Botanical Name - Bacopa monnieri


Category - Medicinal


Form - Dry


Part Used - Whole Plant


General Information - Bacopa monnieri (BM), a medicinal Ayurvedic herb. BM is traditionally used for various ailments, but is best known as a neural tonic and memory enhancer. Numerous animal and in vitro studies have been conducted, with many evidencing potential medicinal properties. There is also evidence for potential attenuation of dementia, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy.


Phytochemicals - The main nootropic constituents of BM are believed to be dammarane types of triterpenoid saponins known as bacosides, with jujubogenin or pseudo-jujubogenin moieties as aglycone units. Bacosides comprise a family of 12 known analogs. Novel saponins called bacopasides Iâ??XII have been identified more recently. The alkaloids brahmine, nicotine, and herpestine have been catalogued, along with d-mannitol, apigenin, hersaponin, monnierasides IIII, cucurbitacins and plantainoside B. The constituent most studied has been bacoside A, which was found to be a blend of bacoside A3, bacopacide II, bacopasaponin C, and a jujubogenin isomer of bacosaponin C. These assays have been conducted using whole plant extract, and bacoside concentrations may vary depending upon the part from which they are extracted.