Guñjā

• Abrus precatorius Linn., Family: Fabaceae roots, seeds, and leaves have been used traditionally for their purgative, emetic, tonic, aphrodisiac, and hair growth promoting properties after being processed through Śodhana.

• Since ancient times, it has been used as fish poison, arrow poison and also for criminal purposes of poisoning both humans and cattle.

• Abrus seeds contain a toxic lectin, abrin (an albumotoxin), a fat‑splitting enzyme, a glucoside (abrussic acid), urease, abarnin, trigonelline, choline, hypaphorine, and steroidal oil that have abortive effects.

• Abrin has a fatal dose of 0.1–1 μg/kg in humans and it is reported that boiling renders the seed harmless.

• In Śodhana of Guñjā seeds, they are subjected to the svedana in dolā yantra with Godugdha or Kāñji for 3–6 h.

• The Śodhita material is then subjected to washing with hot water and drying under shade.

• During the Śodhana process, color of the media changes due to the removal of colored materials from the endosperm of the seeds and subsequently there is loss in weight.

• According to Singh et al. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) study of the Guñjā extract before and after the Śodhana process showed that the level of toxic hypaphorine decreases, whereas the less toxic alkaloid abrine increases.

• Perhaps during Śodhana process, a major part of hypaphorine might have undergone transformation into abrine by reduction of its tertiary amino group into the primary amino group.

• Percentage of protein present in Guñjā also reduces after Śodhana.

• In another study, chromatographic evaluation confirms the absence of the steroidal oil in Śodhita Guñjā seed, which is responsible for the abortifacient effect.

• The LD50 dose of Guñjā was reported to increase from 2 to 5 g/kg (aśodhita) to ≥5 g/kg (Śodhita).

• The efficacy studies on hair growth and antibacterial effect of the Śodhita Guñjā show significant result.

1. Sreeramulu J, Reddy JR, Reddy YP, Geethavani M. Antimicrobial activity of seeds of Abrus precatorius Linn. Asian J Chem 2009;21:1630‑2.

2. Acharya R, Roy S. A Review on therapeutic utilities and purificatory procedure of gunja (Abrus precatorius Linn.) as described in Ayurveda. J Agric Sci Technol 2013;2:1‑11.

3. Olsnes S. The history of ricin, abrin and related toxins. Toxicon 2004;44:361‑70.

4. Chauhan NS. Medicinal and Aromatic Plants of Himachal Pradesh. New Delhi: Indus Publication Company; 1999. p. 49‑52.

5. Dimetry NZ, Gengaihi SE, Reda AS, Amer SA. Biological effect of some isolated Abrus precatorius L. alkaloids towards Tetranychus urticae Koch. Anz Schadlingskunde Pflanzenschutz Umweltscgutz 1992;65:99‑101.

6. Ross IA. Medicinal Plants of the World. Chemical Constituents, Traditional and Modern Medicinal Uses. 2nd ed., Vol. 1. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press Inc.; 2003. p. 15‑31.

7. Parikh CK. Parikh’s Test Book of Medical Jurisprudence Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. 6th ed. Darya Ganj (New Delhi): CBS Publishers and Distributors (India); 2007. p. 9.31‑11.16.

8. Kekuda TR, Vinayaka KS, Soumya KV, Ashwini SK, Kiran R. Antibacterial and antifungal activity of methanolic extract of Abrus pulchellus Wall. and Abrus precatorius Linn.: A comparative study. Int J Toxicol Pharmacol Res 2010;2:26‑9.

9. Roy S, Acharya R, Mandal NC, Barman S, Ghosh R, Roy R. A comparative antibacterial evaluation of raw and processed Guñja (Abrus precatorius Linn.) seeds. Anc Sci Life 2012;32:20‑3.

10. Singh GD, Banerji R, Mahrotra S. Effect of shodhana on the toxicity of Abrus precatorius. Anc Sci Life 1998;18:127‑9.

11. Barve KH, Ojha N. Effective detoxification of Abrus precatorius Linn. seeds by Shodhana. J Ayurveda Integr Med 2013;4:82‑5.