Indian Journal of Experimental Biology

Vol. 38, May 2000, pp. 409-414

Mini Review

Molecular approach to Ayurveda

Yarnini B Tripathi
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221005, India

In ayurvedic system of medicine, it is considered that a living system is made of panch-mahabuta, in the form of Vata,
piua and kapha at the physical level and satwa, raja and tama at the mental level. This covers the psychosomatic
constitution and commonly known as the Tridosh theory. The imbalance in these body humours is the basic cause of any
type of disease manifestation. Till date, several objective parameters have been proposed to monitor the level of these basic
humours but none of them is complete. In this exercise, now it is proposed to consider free radical theory of diseases as one
of the objective parameters. To be more specific, vata can be monitored in terms of membrane bound signal transduction,
pilla as the process of phosphorylation and de-phosphorylation of different proteins (signalling moieties and enzymes) and
kapha can be viewed as the degree of gene expression as protein synthesis. This can be correlated with the ojas of the body
or total body defence mechanism.

Till date the scientists are struggling hard to explain
the basic concepts of the Ayurveda in scientific
1
terms . The Tridosh theory of Vata, Pitta and Kapha,
concept of Ama and Agni, the holistic approach of
2
disease management, are some of them . Ayurveda,
not only describes the use of herbal medicine for the
management of different diseases, but it also
emphasizes the way of life. The objective of
Ayurveda is to maintain the health of a healthy person
and to cure the disease of a patient. Regarding
treatment aspect, this system indicates t)Jat 66% of
the diseases could be managed only by changing diet,
life style and environmental factors . Under the
holistic approach of Ayurveda, the individual and its
surrounding environment is considered as a single
unit for the diagnosis and treatment. Basically in the
Ayurvedic system of medicine, the basis of life is
based . on three body humours i.e. Vata, Pitta and
Kapha at the body level and Satva, Raja and Tama, at
the mental leve l. Further it is said that the human
body consists of 7 different tissues i.e. Rasa (body
fluids), RAKTA (blood), Mansa (muscle), Ma zza
(bone marrow), Meda (fat), Asthi (bone) and Shukra
(sperm); 13 srotasa (functional systems) and 13
agnies (enzyme systems). Vata is the most important
humour, as it carriers the Pitta and Kapha in the body
to their respective places, for their normal functions.
In other words, Vata is the indication of life and
without this, a living system is dead. It has been
clearly mentioned in the following Sanskrit shlokas of
ancient Ayurvedic text.
Pittam pangu Kappah pangu, pangaq maladh atvah
v ayun yatra niyante, tatra gachanti meghavatq
(Shamgadhar Purva, 5.25)
(As the wind carries the clouds in the sky, similarly
Vata carries the pitta and kapha, in the body).
The increase in Vata is due to the intake of
unwholesome diet, excessive exercise, excess stress,
poor nutrition and ageing, In the metabolic diseases
like diabetes, arthritis, ageing, Alzheimer's disease,
loss of memory, atherosclerosis etc also, Vata is said
to be increased above the normal level. This leads to
13
the accumulation of vitiated pitta, kapha and Ama ·
as indicated in the original ayurvedic text, given
below.
R u ksais tiktaih kas a yaih katubhirasanair
vegasandh a ranaisca. Vy a y amaissca vyavaih
prataranabalavad vigrair j a garais ca.
Sy am a nivarakanguprabhritibhir as a nair
ull a sadbhih payodaih. -anne jirne 'pi jantor iti
bhabati tanau m a ritasya prakopah.
111
Tisasta 's Cikits a kalik a, +654 29. (I 0 chapter)
(Provocation of Vata takes place by intake of
rough, bitter, astringent and pungents, fasting,
suppression of urges , exertion, sexual act, swimming,
fighting with stranger, vigils, intake of rough cereals
like, syamaka, nivara, a kangu etc. in cloudy weather
(early rainy season), and after digestion of food (on
empty stomach.).
 410 INDIAN J EXP BIOL, MAY 2000
The etiological factors, responsible for different
diseases. and their development has been described in
detail in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Here
