Temulawak

Temulawak
Scientific Name	Curcuma xanthorrihiza Roxb
Family	Curcuma xanthorrihiza Roxb
Common Name	Javanese turmeric

{slider=Geographical Distributions}

Native to Indonesia. Distribution in Malaysia, China , Myammar, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia and Peru.

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{slider=Plant Material of Interests}

Food and medicinal uses.

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{slider=General Appearances}

Perennial herb that can reach a height of 4 feet. The leaf sheaths form a short pseudo-stem, crowned by 5-to 12 lanceolate leaves. Yellow or cream-colored flowers are borne in a central spike.

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{slider=Cultivation}

The plant prefers lightly acidic, well drained soil. It cannot withstand wet feet and waterlogged soil. Tumeric prefers warm climate. Pests include nematodes and various scale insects. Rhizome rot is a prominet fungal disease (10).

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{slider=Chemical Contents}

Xanthorrhizol. Essential oil from the rhizome contents: the derivatives of xanthorihizol, camphene and curcumene, monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes, susquiterpene, hydrocarbons and other minor compounds. Germacrone.Curcuminoids (1-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-(1E,6E)1-,6-heptadiene-3,4-dione.

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{slider=Traditional Uses}

a.To treat back pain: 1 rhizome of temulawak, tumeric 1 of thumb, 1 handheld leaf cat’ whiskers. All ingrdients are boiled with 1 1L of water and filtered. Drink 1 times one day 1 glass. b. asthma: 1 ½ rhizome , a piece of palm sugar. Thinly sliced rhizome and dried. After dry, boiled with 5 cups water plus 1 piece palm sugar to boil down to cups and then filtered. Others: headace and cold, sick spleen, Ulcer, abdominal pain, milk production, kidney pain, appetide and constipation(9).

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{slider=Pharmacology}

Anti fungal

Anti fungal activity against C. albicans, C. glabrata, C. guiliermondii, C. krusei, C. parapsilosis,  C. tropicalis. Aspergillus flavus and Peniciilium chrysogenum (Mary Helen et al. 2012)

Antibacteria Activity

The antimicrobial activity of the oil showed significant inhibitory activity against the human pathogenic bacteria. E. Coli, Bacillus amyloloquefaciens, K. Pneumoniae, Shigella sonnei, Ent. Aeroginosa, Pseu. Aeruginosa, S. typhi, X. Campetris, Mycobacterium sp., Proteus vulgaris, Strep. Thermphilus, Staph. Aureus, B. maegaterium. (Mary Helen et al. 2012)

Hepaprotective agent

The aim of the present study is to clarify whether C. xanthorrhiza treatment may prevent acute liver damage induced by acetaminophen and carbon tetrachloride in mice. The results clearly indicated that extract of C. xanthorrhiza could reduce significantly the acute elevation of serum transaminases levels induced by the two kinds of hepatotoxins, and alleviated the degree of liver damage at 24 hours after the intraperitoneal administration of two hepatotoxins. It may be concluded that C. xanthorrhiza can protect the liver from various hepatotoxins, hence C. xanthorrhiza could be useful in the treatment of liver injuries and has promise as a kind of broad spectrum hepatoprotective agent (Li S.C., et al 1995).

Analgesic and Diuretic Activity

The methanol extract of the dried rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. (Zingiberaceae) showed significant analgesic and diuretic activities on Swiss albino mice. Oral administration of the crude extract at doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight, exhibited 33.2 and 50.5% inhibition of acetic acid induced writhing in mice, respectively. Similar oral doses of the extract produced a maximum of 1.24 and 1.45 diuretic activity after 2 and 1 h of the study, respectively. The diuretic effect of the extract started after 1 h at doses of 150 and 300 mg/kg body weight of mice. It was observed that the diuretic activity increased with increasing the concentration of the test sample (Hassan Mahmood M.K., S.C Bachar, M.S Islam, M. Shawkat Ali. 2004).

Cholesterol lowering agent.

The efficacy of C. xanthorrhiza in loweing blood plasma lipid was evaluated in rabbits.  Forty male New Zealand white rabbit (2.3 kg) were devided into four equal groups and offered isoatherogenic diets with no curcuma, low curcuma (2gkg-1), medium curcuma (3gkg-1) and high curcuma (4gkg-1) for 120 days. Faeces and feed samples were collected. Bodyweight was measured weekly. Blood samples at 1,2 and 4 months and liver samples at the last blood collection were taken. Curcuma did not influence feed, protein and fat consumption and protein excreation (P>0.05) but significantly (P<0.05) increased fat excretion. Cholesterol concentration was decreased by 46.6, 56.4 and 63.2 % and HDL concentration was decreased by 9.9, 14.5 and 21.9 % at 2,3 and 4 gkg-1 curcuma respectively. HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor was significantly (P<0.05) increased by curcuma. Glucose was sigficantly (P<0.05) reduced by 6.2, 7.6 and 18.0 % at 2,3 and 4 gkg-1 curcuma respectively. Lipid peroxidation was prevented at 3 and 4 gkg-1 curcuma. The enhanced fat excretion could have been mediated through an excretion of cholesterol via bile and into the faeces (Wientarsih l., et al., (2002).

