Lemuju

Lemuju
Scientific Name	Plectranthus amboinicus(Lour) Spreng
Family	Lamiaceae
Synonyms	Coleus aromaticus Benth, Coleus amboinicus Lour Plectranthus aromaticus
Common Name	Jemuju, mexican mint, Indian borage, cuban oregano

{slider= Geographical & Distribution}

Distributed in Tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. Native in Taiwan.

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{slider=General Appearances}

Perennial plant . The stem is fleshy, about 30-90cm with soft, short hairs, oregano like flavor and odor. Leaves are undivided (simple), broad, egg/ ovalshaped with a tapering tip (ovate) and very thick, they are pubescent (thickly studded with hairs), with lower surface possessing the most numerous glandular hairs, giving a frosted appearance. Flowers are on a short stem, pale purplish in dense wholes at sistant intervals in a long slender raceme.

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{slider=Chemical Contitiuents}

Alkaloid, carbohydrates, glycosides, proteins,amino acids, flavanoids, quinine, tannins, phenolic compounds and terpenoids. Β-caryophyllene, quercetin, ursolic acids, triterpenic acids, α-pinene, thymol, eugenol, carvacrol, 1-8-cineole, β-phellandrene, p-cyme, salvigenin, crisimaritin and chrysoeriol.

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{slider=Traditional Uses}

Treatment of cough, fever, sore throats, mumps and mosquito bite. Malaria fever, hepatopathy, renal

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{slider=Pharmacology}

Antineoplastic Effects

Aqueous extracts of Plectranthus amboinicus leaves at a dose of 200 mg / kg (intraperitoneally) produced antineoplastic effect in ascitic form of Ehrlich carcinoma.The animal used were female mice of Swiss albino spesies.It was found that the extract produced a better control of ascites and lower tumor cell count in the ascitic fluid. There were no cytomorphological differences between the two groups ( Brando E.M et al 2013).

Analgesic and antiinflammatory.

Aqueous extract from P. amboinicus inhibited pain induced by acetic acid and formalin, and inflammation induced by carrageenan. The anti inflammation effect of PA was related to modulating antioxidant enzymes activities in the liver and decreasing the Malondialdehyde (MDA) level and production of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and cyclooxygenase2 (COX-2) in edema-paw tissue in mice. In vitro studies show that PA inhibited the inflammatory mediators in Raw 264.7 cell stikulated with lipopolysaccharide. P. amboinicus extract blocked the degradation of I_KB-α and nuclear translocation of NF-_KB p65 subunit. The amount of carvacrol in aqueous extract of P.a. was 1.88 mg/g extract. (Chiu Y.J. et al.,2012).

Diuretic Activities

The diuretic properties of ethanolic and aqueous extracts were evaluated by determination of urine volume and electrolyte concentration in male albino rats. Furosemide (10 mg/kg) was used as standard while normal saline (0.9%) was used as control. Both ethanolic and aqueous extracts (500 mg/kg) have shown significant increase in the volume of urine and urinary concentration of Na, K and Cl ions. Thus, from the is study it may be concluded that the leaves of P. amboinicus (Lour) Spreng possess diuretic activities (Patel R. et al, 2010).

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{slider=Reference}

Brandao E.M., P.H.D.M. Brandao, I.A. Souza, G.S. Paiva, M.de C. Carvalho & C.M. Lacerda (2013). Antineoplastic Effect of Aqueous Extract of Plectranthus amboinicus in Ehrlich Ascites Carcinoma. J. Cancer ,4 (7) Pg 573-576.

Chiu Y.J., T.H. Huang, C.S. Chiu, T.C. Lu, Y.W. Chen, W.H. Peng and C.Y. Chen (2012) Analgesic and Antiinflammory Activities of the Aqueous extract from Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour.) Spreng. Both In Vitro and In Vivo. Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ ecam/ 2012/508137/

Patel R., N.K. Mahobia, R. Gendle, B. Kaushik & S. K. Singh (2010). Diuretic activity of Leaves of Plectranthus amboinicus (Lour) Spreng in male albino rats. Pharmacognosy Res. 2(2), 86-88.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plectranthus_amboinicus

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