Bacopa monnieri (L.) Wettst.: History
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Subjects: Plant Sciences
Contributor:
Partha Sarathi Saha
,
Sayantika Sarkar
,
Rajendran Jeyasri
,
Pandiyan Muthuramalingam
,
Manikandan Ramesh
,
Sumita Jha

Bacopa monnieri has been used as a reputed drug in the Indian traditional ayurvedic system for centuries. This medicinal herb with important phytopharmaceuticals has been popularly known as “Brahmi”. In recent years, B. monnieri has been extensively studied for its bioactive constituents, constituents responsible for memory enhancing effect, and also its diverse other useful effects. It possesses many pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, gastrointestinal, endocrine, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory etc. The plant has been also used for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases. Due to its multipurpose therapeutic potential, micropropagation using axillary meristems and de novo organogenesis has been extensively studied in the species and is being reviewed. High frequency direct shoot organogenesis can be induced in excised leaf and internode explants in the absence of exogenous phytohormones and the rate of induction is enhanced in the presence of exogenous cytokinins, supplements, growth regulators, etc. Using explants from tissue culture raised plants, direct shoot regeneration leading to production of more than 100 rooted plants/explant within 8–12 weeks period with 85%–100% survival in the field after acclimatization can be expected following optimized protocols. Bioreactor based micropropagation was found to increase the multiplication rate of shoot cultures for the commercial propagation of B. monnieri plants. The maximum content of bacosides has been recorded in shoot biomass using an airlift bioreactor system. Further studies for the biosynthesis of bacosides and other secondary metabolites need to be conducted in the species utilizing untransformed shoot cultures in bioreactors.

  • Bacopa monnieri
  • Bacosides

Bacopa monnieri L. (Family: Scrophulariaceae), commonly known as ‘Brahmi’, is a perennial and semi- succulent herb which grows in wet, damp, and marshy areas throughout India. It is an ancient medicinal plant with a legendary reputation as a vitalizer of the memory. For 5000 years, it has been used in India to treat epilepsy and insomnia and to reduce herbal sedation and anxiety [1]. This plant is recommended by Indian Materia Medica (Bhavaprakasha Nighantu AD 1500) for the treatment of a wide range of mental conditions, including anxiety, poor cognition, lack of concentration, insomnia, insanity, depression, psychosis, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease [2][3][4][5]. Clinical studies affirm that bacopa based formulations have positive effects on the reconstruction of mental functions in children suffering from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and contribute to the enhancement of cognitive functions in stroke and epilepsy patients [6][7][8]. Bacosides and triterpenoids which belong to the saponins are compounds attributed to the above activities [9].

In recent studies, B. monnieri has been placed second in a priority list of the major Indian medicinal plants assessed on the basis of medicinal significance, potential candidate, and commercial value for further research and development [10][11]. It possesses numerous pharmacological activities, including anxiolytic [12], anti-neoplastic [13], anti-depressant [14], anti-ulcerogenic [15], adaptogenic [16], anti-convulsant [17][18][19] etc. This herb acted as a mental chelating agent in the bloodstream which can eliminate any excess of toxic metals. It is also used for the removal of heavy metals such as chromium and cadmium in phytoremediation. Since B. monnieri is the lone herbal source of bacosides, it is harvested at a very high rate from its natural habitat by pharmacologists and herbal traders. Due to its immense diverse medicinal importance, generation of mass propagation of the plants as well as other alternative strategies for biotechnological production of its active principles, the bacopa saponins, have attracted the attention of researchers resulting in large number of publications on in vitro propagation in the species. The morphogenic potential of explants of B. monnieri favors its use as a model plant for in vitro studies on the expression of transgenes on organogenesis in vitro and functional studies on bacoside synthesis in vitro, avoiding the effects of exogenous phytohormones.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/plants9040411

