T He Science Supporting Titrated Extract of Centella Asiatica

Titrated Extract of Centella Asiatica (TECA) is a reconstituted mixture of three triterpenes extracted from the plant and is being used in Europe in wound healing drugs. TECA has been shown to stimulate collagen synthesis in fibroblast cultures and to increase the tensile strength of tissues. Centella asiatica (also known as gotu kola, tiger grass and indian pennywort) is a perennial creeping plant which grows spontaneously around the Indian Ocean. The use of centella asiatica in the management of dermatological conditions has a long tradition in its native areas where it is used to support faster healing of small wounds, chaps and scratches, superficial burns and, as an oral preparation, for atonic wounds and hypertrophic healing. Centella also has been used traditionally as an anti-inflammatory, particularly for eczema, and also for minor itching and insect bites. Paradoxically, centella asiatica appeared relatively late in modern Western medicine, making its entrance in the Codex only in 1884. The first dry extract was not produced until 1941, three years before the triterpenoids were isolated by P. Boiteau in 1944. The active constituents of centella asiatica are pentacyclic triterpenoids which are found as genins (asiatic and madecassic acid) and heterosides (asiaticoside and madecassoside). The triterpenoidic molecules are particularly interesting due to their regulating and activating functions, which act on the collagen present in numerous organs.