| Gen
info
Chanca piedra
is spanish for "stone breaker," used by indigenous peoples
of the Amazon as an effective remedy for the treatment of gallstones
and kidney stones.
Botany
Sampasampalukan is an erect, branching, slender, smooth herb growing 50 to 60 centimeters high. Leaves are small and oblong, alternate
and often imbricated, oblong to elliptic-oblong, 5 to 8 millimeters long, rather pale beneath, and on very short stalks. Flowers are axillary and solitary, pale green
or white, about 0.5 millimeter long. Capsules are smooth, rounded or somewhat flattened, 1.5 to
2 millimeters in diameter.
Distribution
- A common roadside and
garden weed throughout the Philippines.
- Now pantropic, probably introduced into the New World.
Constituents
- Plant yields phyllanthin, previously identified as pseudo-chiratan. It crystallizes in colorless needles or flakes, with an intensely bitter taste, almost insoluble in water but easily soluble in alcohol, petroleum ether, ether, chloroform, benzene, and glacial acetic acid.
- From the leaves, phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin, lignansniranthin,
nirtetralin and phyltetralin.
- Plant yields a considerable amount of potsh
Properties
- Astringent, cholagogue, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, stomachic, laxative, obstruent.
- Considered antiviral, antilithiatic, anthelmintic.
- Bark is considered purgative.
Parts
used
Whole plant.
Uses
Folkloric
- Decoction of entire plant used as tonic for the stomach.
- Bitter fruit used for tubercular ulcers, wounds, sores, scabies, and ringworm.
-
Used for kidney stones
and gallstones.
- Fresh root used as remedy for jaundice.
- Used as emmenagogue and febrifuge.
- Also used for genitourinary problems: renal colic, cystitis, prostate
problems, jaundice, constipation, dyspepsia, gonorrhea.
- Young leaves used for fevers.
- Chewing of fresh leaves used for hiccups.
- Used for baths in newborns.
- Decoction used for coughs in infants.
- Infusion of root and leaves used as tonic and cold, taken cold in repeated doses.
- In Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico, bitter decoction of leaves and roots used for intermittent fevers.
- Infusion of young shoots and leaves given for dysentery.
- Salted poultice of leaves used for scabby affections; without salt, applied to bruises and wounds; and made with rice water, poultice lessens edematous swellings and ulcers.
- As a Tamil galactagogue, root bruised with a little water and administered with milk.
- In Indo-China, used as diuretic, depurant, and antisyphitic.
- In the Konkna rubbed down with rice-water and used as a remedy for menorrhagia.
- In La Reunion, used for blenorrhagia, dropsy, and diarrhea.
- In Haiti, decoction of
roots and leaves used for stomachaches.
- In the Gold Coast and India, pounded
leaves used for gonorrhea.
- In Sind, roots, leaves, and young shoots are much employed in gonorrhea and other genito-urinary affections.
- Bark used as purgative.
- Milky juice applied to offensive sores.
- In Unani medicine, used
for sores and chronic dysentery; fruits used for tubercular ulcers,
sores, scabies and ringworm.
- In Ayurveda, used for
asthma, bronchitis, leprosy, anemia hiccups and as diuretic.
- In different parts of India,
used for snake bites.
- In South America, used to treat excess uric acid.
Others
- Dye: In India, decoction of
leaves and stem used for dyeing cotton black.
- Fish poison: From the phyllanthin, plant is used as fish poison.
Studies
• Antiviral / Anti-Hepatitis B:
(1) Studies of extracts have shown marked anti-hepatitis B surface antigen
activity possibly through inhibition of viral genetic material. (2) A study reports P niruri has profound effets in vitro on HBsAg, on woodchuck hepatitis virus surface antigen (WHsAg) and on the DNAp of both viruses and in vivo on the replication of WHV (woodstock hepatitis virus) and in some controlled studies, it appeared to eliminate WHV from carriers.
• Hypolipidemic:
Studies have demonstrated lipid-lowering effects in triton and cholesterol
fed hyperlipidemic rats
• Anti-diabetic:
(1) Studies have shown potential anti-diabetic action of PN. (2) Study of aqueous extract of the plant yielded alkaloids, flavonoids and saponins. Administration of aqueous extracts in mice showed a significant decrease in blood glucose with a significant effect in controlling the loss of body weight. Results showed a hypoglycemic effect in diabetic rats with no evidence of hepatotoxicity.
• Anti-malarial:
Extract studies of Pyllanthus niruru showed inhibitory activity of Plasmodium
falcifarum.
• Analgesic: Methanolic
extract showed nociceptive effects.
• Calculi dissolution:
Although test did not show prevention of further growth, PN modified
the shape and texture of the stone into a more fragile form which may
help in elimination and dissolution. source
• Platelet Aggregation Inhibition: Methyl brevifolincarboxylate,
isolated from PN, was found to have i nhibitory effects on platelet
aggregation
• Hepatoprotective:
Study showed PN to possess hepatoprotective activity against nimesulide-induced
liver toxicity, probably through an antioxidant defense mechanism. Another
study demonstrated a protein fraction of PN to be protective against
acetaminophen hepatotoxicity by increasing antioxidative defense.
• Calcium Oxalate Cyrstal Growth and Aggregation Inhibition:
Study showed an inhibitory effect of P niruri extract on CaOx crystal growth and aggregation in human urine, suggesting an interference with the early stages of stone formation and presents an alternative form of treatment and / or prevention of urolithiasis.
• Antihyperuricemic Effect:
Study showed the methanol extract of P niruri and its lignans were able to reverse the plasma uric acid of hyperuricemic animals. The effect could be through its uricosuric action and partly through xanthine oxidase inhibition. The antihyperuricemic effect of the lignans was attributed to their uricosuric action.
Availability
Wild-crafted. |
