Friday Hope: Indian Pennywort: Increasing Telomere Length and Activating Telomerase

In combination with Vitamins C, D and Zinc (our proven old friends), this herbal “cure-all” is a great boon to telomeres.

Mean PBMC telomerase activity after 3 months of exposure expressed as OD450 fluorescence presented as colored bars. Vertical thin bars represent the standard deviation of measurements. The horizontal bars indicate the significance of the two groups' comparisons using post hoc tests. The two (**) or three (***) asterisks refer to P<0.01 and P<0.001 significant differences, respectively between groups. PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cell.

Given the very recent study proving that SARS-CoV-2 and its Spike Protein reduce Telomere length, I found it necessary to search for effective, natural therapeutics to ameliorate this condition. After much searching, Nature does, indeed, provide such a therapeutic. It is in the form of an herb known as Centella asiatica, or, Indian Pennywort.

Before we discuss this herb’s ability to lengthen Telomeres, it is worth reviewing its other “cure-all” abilities.

First of all, what is Indian Pennywort?

Centella asiatica (CA) is a very important medicinal herb used in the orient[4], which is also becoming popular in the West[5]. Commonly known as mandukparni or Indian pennywort or jalbrahmi, it has been used as a medicine in the Ayurvedic tradition of India for thousands of years and listed in the historic ‘Sushruta Samhita’, an ancient Indian medical text[6,7]. The herb is also used by the people of Java and other Indonesian islands. In China, known as gotu kola, it is one of the reported “miracle elixirs of life” known over 2000 years ago.

Centella asiatica (CA), a clonal, perennial herbaceous creeper belonging to the family Umbellifere (Apiceae) is found throughout India growing in moist places up to an altitude of 1800 m. It is found in most tropical and subtropical countries growing in swampy areas, including parts of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, and South Africa and South pacific and Eastern Europe. About 20 species related to CA grow in most parts of the tropic or wet pantropical areas such as rice paddies, and also in rocky, higher elevations[4]. It is a tasteless, odourless plant that thrives in and around water. It has small fan-shaped green leaves with white or light purple-to-pink or white flowers and it bears small oval fruit. The whole plant is used for medicinal purposes.

Pharmacological Review on Centella asiatica: A Potential Herbal Cure-all
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116297/

Of the many clinical studies of CA, its benefits for the Endothelium are certainly apt when confronted with the Spike Protein.

In cases of vascular injury, thrombosis, acute myocardial infarction, and other peripheral vascular diseases, a higher number of circulating endothelial cells was detected. For example, in one study, patients with post phlebetic syndrome (PPS) showed a greater number of circulating endothelial cells compared to the normal subjects[62]. During a three-week treatment with CA triterpenic fraction (CATF), PPS patients who received 90 mg CATF daily in three divided dosages showed a statistical significant decrease in circulating endothelial cells, thereby indicating the effectiveness of CA in protecting the integrity of vascular intima.

CA is also proven effective in dealing with cognitive decline, anxiety, depression, hypertension, neuritis, insomnia and other diseases of aging.

In one recent randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study, 28 participants (< 61 years of age) received either CA extracts (250, 500, or 750 mg daily) or placebo in order to determine the effect of CA on cognitive function and mood[73]. In the study, after 2 months, cognitive function (as assessed by event-related potential and the computerized assessment battery test) and mood (using Bond-Lader visual analogue) was determined. The greatest improvements in mood and cognitive function were detected in those receiving the 750 mg dose of CA extract. A double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigated the anxiolytic activity of CA in human subjects[74]. The authors concluded that the findings suggested CA's anxiolytic activity in humans. Very recently, a study was conducted in sixty elderly subjects in age group 65 and above, using diagnostic tools like Mini Mental State Examination scoring (MMSE scoring), wherein activities of daily living and Yesavage geriatric depression scale were evaluated[75]. The mean MMSE scoring showed significant improvement after administration of CA for 6 months in elderly with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at dosage of 500 mg twice a day (1000 mg daily). A favourable improvement is observed in depression and other age related conditions like Hypertension, peripheral neuritis, insomnia, loss of appetite, constipation indicative of multiple useful clinical effects of CA especially in the age-related cognitive decline in elderly.

Pharmacological Review on Centella asiatica: A Potential Herbal Cure-all
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3116297/

In preclinical studies, benefits have been shown regarding wound healing.

Perhaps one of the reasons CA is so effective at treating diseases and conditions of aging is that it increases telomere length and activates telomerase. Especially in concert with Vitamins C and D.

The present study further demonstrated that the administration of the nutraceutical formulation containing C. asiatica extract, vitamin C, zinc and vitamin D3 increased the telomerase activity of PBMCs in a dose-dependent manner in a rat model. Specifically, the telomerase activity of medium-aged rats was reversed to the levels of the young controls at the higher dose. These findings are in line with those of previous studies demonstrating the potency of formulation and its naturally occurring constituents on telomerase activation (17). Moreover, the authors also recently demonstrated that C. asiatica extract increased telomerase activity in human PBMCs (16). The potency of the C. asiatica-containing formulation to activate telomerase was significantly more pronounced compared to other multi-nutrient formulations (16). Furthermore, vitamin C treatment has been found to be capable of mesenchymal stem cell sheet formation and tissue regeneration by inducing telomerase activity in vitro (56). In addition, vitamin C has been shown to activate telomerase in periodontal ligament stem cells, resulting in their enhanced expression of extracellular matrix components and stem cell markers (57). Moreover, the treatment of human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes with vitamin C has been found to result in the upregulation of human telomerase RNA (57). Likewise, supplementation with vitamin D has been demonstrated to significantly enhance the PBMC telomerase activity in a cohort of overweight African Americans (58). In a separate cohort of obese African Americans, vitamin D supplementation was associated with reduced epigenetic aging (59). Notwithstanding, it has been highlighted that the combination of nutrients and natural compounds exerts more significant effects than single compounds (13,16,60). Thus, it can be hypothesized that the beneficial effects of treatment on TL and telomerase may be due to the synergy of the constituents of the supplement. However, further studies are required to validate this.

A novel nutraceutical formulation increases telomere length and activates telomerase activity in middle‑aged rats
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10668076/

Let’s take a moment to thank Vitamin D, once more. Another reason it may be so effective against SARS-CoV-2 and its Spike Protein is that, as stated in the quote above, “vitamin D supplementation was associated with reduced epigenetic aging!”

Concerning acute COVID disease, CA is believed to be an effective treatment as it inhibits viral replication.

Different drugs targeting different sites on the virus have been developed. In this context, some of the natural products of the plant Centella asiatica was lead for further drug development against the target proteins of RdRp protein (PDB ID: 6NUR) through molecular docking. These compounds are 2,3-dihydroxyurs-12-en-28-oic acid, corosolic acid and pomolic acid which are triterpenoids and have highest binding affinity against RdRp protein thereby arresting the viral replication.

Terpenoids from Centella asiatica, a novel inhibitor against RNA-dependent-RNA polymerase activity of NSP12 of the SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19)
https://openurl.ebsco.com/EPDB%3Agcd%3A13%3A25525005/detailv2?sid=ebsco%3Aplink%3Ascholar&id=ebsco%3Agcd%3A155278209&crl=f

After the confirmation of my hypothesis that SARS-CoV-2 and its Spike Protein would shorten telomeres, I was, understandable, very concerned. I am thankful and happy to be able to share this hopeful report with you.

Please have a wonderful, joyous and peaceful weekend. As always, thank you for your support. It is invaluable as I cannot do this without you.