrane damage. It also has the hypoglycemic activity and hypolipidemic activity. It also
has ability to protect the liver from various diseases. It is found that it is non-toxic in acute
toxicity studies. Various types of studies, which
have been done on T. cordifolia, reveal that it is
an excellent drug, which could be a good remedy for various ailments of animals as well as
human beings yet the safety and the potential
indications in human beings and animals have to
be established using modern techniques.
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cordifolia with antioxidant activity in cellSankhala et al.

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Ghosal, S., Vishwakarma, R.A. 1997.
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Goel, H.C., Kumar P. I., Rana, S.V. 2002. Free
radical scavenging and metal chelation by
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Hanuman, J.B., Bhatt, R.K., Sabata, B.K. 1986.
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Jagetia, G.C., Nayak, V., Vidyasagar, M.S.
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Jana, V., Chattopadhyay, R.N., Shw, B.P. 1999.
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