MATERIA MEDICA REPORT

Materia Medica Report

Materia Medica Report

Introduction

Astragalus is known to be a large genus of almost about 3,000 species of the small shrubs herbs which belong to the legume family of the Fabacea and the sub family is named as the Faboideae. Astragalus is native to the temperate regions of Northern Hemisphere. Some of the basic knowledge of the herb is listed as follows

Common Name: Milkvetch, locoweed, Goat's Thorn

Kingdom: Plantae

Scientific Name: Astragalus Membranaceous

Family: Leguminosae

Constituents

Some of the active constituents of the herb astragalus root have been characterized and identified. Some of these components include the glycoside fraction, polysaccharide cyloartane, the four major isoflavonoids (ononin, calycosin, glycoside amd formononrtin), a various minor isoflavonoids and some of the biogenic amines. It is also known that Astragalus also contains the tritepenoids. In fact, separation of the triteropeniods has exhibited three most active factors in the croton (Use, 2007, pp. N.d.) Saponins and the Triterpenoids have similar structural resemblance to the steroid hormones. Moreover, the two new flavonoid compounds were also separated from Astragalus, which were known as quercetin-3,7-di-O-ß-glucopyranoside 4'-O-a-rhamnopyranoside and 5,2',4'-trihydroxy-flavone-8-C-a-arabinopyranoside-7-O-ß-glucopyranoside (Ibrahim et. al., 2013, pp. 386-393)

Therapeutic Potential of Astragalus

The Astragalus membranaceus had therapeutic and preventive potential in the colitis. The conclusions which are being drawn by the herbalists of the West proves that Astragalus tends to be an ideal remedy for a person who might be inclined to the immune-compromised in any of the way. This can account from some one who have cancer to any person who can quickly catch cold. Astragalus is known to have anti inflammatory and antibacterial properties. Mostly people use it on their skin for to heal up the wounds. In addition to this studies have shown that Astragalus is known to stimulate the immune system which suggests that it can also help to prevent cold. In addition to that, the treatment of macrophages with Astragalus menbranaceus seems to have inhibited AGE-induced IL-1ß and TNF-a secretion and mRNA expression in macrophages (Qin et. al., 2012, pp. 8379-8387)

It is also noted that Astragalus is also used as one of the possible treatment for all those people who have weekend immune system by the chemotherapy or the radiations, however; antigens of tumour may weaken the overall immune system of body and thus body becomes prone to several diseases (Mellor & Munn, 2008, pp. 74-80). In the various studies it was also concluded that the Astragalus supplements help people to live longer and recover fast.

Astragalus and Chemotherapy Side Effects

There are in vitro evidences that suggest that the herb Astragalus can potentiate the efficiency and reduce the adverse and strong effects of the chemotherapy by stimulating the immune system. Wei et al reported Astragalus extracts significantly increased the cytokine and the gene expression present in the blood mononuclear cells of the patients suffering from lung cancer. The extracts taken from Astragalus reported to induce the LAK cell activity taking place in lymphocytes of the cancer and the HIV patients. It also stimulates the blastogenic response coming from the lymphocytes to the ...