Materia Medica

Centella asiatica (L.) Also known as Hydrocotyle asiatica,    Apiaceae.  Commonly known as Gota kola, hydrocotyle, Indian pennywort

Centella has been used in India since prehistoric times, as well as by the people of Java and other islands of Indonesia.  It was accepted as a drug in France in the 1880s.  The Eclectic physicians considered Centella effective for skin problems.

As a member of the family Apiaceae, Centella is related to the carrot, parsley and dill, but it has none of the usual characteristics of this family, such as feathery leaves or umbels.  It is a slender, creeping plant that flourishes in and around water.  It has fan-shaped leaves about the size of an old British penny (hence the name Indian pennywort).  A cuplike group of inconspicuous flowers develop near the ground.  It is indigenous to subtropical zones such as India, China, Indonesia, Australia, the South Pacific, Madagascar and Africa.

The above ground parts of plant are used as bulk  herb, capsule, and hydroalcoholic extract.

Centella promotes wound healing.  It significantly increases the collagen content of cell layer fibronectin, is anti-inflammatory (madecassoside), and stimulates wound healing (asiaticoside).^[i]  Asiatic acid is the constituent responsible for the collagen synthesis stimulation.^[ii]  It stimulates the healing of chronic lesions such as ulcers, surgical wounds, fistula, gynecological and bladder lesions.  It is also used for treatment of psoriasis.^[iii]  It is used for leprosy, ^[iv] and keloid and hypertrophic scars.^[v]

Numerous studies have show that Centella is effective in the treatment of varicose veins and venous insufficiency.^[vi]  This is attributed to Centella’s ability to enhance connective tissue structure of the connective tissue sheath that surrounds the vein, reducing hardening of the vein and improving the blood flow through the vein. 

Centella has shown antihypertensive effects, sedative effects, antifertility effects and has been found to be effective in destroying cultured cancer tumor cells.^[vii] 

Centella has the traditional use of improving mental functioning and is being used in Europe for this purpose.  In tests with rats, retention of learned behavior was 3 to 60 times better in animals treated with Centella.^[viii]   Developmentally disabled children after treatment with Centella were more attentive and better able to concentrate.^[ix]

Centella is one of the most widely used herbs in Ayurvedic (Indian) medicine, where it is used as a nerve tonic and for ailments of the brain and nervous system including epilepsy, schizophrenia and memory loss.  It is used as remedy for eczema, leprosy and secondary syphilitic ulcers.  They also use it for the treatment of dysentery, ulcers, cholera, fever, headaches and stomachaches.  The Chinese primarily use it as a promoter of longevity.

It is commonly used for wound healing, improving vericose veins and circulation.  It is frequently found in combination with ginkgo for improvement of mental function.

The most active constituents are the triterpene saponins, which include asiaticoside, brahmoside, brahminoside, brahmaic acid and madecassoside.  These triterpenes can vary between 1.1 and 8 percent, with most falling between 2.2 and 3.4 percent. It also contains the alkaloid, hydrocotyline, flavonoids and terpenes.

 The dosage recommended is 2 to 4 gr. of the dried plant; 10 to 20 ml of tincture (1:5); 60 to 120 ml of standardized extract; per day.  It should not be used in pregnancy. Occasionally it has topically caused contact demerits.