Gallant Soldier

Galinsoga parviflora

Other Names : Galinsoga parviflora, chickweed, smallflower galinsoga, quickweed, Galinsoga à petites fleurs, piquant blanc, Erva da moda, picão branco, Msekeseke, Kleinblütiges Knopfkraut, Kleinblütiges Franzosenkraut, Kaal knopkruid
Galinsoga parviflora belongs to the family Astraceae. The plant is abundant in Central America, South America, Europe, West Indies, Mexico, Australia, Africa and Asia. In Pakistan, it can be found in Balochistan, Hunza, Dir, Swat, Gilgit, Murree and Kashmir

Health Benefits and Uses of Gallant Soldier

The plant is used in traditional preparations for wound healing as well as for the treatment of blood coagulation problems, cold, flu, toothache, and dermatological and eye diseases. The healing properties of Galinsoga parviflora are due to the presence of diverse secondary metabolites. The plant is non-toxic, and is used as fodder for cattle. Humans also use it as a vegetable for preparing soups and salad. Crude extracts and pure compounds isolated from the plant possess potent pharmacological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and nematicidal effects. They exhibit urease and α-glucosidase activities, and have been shown to exert cytotoxic, hepatoprotective and hypoglycemic effects. Thirty eight compounds have so far been isolated from G. parviflora. These can be classified into seven categories: flavonoids, aromatic esters, diterpenoids, caffeic acid derivatives, steroids, phenolic acid derivatives and miscellaneous compound

• Generally, the aerial portions of Galinsoga species are used in anti-inflammatory drug preparations in traditional medicine for the treatment of dermatological problems such as eczema and lichens.
• This plant has been used as an anti-scurvy agent due to its high level of vitamin C.
• to stop bleeding,
• for treating cold sores
• against common cold and flu.
• The flowers possess analgesic properties, and are applied in making preparations for relief of toothache.
• It has been reported that aqueous extracts of aerial parts of the plant exert protective effects against damages caused by UV irradiation and it is also used for wounds and eye diseases.
• Appreciable levels of calcium, magnesium and proteins are present in G. parviflora
• Antibacterial activity : The hexane extract (100 mg/mL) showed antibacterial activity against B. subtilis, M. luteus and S.aureus. Studies have also revealed that the leaf oil of G. parviflora exhibited specific antibacterial properties against gram positive S. aureus and B. cereus.
• Antifungal activity  : It has been reported that light petroleum, ethyl acetate fractions and ethanolic extract of G. parviflora exhibited significant antifungal activities against A. niger and C. albicans, when compared to the standard antifungal drug nystatin [28].
• Anti-inflammatory activity: The aerial part extracts of G. parviflora have been tested for anti-inflammatory activity using the cyclooxygenase (COX-1) assay.
• Antioxidant activity  : The ethyl acetate fraction showed strong antioxidant activity at a concentration of 150 mg/mL, relative to 0.1 M ascorbic acid.
• Nematicidal activity : The ethyl acetate fraction exhibited the highest mortality against Meloidgyne incognita. While compounds 27 and 38 showed significant activity against Cephalobus litoralis, compound 32 was found to be highly active against both species.
• Cytotoxic activity : Two fractions of G. parviflora extract were subjected to cytotoxicity screening on HL60 (human promyelocytic leukemia) cells. The chloroform and ethyl acetate fractions showed anticancer activities, with IC50 values of 8.5 and 10.5 μg/mL, respectively [26]. At low concentrations (down to 100 µg/mL), the ethanol extract displayed weak cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 breast cancer cell line.
• Urease activity : Strong and moderate inhibitory activities on urease have been exhibited by compound 2 and compound 3, respectively.
• α-Glucosidase activity : It has been reported that compound 3 showed strong inhibition against –glucosidase activity.
• Hepatoprotective activity : The ethanolic extract of G. parviflora (400 mg/kg BW) and the standard silymarin (150 mg/kg BW) significantly decreased the levels of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity comparing with CCl4 induced cirrhotic rats group.
• Hypoglycemic activity : It has been demonstrated that ethanol extract of G. parviflora (400 mg/kg) exerted hypoglycemic properties nearly equal to those of the standard drug glibenclamide (5 mg/kg BW).

References

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• Watt JM, Breyer-Brandwijk MG. The medicinal and poisonous plants of southern and eastern Africa. Livingstone; 1962; p 747.
• Surywanshi V, Yadava RN. New potential allelochemicals from Galinsoga purviflora CAV. Chem Sci Rev Lett 2015; 4(13): 405-413.
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• Bazylko, A, Boruc, K, Borzym, J, Kiss, AK, Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Galinsoga parviflora and Galinsoga ciliata-composition investigations using HPTLC and HPLC-DAD-MS methods. Phytochem Lett 2015a; 11: 394-398.
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