health has been classified in two forms, a) physical
and b) psychic. It emphasize, the 4 basic causes for
the onset of different diseases (I) ·genetic (2)
psychosomatic (3) environmental factors and (4) the
abnormal activity of sensory organs.
For the management of those factors which involve
the imbalance of Vata diseases, a particular way of
life (code of conduct) and a special group of
medicines are recommended, which are called as
Rasayana drugs. The actual meaning of Rasayana is
to follow those things which prevent ageing and
keeps an individual healthy. It includes the medicine,
the diet and also the life style. Interestingly,
aggravated vata could be checked by taking special
diet, stress-free life, holy thoughts etc. and this
approach of treatment (changed life style and use of
rasayana) not only cures the diseases but also keeps a
man healthy with long life as described below:
Dh a rghm a yus smri tim medh a marogyam tarunam
vayah
prabh.a varna svaru daryam dehendriyabala m
param
La bhopayohi sa sta na m rasa dana m
rasa yanam.
(Charak Samhita Ch .Str Chap-11117-8)
(It prolongs the life span, increases memory and
retaining capacity together with maintaining the
general health. It keeps the person young with bright
complexion, sweet voice, strong body and sensitive
sense organs. Rasayana therapy is also meant to
achieve the goal s of life and to maintain the optimum
quality of all the seven dhatus (body constituents) as
described earlier.
Interestingly, this concept of Ayurveda resembles
with the free radical theory of diseases and ageing. As
it is known that along with the evolution of living
organisms, the involvement of oxygen and iron in the
4
life process became more significant . Now it is well
established that at one hand, these molecules are
essential for any aerobic organism but at the same
time they are highly toxic also, when produced in
excess 5 . The different causes of excess generation of
free radicals are the excess activity of electron
transport chain (ETC), excess of free iron in the
bodl, hyperoxia 7, pollution, radiation, hurry, worry
and curry, excessive exercise, mental stress 8 etc. In
modem medicine their management includes, anti
oxidants (both natural and synthetic) 9• 11 and metal
chelators 6 .
These free radicals undergo a chain reaction of
attacking double bonds of different macromolecules
leading to the production of irreversible chemical
modifications in them. Some of the end products of
this process get eliminated from the body by the
action of cellular proteases but some of them become
unfit for the natural constitutive proteases and
lysozomal enzymes and therefore get accumulated,
because of their inability to enter to the normal
metabolic pathway or elimination.
Similar to the above analogy, Ayurvedic system of
medicine considers a term, Ama which is the vitiated
rasa (transformed end product of food due to
abnormal activity of agni) . Ama is produced and
accumulated due to the abnormal level of the 3 body
humours i.e. vata, pitta and kapha and 3 mental
humours i.e. sata, raja and tama 12• The concept of
Ama, as described earlier, has a great similarity with
the end products of free radical reactions. The
accumulation of "Ama" could be compared with the
accumulation of lipofusin, amyloid bodies 1', modified
proteins and lipids (which are not suitable for further
metabolism by the normal cellular pathways). This
process is the outcome of the deviation of different
metabolites from the main metabolic pathway to such
14
a direction, which forms the defective end products •
The concept of agni is another important issue in
the Ayurvedic literature. They are of 13 types.
Among them there is one Jatharagni, 5 Bhutagni and
3
7 types of Dhatwaganis . Agni is considered as the
uniting factor for body and mind . One agni may be
considered as a set of enzymes, responsible for a
particular metabolic pathway. Their site of action is
also different and very specific e.g. Jatharagani acts
on the Gastrointestinal tract, Bhutagni acts on the
intermediary metabolism and Dharn:agni acts at the
cellular level. The activity of Jatharagani is directly
related to the activity of other 12 agnies, therefore it
is considered to be the most important among all. As
per classical ayurvedic texts, any disease