Antiinflammatory Effect

Methanol extract from rhizomes was partitioned between ether and water, and then the ether-soluble fraction was extracted with n-hexane. The n-hexane-soluble fraction was chromatographed (fr. I-IV), fr. II was rechromatographed (fr. V-VII), and then fr. V was rechromatographed (fr. VIII-X) by silica gel column chromatography. The antiinflammatory activity of these fractions was investigated on carrageenin-induced edema in rats and acetic acid-induced vascular permeability as well as the writhing symptom in mice. The methanol extract (p.o.) showed both an antiinflammatory activity and an analgesic activity and these activities shifted successively to the ether-soluble fraction, the n-hexane-soluble fraction, fr. II, V and IX. The chemical structure of fr. IX was identified as germacrone. These results suggest that the antiinflammatory action of Curcuma xanthorrhiza is the result of the germacrone that it contains (Ozaki Y 1990).

Antioxidant Activity

A new curcumin analogue has been isolated from the rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza along with four known curcuminoids, and its structure has been determined as 1-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-7-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-(1E,6E)-1,6-heptadiene-3,4-dione by spectral data. The new compound showed potent antioxidant activity against autoxidation of linoleic acid in a water-alcohol system (Masuda T. et al 1992).

Immunostimulating Activity

Crude polysaccharide extract isolated from rhizome of C. xanthorrhiza stimulates the immune functions of macrophages, which is mediated in part by specific activation of NF-kappaB. (Kim AJ, et al., 2007).

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{slider=Toxicology}

The toxicity effects of the standardized ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza in experiment animals. Brine shrimp lethality test and acute oral toxicity were conducted to evaluate the toxicity effects of this plant. The ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza screened for toxicity against brine shrimps showed lethal concentration (LC₅₀)  values of more than 1.0mg/mL confirming that the extract was not toxic and bioactive. Oral administration of standardized ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza at the doses 300, 2,000 and 5,000 mg/kg resulte in no mortalities or evidence of adverse effects, indicating that Curcuma xanthorrhiza is non-toxic.This experimental results sufggest that the standized Curcuma xanthorrhiza ethanolic extract is non-toxic with high margin of safety. (Devaraj S. et al 2013).

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{slider=Reference}

Devaraj S., S. Ismail, S. Ramanathan, M. F. Yum (2013). In vivo toxicological investigations of standardized ethanolic extract of Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. Rhizome. J. Nat. Prod. Plant Resour, 3 (1) Pg 67-71.

HwangJK,ShimJS,BaekNI  (2000). Xanthorrhizol:apotential antibacterial agent from Curcuma xanthorrhiza against Streptococcus mutans. Planta Med ; 66: 196–7.
Hassan Mahmood M.K., S.C Bachar, M.S Islam, M. Shawkat Ali.(2004). Analgesic and Diuretic Activity of Curcuma xanthorrhiza. Dhaka University Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences., 3(1-2). http://www.banglajol.info/index.php/ JPharma/ article/view/178.

Li S.C., C.C. Lin, Y.H. Lin, S. Supriyatna, C. W. Teng (1995). Protective and Therapeutic Effects of Curcuma xanthorrhiza on Hepatotoxin-induced Liver Damage. The American Journal of Chinese Medicine 23, P 243.(Abstract).

Kim AJ, Kim YO, Shim JS, Hwang JK (2007). Immunostimulating activity of crude polysaccharide extract isolated from Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 71 (6), 1428-38.6.5.Mary Helen PA., Ssusheela Gomathy K., Jayasree S., Nizzy AM, Rajagopal B, Jeeva S. (2012). Phytochemical characterization and antimicrobial activity of Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine S637-S640.

Ozaki Y. (1990). Antiinflammatory effect of Curcuma xanthorriza Roxb, ant its active principles. Chemical & Pharmaceutical Bulletin, 38(4), 1045-1048.g/abstract/MED/2379278.

Masuda T., J. Isobe, A. Jitoe, N. Nakatani (1992). Antioxidative curcuminoids from rhizomes of Curcuma xanthorrhiza. Phytochemistry, 31 (10), Pg 3645-3647.

Wientarsih l., S. Chahkeredza & U. Meulan (2002). Influence of curcuma (Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb) on lipid metabolism in rabbits. Journal of the Science of Foof and Agriculture, 82, 1875-1880.

Yaya Rukayadi1,2, Dongeun Yong3 and Jae-Kwan Hwang1 In vitro anticandidal activity of xanthorrhizol isolated from Curcuma xanthorrhiza Roxb Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (2006) 57, 1231–1234http://jac.oxfordjournals.org/ content/57/6/1231.full.pdf.

http://www.hanannaqq.com/2012/07/nature-herb-temulawak.html

http://books.google.com.my/books.curcuma xanthorrhiza

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