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Lepidium sativum L. (Brassicaceae)

(Syns.: L. hortense Forssk.; L. spinescens DC.; Cardamon sativum (L.) Fourr.; Arabis chinensis Rottler ex Wight)

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Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants

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Abstract

The shrub is a cultivated vegetable all over Asia, and is the Garden Cress of Europe. Seeds are considered functional food, containing significant amounts of protein, fat, dietary fiber and potassium, and amino acids, glutamic acid, leucine and methionine, with linolenic acid being the major fatty acid. Seeds are regarded in Unani medicine as expectorant, appetizer, diuretic, emmenagogue, resolvent, detergent, aphrodisiac and oxytocic. Seed infusion or decoction, chiefly due to their mucilaginous property, are useful in diarrhea, dysentery, and skin diseases caused by impurity of the blood. A cold infusion of seeds is used to relieve hiccough. Seeds contain sinapic acid ethyl ester, N,N′-dibenzylthiourea,N,N′-dibenzyl-urea, dimeric imidazole alkaloids lepidine, lepidine B–F, and monomeric alkaloids, semilepidinoside A and B. Aqueous extract significantly lowered BP of SHRs without affecting BP of normotensive rats, and significantly increased urinary excretion of Na+, K+ and chloride in both normotensive and SHRs. Repeated oral administration of aqueous extract normalized glucose levels in STZ diabetic rats, and significantly reduced blood glucose of normal rats without altering basal plasma insulin levels. Aqueous suspension of seed powder produced significant analgesic effect against various noxious stimuli, and seed oil significantly decreased production of inflammatory mediators by peritoneal macrophages in response to different stimuli, and modulated inflammatory mediators such as NO and LTB4 in rats.

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  1. Stockton, CA, USA

    Shahid Akbar

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Akbar, S. (2020). Lepidium sativum L. (Brassicaceae). In: Handbook of 200 Medicinal Plants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16807-0_118

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