manifestation is mediated through the abnormal
functioning of agni. The medicines for maintaining
the optimum activity of the agni (enzymes) will
maintain the formation of proper dhatus and do not
allow the formation and accumulation of Ama. This is
 TRIPATHI : MOLECULAR APPROACH TO AYURYEDA
another evidence for the holistic approach of
Ayurveda for health management.
On the contrary, the hyper-activity of the
Dhatwagni (metabolic enzymes), aggravates vata
followed by the activation of pitta and ultimately the
vitiation of kapha, and the accumulation of Ama. Thi s
process finall y manifests the symptoms of different
vata di seases (Fig. I ) . For the removal of different
types of ama, different Agnies have to be activated,
either by medic ine or by change in habits,
environmental factors or life style. As per modern
theory, the structural changes in the enzymes at the
level of transcription or translation , produce defective
enzymes lead in g to the production of altered-
intermediary metabo lite or accumulation or excess
use of some of the intermediary metabolite 15 •
However, till date, we have not been able to give a
similar classification of different enzyme sys tems or
biochemical pathways, as given for agni, but future
studies will tell the truth . Thi s is just the beginning of
the story.
Another similarity between the basic concepts of
Ayurveda and free radical theory is the classification
of vatic diseases and free radical mediated di seases.
12
Vatic diseases are of 80 types . Interestingly they
include all those diseases, which are either metabolic
Environment and constitution
Pitta & Kapha
Disturbance in Agni
(Jath aragani , + Dhatwagani)
+
Disturbance in the metabolism Rasa and
+
Production of ama
~
Manifestation of disease symptoms
Fig. I -Concept of Ayurveda for the development of a disease
411
or free radical mediated . Out of them more than 56
diseases have been included in the list of free radical
16
mediated diseases • To make it clear, we consider the
example of two vatic diseases, now known as free
17
radical mediated i.e. atherosclerosis and
18
Alzheimer's disease • As per recent scientific
reports, they are inflammation bound diseases and the
same set of genes are responsible for both the
diseases. Although, the affected organs are different
and the symptoms are different, but the causes are
similar at the molecular level. This hypothes is is
similar to what has been told by the Ayurveda experts
in the name of Vata disturbance for several such
metabolic diseases.
Coming to the specific di sease, Ayurveda covers
atherosclerosis as a complication of Medo raga
19
(obesity). According to Sushruta , such disorders
occur due to the coverage of margs (channels or
Srotas) by meda dhatu (by the accumulation of lipids)
resulting to the hypo-activity of Dhatwagnies
(disturbed signaling pathway). Due to imbalance of
agni at the dhatu level (Dhatwagnia), the rasa of
ingested food , (partially digested food or the
intermediary metabolite) is not properly converted to
different types of Dhatus (ti ssues) because of
incomplete assimilation and leads to excess
deposition of meda dhatu (fat ti ssue) along with the
simultaneous depletion of other dhatus. Thi s leads to
different complications of medo raga including
atherosclerosis 20 . (Fig.2)
As per recent scientific information, there are
basically three mechanisms, involved in
atherosclerosis. These are lipid infiltration, cellular
21
invasion and cell proliferation which is similar to
Meda deposition and coverage of channels as
described above. One of the hypotheses is the
involvement of free radical s and nitric oxide (high
Vata), which may be due to the high concentration of
advanced glycosylation end products22 (Ama).
Secondly, the oxidized LDL in the blood stimul ates
the monocyte binding and the production of
chemotactic factors (high pitta or high enzyme
activity) for the adhesion of monocytes to the
endothelial cells22 .
Similarly, when we talk about the life sty le and
diet , then at biochemical level: (A) hurry could be
correlated with the high acti vity of mitochondri a,
producing high amount of superoxides as the by
product of electron tran sport chain, (B) worry is
related to high releases of catecholamine, which on
 412 INDIAN J EXP BIOL, MAY 2000

