Centella asiatica (L.) Urban is an important herbaceous medicinal plant with a worldwide distribution. The herb possesses a medicinal value and is used extensively in traditional systems of medicine. The medicinal properties of the herb are attributed to the presence of characteristic triterpenoids and their saponins in the leaves. The major triterpenoids are asiaticoside, madecassoside and their aglycones asiatic acid and madecassic acid, respectively, among others. The present study reports a remarkable qualitative and quantitative variability in secondary metabolites in different accessions of C. asiatica L. as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. The accessions analyzed in this study can be considered as the core set of discrete chemotypes of C. asiatica. Considerable and contrasting biochemical variations were observed in the terpenoid profiles of the chemotypes. From the basic and applied phytochemical utility, this chemotypic variability in the total content of triterpenoids is important and interesting.

Saponins are steroid or triterpenoid glycosides, common in a large number of plants and plant products that are important in human and animal nutrition. Several biological effects have been ascribed to saponins. Extensive research has been carried out into the membrane-permeabilising, immunostimulant, hypocholesterolaemic and anticarcinogenic properties of saponins and they have also been found to significantly affect growth, feed intake and reproduction in animals. These structurally diverse compounds have also been observed to kill protozoans and molluscs, to be antioxidants, to impair the digestion of protein and the uptake of vitamins and minerals in the gut, to cause hypoglycaemia, and to act as antifungal and antiviral agents. These compounds can thus affect animals in a host of different ways both positive and negative.