The hypoglycemic action of Alisma plantago L. has been early reported (King et al., 1936).
The plant is also used as a therapeutic agent for fat liver (Watanabe et al.. 1960). The tubers of Alisma plantago-aquatica var. orientalis, is used in Oriental herbal medicine for prevention of fatty liver and in treating hyperlipemia.
It contains alisol A monoacetate, alisol B monoacetate and alisol monoacetate which protected mice against CCl4-induced liver damage (as indicated by serum glutamine-pyruvic transaminase and triglyceride levels (Chang et al., 1982).
A traditional Chinese medicinal plaster for treating hepatitis B is prepared from 18 medicinal plants, including Alisma plantago-aquatica (Feng et al., 2010).
Several herbal compositions which contain Alisma plantago-aquatica and other herbs, are used mainly in Chinese medicine for treatment of several diseases e.g. diabetes (Jung and Park, 2010; Shi, 2012), hypertension (Li et al., 2009), edema (Cui et al., 2010), urinary calculi (Yuan, 2009), dizziness (Zhang et al., 2001), melodyplastic syndrome (Ma et al., 2012) and many others.
The lipotropic effect of Alisma plantago was reported.
The methanolic extract was found to alleviate lipemia caused by fat administration. Choline and vitamin B12, found in the plant were able to improve liver disfunction.
The extract also have preventive effect against acute damage of liver by carbon tetrachloride.
Moreover, the extract was found to be effective not only in dietary liver caused by low-protein diet supplemented with cholesterol but also had activity in lowering cholesterol in hypercholesterolemia caused under the same conditions, contrary to the action of choline and lecithin (Kobayashi, 1960 b-f).Alisma plantago-aquatica and/ or the isolated triterpenes possess cytotoxic (Chen et al., 2001), antidabetic (Rau et al., 2006) and antiplasmodial (Adams et al., 2011) activities.
The sesquiterpene alismol or 10-hydroxyalismol, extracted from the rhizome of Alisma plantago-aquatica var. orientalis are used for treatment of liver disorders. Alismol and 10-hydroxyalismol inhibited 50% and 60% D-galactosamine-induced liver damage in vitro, repectively vs. 55% for malotilate (Kimura et al., 1992b). Alismol A 24-monoacetate, isolated from Alisma plantago showed hypocholesterolemic activity and lowered both plasma and liver total cholesterol 61% in rats (Imai et al., 1970).
In India, Alisma plantago aquatica (water plant) is reported as one of the antitumor ethnomedicinal plants (Sharma and Govind, 2009).
The rhizomes of Alisma plantago var. orientalis have been used for diuretic and anti-inflammatory purposes in oriental medicine (Oshima et al., 1983; Fukuyama et al., 1988).
Some of the protostane type triterpenoids, isolated from the plant e.g. alisol B and its derivatives have hypocholesterolemic (Murata et al., 1970a; Miyamoto and Murata, 1971), hepatoprotective (Kimura et al.,1992c) and diuretic activities (Hikino et al., 1982; Fukuyama, 1988).
The antioxidant effect of Alisma plantago-aquatica var. orientalis and its main component, alisol B 23-acetate was reported.
The results of the studies carried out by Kim et al. (2007) indicated that the plant and its main component show promise as therapeutic agents for various damages involving free radical reactions.
In addition, Alisma plantago-aquatica var. orientale has effect in inhibiting immunity and can improve nephritis (Kubo and Matsuda, 1996).
Alisol B and alisol A 24-acetate, isolated from this variety exhibited anti-complement activity (Lee et al., 2003).