Ahar

~
Digestion and Jatharagani
Absorption

Excess synthesis
of Lipid (Meda)
Meda/Sneha
Low Medagni

l
EJ
Fig. 2-Etiology of atherosclerosis (Ayurvedic view)

reaction with the free iron in the body, produces more VATA PITTA KAPHA
hydroxyl radical s and, (C) curry indicates excess
Wind Bile P legm
intake of fat , which is the best su bstrate for lipid
peroxidation, because of more unsaturated bonds. The Nervous system Thermogenesis Thermotaxis and
mechanism underlies the modul ation of various formation of
signaling molecules leading to the activation of preservatives fluid
NFkB, which regulates the expression of genes,
Hormones Enzymes Immune system
responsibl e for inflammatory factors and chemotactic
agents such as Vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 , Membrane bound Phosphoryl- Gene expression
(VCAM-1 ), endothelial leukocyte adhesion signal transduction ation processes
molecule, (ELAM-1) E-selectin, Intercellular
23 Stimulus-receptor, Metabolic steps Defence system
adhesion mol ecu le- 1, ICAM-1 etc. (These can be
interaction
compared to high kapha as hyptothesis) .
For Alzheimer's di sease, there are 3 poss ible Fig. 3-Proposed hypothesis for developing th e subjective
causes e.g. free radical theory , amyloid body parameters to monitor three body humours, desc ribed in Ayurv
2 4
deposition and Ca + toxicit/ . At the molecular level ,
there is activation of NFkB, which enhances the accumulation of Ama in the brain and nervou s tissue.
express ion of cyclooxygenase-2 and ultimately the It leads to the inflammation and degeneration of the
24
induction of infl ammat ion in the brain ti ssue . Beta cells. It is a general principle for the development of
amyloid bodies are the tran sformed proteins, Vataj di seases where it is said that the disturbed Vata
12
produced as the outcome of the defec tive APP affects the agni and then produces ama .
(A ltered precursor protein)u. Their excess For the management of such diseases, Ayurveda
accumulation, degenerates the neural cells. Another describes the use of Rasayana drugs . In this system of
factor is th e excess of Ca 2+ in the cytoplasm, which is medicine, special attention has been paid to thi s
the outcome of hyperactivity of the glutamate branch, as it is anti ageing. It not only recommends
receptor and al so the calcium channels on the cell for the use of herbal medicine but also includes the
membrane. This hi gh cellular calcium triggers the code of conduct and life style. Interestin gly a range of
production of free radicals, and the process of lipid herbs have been described for different age groups as
18
peroxidation and finally neuron damage • Ayurveda rasayan therapy. It opens the channels of the body and
believes, that mental disorders are the basic cause for leads to the normal metabolism of ingested food . It
the tncrease tn Vata (Prana/Vata) and the brings vitality to all the Dhatus (body syste ms and
 TRIPATHI : MOLECULAR APPROACH TO AYURV EDA
their organs). It is further recommended for the
regular intake of these medicines after the age of 25-
30, as the diet supplement to prevent the ageing
2 4 Me Cord J M & Fridovich I. The biology and pathology of
process \ which is considered as a vata mediated
disease in the ayurvedic texts .
Rasayanam Cha Yattjjara Vyadhi Naashanam
Yatha Amrita Rudanti Cha Gugguluchah Haritaki
25
(Rasayana prevents ageing process)
On the similar pattern , now a days, the use of
antioxidants has come to practice. It is both
preventive as well as curative. Specifically the
medicines, responsible for the management of free
radical medi ated di seases are called antioxidants26 .
They inactivate the reacti ve free radicals, which are
spontaneously being produced in the normal
physiologica l processes, spec ially in the electron
transport chain in mitochondri a (ETC). They also
chelate the free metals and activate the endogenous
antioxidant enzymes at the molecular level, these
antioxidants attenuate the activation of NFkB and
several other tran scription factors, leading to the
27
regulation of gene expression , activity of ion
channels and different enzymes, speci ally the kinases,
which are important in the signaling cascade28 .
Interestin gly, several herbal medicines including
many Rasayana drugs have shown the antioxidant
property as indi cated by several scienti sts but we are
quoting some of the reports from our own
9 37
laborator/ - fo r ready reference. Like rasayana
drugs , the anti ox idants are also reco mmended as the
diet supplement , to be taken in early age as a
preventive measure for different old age di seases. It
also acts as the signaling mo lecule by itself. In thi s
way, it appears that most of the properties of free
radicals are simil ar to th at of Vata as desc ribed in
Ayurveda. Th erefore, a hypothesis could be made th at
the free radi cals and re lated anti oxidant enzy mes and
molecul es could be treated as one of the objective
parameters for the assessment of vata and ojas.
Similarly, the other terms of Ayurveda could also be
defin ed as some objec ti ve parameters, as given in
Fig. 3.
Acknowledgement
The author extend s him si ncere thanks to Prof. J.
Mitra, Dr R.D. Sharma, Dr L.D. Dwivedi, Dr C.B.Jha
and Prof G .P .Dubey for di scuss ion on the subject.
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