Abstract

A REVIEW OF ‘SHALIPARNI’ AS A CARDIOTONIC

Dr. Vijay Suryawanshi* and Dr. Mayuri Nagre

Abstract

Shaliparni (Desmodium gangaticum.DC.) also known as Sthira is a plant which belongs to family Fabaceae. Ancient Ayurvedic phycians used its roots in various vata disorders. Vagbhatta and Charaka indicated to use Ksheerapaaka of Sthira in Hrudaya roga. Ksheerapaaka is a process in which the crude drug is boiled in milk and then the filtered milk is used as a drug. The name Sthira itself means stability and Ksheerapaak on otherhand is Guru-gunatmak thus their most potent property is to compensate the chala-guna of vata. „Ksheera’ i,e milk which is also indicated in ‘Hrudroga’. Both acharyas indicated to use this drug in Hrudaya-gata-vata. Cardiac symptoms like palpitation, tachycardia, irregular heart beats, chest pain are common in patients in such conditions vata-dosha is aggravated mand thus there is increased cardiac muscle activity. By reviewing the experimental data; plant has phytoconstituents Gangetin, Gangetinin, Desmodin, Flavonoids which are beneficial for cardiac muscles its Aqueous, Methanolic as well as Ethyl acetate extracts shows cardioprotective activity in rat studies.

Keywords: Hrudroga, Sthira, Shaliparni, Ksheerapaaka, Cardiotonic, Ayurveda, Desmodium gangeticum.