Asteraceae‟ family name is give after one of the genus of this family, i.e.„Aster‟, which is derived from the Greek word „ἀrsήq‟which means the star that embodies its inflorescence. Synantherology is the name given to the research and investigation of this family. A sits petals open in the morning and close in the evening, members of this family are also named „Daisy‟, which is derived from English name: daegesege, which means „day‟seye‟. The plants of this family grow as annual and perennial herbs and shrubs, vines or trees in forests to high-altitude grasslands (Klaas et al., 2002). Characteristic inflorescences (flowers indense heads with involucrum) and the calyx forming the pappus crowning the nut are found in this family.

1. Significance of Arnica Montana
BY Dr. S.SREEREMYA
FACULTY OF BIOLOGY

2. • Asteraceae‟ family name is give after one of the genus of this
family, i.e.„Aster‟, which is derived from the Greek word
„ἀrsήq‟which means the star that embodies its inflorescence.
Synantherology is the name given to the research and investigation
of this family. A sits petals open in the morning and close in the
evening, members of this family are also named „Daisy‟, which is
derived from English name: daegesege, which means „day‟seye‟.
The plants of this family grow as annual and perennial herbs and
shrubs, vines or trees in forests to high-altitude grasslands (Klaas et
al., 2002).
• Characteristic inflorescences (flowers indense heads with
involucrum) and the calyx forming the pappus crowning the nut are
found in this family.

3. • OCCURRENCE, BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION ANDETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
• Arnica montana is availed since centuries in homoeopathic system of
medicine. It is used for the treatment of 62 different pathological
conditions, but frequently used for contusion, wounds, rheumatism and
inflammation. Even Echinacea Purpurea has few similar properties as
Arnica Montana (Sreeremya, 2018) In early medieval texts, the name
„Arnica‟ was not referred any-where (Macedo et al., 2004). This name was
given in 1532 by the St, Hildegard‟s „Physica‟ editor which was further
used in 16th century by Dalechamps, who thought it was derived from
Greek word „Ptarmika‟ which means the something that causes sneezing,
and Haller and Linnaeus were the first people to use the name „Arnica‟ in
both the pharmacy and botany (Kawakami et al., 2011) Fig: 1.
• In northern Spain, Arnica montana L. was named as: „betonica de
losmontes‟, „tobaco de montana‟, „talpa‟ or „talpica‟, and in1784, the
plant was successfully availed in hospitals for the treatment of loss of
vision that occurs without an apparentlesion affecting the eye also called
as amaurosis(Verma et al.,2010).

5. • Two constituents of the Arnica montana, helenaline and1a,
12-dihydrohelenaline were tested with regard toplatelet
aggregation. Both compounds inhibited the plate-let
aggregation induced by the collagen, the formation of
thromboxane and secretion of 5 hydroxy-tryptamine
(serotonin) in various concentrations varying from 3 to250
M. When arachidonic acid was availed as stimulus, the
formation of the thromboxane remained the same inspite
of platelet aggregation inhibition. The researchers
concluded that helenaline and 1a, 13-dihydrohelena-line
inhibited platelet aggregation through the interaction with
platelets sulph hydryl groups. This is probably allied with
the reduction of phospholipase Aactivity.

6. • Arnica montana, when ingested, can cause the vascular dilation, blood stasis and increased capillary
permeability. It acts in the vessel wall damaging endothelial membrane and thus disrupting its
surface continuity. This allows the passage of cellular elements from blood and plasma to tissue (De
Camargo et al., 2013). These two effects, anti-coagulant and the damage to vascular endothelium,
explain the hemorrhages caused by Arnica. In muscle it can mainly induce pain and rigidity similar
to the effects of accumulation of the lactic acid after excessive physical exercise. Similarly, Arnica
Montana can affect the central and the sympathetic nervous systems causing paralysis (Qin et al.,
2012).When applied locally it can induce chronic inflammation, and vesicular eruptions and red pus
tules. It can also cause venous hemorrhage. This investigation had the objective to assess pre
clinically the anti-inflammatory activity of Arnica montana6cHusing animal models of acute and
chronic inflammation. Given the central and pivotal role of macrophages in tissue repair and
regeneration, we formulated the hypothesis that one of the cellular targets of the Arnica m. action
is the macrophage, and accordingly decided to evaluate and assess this plant's effects in vitro on
the THP-1 human cell line, a widely availed model for immune modulation (Chanput et al., 2014).
This cell line is widely availed in laboratories for the study of macrophage biochemistry and
molecular biology. The pros of a cell line reside essentially in the easier reproducibility of
experiments in the same conditions, avoiding the variations due to individual sensitivity of different
donors. Since researchers availed very low doses of drugs (Gordon et al., 2003).

7. • THP-1 cells resemble primary monocytes, but when treated with the low doses of phorbol esters
(PMA) they differentiate to cells with the morphological and functional features of the tissue
macrophages. On the basis of the environmental cues and molecular mediators, macrophages
differentiate to either the pro-inflammatory type (M1) or to an anti-inflammatory or pro-reparatory
type (M2) (Gordon et al., 2013). Accordingly, we used THP-1 macrophages polarized by interleukin-
4 (IL-4) treatment to the phenotype that takes on characteristic properties functional to the
immune regulation, wound healing, and tissue remodeling(Conforti et al.,2007).In a preliminary
study, researchers availed RT-PCR analysis to investigate changes in the expression of a panel of 26
genes focused on immune response . Among the tested genes, CXCL1 in specific exhibited the most
substantial increase of expression, while CXCL2, CXCL4, BMP2 andNFKB1 were slightly up-regulated,
suggesting the positive influence of Arnica m. on neutrophil recruitment and on angiogenesis. The
most pronounced effects were noted in the IL-4 polarized macrophages after 24h of Arnica m.
treatment (Macedo et al., 2004). Therefore, the researchers decided to re-investigate the same cell
extracts with the most high-throughput method, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq), designed to evaluate
the whole transcriptome. Researchers analyzed RNA samples from a series of 5 n experiments
testing Arnica m. at the 2nd centesimal homeopathic dilution (Arnica m. 2c) compared with the
vehicle (Control). This approach enabled us to identify all the potential genomic targets of the
plant's controlling action Arnica m. is used at several doses in the clinical settings, researchers also
tested pooled samples of the experiments carried out with higher dilutions. Lastly, to further assess
the potential therapeutic capacity of this plant, we tested Arnica m. and Control solutions availing
an in vitro model of wound healing, in which the macrophages migrate through a scratch made in
the culture cell monolayer (Lussignoliet al., 1999).

8. •
• Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis and Drug
Research, Significance of Arnica Montana,
Dr.S.Sreeremya , 2019.Vol 1(1):1-10