Table 3.

Experimental and clinical pharmacology of Andrographis paniculata and its major phytoconstituent andrographolide.

Pharmacological effects	Mechanisms	References
	(I) Experimental studies
	↑ CAT, SOD, and GST;
Antioxidant activity	↓ LDH	[23]
	↑ CAT, SOD, and GSH	[24]
	↓ TBARS	[26]
Anti-inflammatory effects	↓ LPS-induced NO production	[28–30]
Anticancer effects	↑ Cell differentiation	[35]
	↓ Proliferation of cancer cells	[3, 36]
	↑ IL-2 and IFN-c	[38]
	↓ Tumour growth
	↓ Cell proliferation, migration, and cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase	[42]
	↓ E-selectin expression	[40]
	↓ Janus tyrosine kinases-signal transducers and activators of transcription, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and NF-κB signalling pathways, suppression of hsp 90, cyclins, and cyclin-dependent kinases, MMPs and growth factors
	↑ Tumor suppressor proteins p53 and p21	[41]
Immunomodulatory effect	↑ Antibody production	[43]
	↓ Delayed-type hypersensitivity response
	↑ Proliferation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes
	Key cytokines and the expression	[1, 2, 44]
	↓ ALT activity	[50]
Hepatoprotective effects	↓ Concanavalin A-induced liver injury and hepatocyte apoptosis	[52]
	↓ GOT, GPT, ACP, and ALP levels Losses of HBsAg, HBeAg, and HBV DNA	[54, 56]
Antimicrobial effects	Acted against herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1)	[59]
	Acted against nine bacterial strains such as
	Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli,
	Shigella sonnei, Staphylococcus aureus,	[63]
	Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumonia,
	Streptococcus pyogenes, Legionella pneumophila, and Bordetella pertussis
	↓ Herpes simplex virus (HSV)	[62, 68]
Antiviral effects	Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)	[3, 67]
	Flaviviruses and pestiviruses	[69]
	Dengue virus (DENV1)	[71]
Larvicidal and ovicidal effects	Affected the larval growth of Anopheles stephensi	[81]
	Ovicidal activity against various age groups of Aedes Stephens	[82]
	Larvicidal and ovicidal activities against Culex quinquefasciatus Say and Aedes aegypti L.	[83]
Renoprotective effects	↓ Gentamicin-induced increase in serum creatinine,	[86]
	serum urea, and blood urea nitrogen levels
	↓ Spermatogenesis	[94]
Antifertility effects	↓ Degenerative changes in the seminiferous tubules, regression of Leydig cells, and regressive and/or degenerative changes in the epididymis, seminal vesicle,	[94]
	↓ ventral prostate, and coagulating glands	[94]
Antihyperglycemic activity	↓ TG	[24]
	↓ Blood glucose level	[99, 100, 102]
Hypolipidemic effects	↓ TC, TG, HDL-TC, and LDL-TC	[109]
	↓ Blood glucose, triglyceride, and LDL	[110]
Cardiovascular effects	Limiting blood flow to the brain, heart, and bodies of other organs	[112]
	Protect rat cardiomyocytes against
	hypoxia injury by increasing GSH	[113]
	and antioxidant enzyme
	↓ Coronary perfusion pressure	[114]
	↓ Platelet-activating factor (PAF)	[15]
Inhibitory effects on platelet aggregation	↑ eNOS-NO/cyclic GMP pathway	[120]
	↓ PLCγ2-PKC and PI3 kinase/Akt-MAPKs
Inhibitory effects on NF-kappa B activation	↓ NF-κB via the covalent modification of reduced Cys62 of p50	[13]
	↓ NF-κB via blocking the binding of NF-κB oligonucleotides to nuclear proteins	[128]
	(II) Clinical studies
Anti-HIV effect	↑ CD4+ lymphocyte count	[3]
	↓ gp120-mediated cell fusion of HL2/3 cells with TZM-bl cells	[135]
Effects on upper respiratory tract infections	↓ Relieving the symptoms of fever and sore throat	[73]
	Tiredness, sleeplessness, sore throat, and nasal secretion	[136]

CAT: catalase; SOD: superoxide dismutase; GST: glutathione-S-transferase; LDH: lactate dehydrogenase; TBARS: thiobarbituric-acid-reactive substances; LPS: lipopolysaccharides; NO: nitric oxide; IL-2: interleukin-2; IFN-c: interferon-c; GOT: glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase; GPT: glutamate pyruvate transaminase; ALP: alkaline phosphatase; ACP: acid phosphatase; HBsAg: hepatitis B surface antigen; HBeAg: hepatitis B “e” antigen; ALT: alanine aminotransferase; TC: total cholesterol; TG: triglyceride; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; HDL: high-density lipoprotein; GHS: reduced glutathione; PLC-γ2: phospholipase C; PKC: protein kinase C; MAPK: mitogen-activated protein kinase; cGMP: cyclic guanosine monophosphate; eNOS: endothelial nitric oxide synthase; HSP: heat shock protein; MMP: matrix metalloproteinases.