References

  1. KashmiraJ Gohil; JagrutiA Patel; A review onBacopa monniera:Current research and future prospects. International Journal of Green Pharmacy 2010, 4, 1, 10.4103/0973-8258.62156.
  2. Alessandra Russo; F. Borrelli; Bacopa monniera, a reputed nootropic plant: an overview. Phytomedicine 2005, 12, 305-317, 10.1016/j.phymed.2003.12.008.
  3. Sukanya Majumdar; Amrita Basu; Pijush Paul; Mihir Halder; Sumita Jha; Bacosides and Neuroprotection. Natural Products 2013, , 3639-3660, 10.1007/978-3-642-22144-6_157.
  4. Sebastian Aguiar; Thomas Borowski; Neuropharmacological Review of the Nootropic Herb Bacopa monnieri. Rejuvenation Research 2013, 16, 313-326, 10.1089/rej.2013.1431.
  5. Koilmani Emmanuvel Rajan; Jayakumar Preethi; Hemant K. Singh; Molecular and Functional Characterization ofBacopa monniera: A Retrospective Review. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2015, 2015, 1-12, 10.1155/2015/945217.
  6. Amar Jyoti; Deepak Sharma; Neuroprotective role of Bacopa monniera extract against aluminium-induced oxidative stress in the hippocampus of rat brain. NeuroToxicology 2006, 27, 451-457, 10.1016/j.neuro.2005.12.007.
  7. Amar Jyoti; Pallavi Sethi; Deepak Sharma; Bacopa monniera prevents from aluminium neurotoxicity in the cerebral cortex of rat brain. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2007, 111, 56-62, 10.1016/j.jep.2006.10.037.
  8. Natakorn Kamkaew; C. Norman Scholfield; Kornkanok Ingkaninan; Niwat Taepavarapruk; Krongkarn Chootip; Bacopa monnieri Increases Cerebral Blood Flow in Rat Independent of Blood Pressure. Phytotherapy Research 2012, 27, 135-138, 10.1002/ptr.4685.
  9. Manisha Rastogi; Rudra P. Ojha; P. C. Prabu; B. Parimala Devi; Aruna Agrawal; G. P. Dubey; Prevention of age-associated neurodegeneration and promotion of healthy brain ageing in female Wistar rats by long term use of bacosides. Biogerontology 2011, 13, 183-195, 10.1007/s10522-011-9367-y.
  10. H P Mohapatra; S P Rath; In vitro studies of Bacopa monnieri--an important medicinal plant with reference to its biochemical variations.. Indian journal of experimental biology 2005, 43, 373–376, .
  11. Sharma, N.; Satsangi, R.; Pandey, R.; Devi, S.; Vimala, S. In vitro clonal propagation and medium term conservation of Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri). J. Plant Biochem. Biotechnol. 2007, 16, 139–142.
  12. Bhattacharya, S.K.; Kumar, A.; Ghosal, S. Effect of Bacopa monniera on animal models of Alzheimer’s disease and perturbed central cholinergic markers of cognition inrats. In Molecular Aspects of Asian Medicines; Siva Sankar, D.V., Ed.; PJD Publications: New York, NY, USA, 1999; pp. 27–58.
  13. Dipanwita Dutta Deb; Preeti Kapoor; R.P. Dighe; R. Padmaja; M.S. Anand; P. D'souza; M. Deepak; B. Murali; Amit Agarwal; In vitro Safety Evaluation and Anticlastogenic Effect of BacoMind™ on Human Lymphocytes. Biomedical and Environmental Sciences 2008, 21, 7-23, 10.1016/s0895-3988(08)60002-1.
  14. K. Sairam; M. Dorababu; R.K. Goel; S.K. Bhattacharya; Antidepressant activity of standardized extract of Bacopa monniera in experimental models of depression in rats. Phytomedicine 2002, 9, 207-211, 10.1078/0944-7113-00116.
  15. K Sairam; Prophylactic and curative effects of in gastric ulcer models. Phytomedicine 2001, 8, 423-430, 10.1078/s0944-7113(04)70060-4.
  16. Bhatia, G.; Palit, G.; Pal, R.; Singh, S.; Singh, H.K. Adaptogenic effect of Bacopa monniera (Brahmi). Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 2003, 75, 823–830.
  17. Reas Khan; Amee Krishnakumar; C.S. Paulose; Decreased glutamate receptor binding and NMDA R1 gene expression in hippocampus of pilocarpine-induced epileptic rats: Neuroprotective role of Bacopa monnieri extract. Epilepsy & Behavior 2008, 12, 54-60, 10.1016/j.yebeh.2007.09.021.
  18. Jobin Mathew; Jes Paul; M.S. Nandhu; Cheramadathikudiyil Skaria Paulose; Increased excitability and metabolism in pilocarpine induced epileptic rats: Effect of Bacopa monnieri. Fitoterapia 2010, 81, 546-551, 10.1016/j.fitote.2010.01.017.
  19. Jobin Mathew; Smijin Soman; Jayanarayanan Sadanandan; C.S. Paulose; Decreased GABA receptor in the striatum and spatial recognition memory deficit in epileptic rats: Effect of Bacopa monnieri and bacoside-A. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 2010, 130, 255-261, 10.1016/j.jep.2010.04.043.
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