Asiatic acid is a pentacyclic triterpene isolated from a variety of plants, including C. asiatica, used in traditional medicines. In addition to anti-inflammatory actions, asiatic acid stimulates wound healing by increasing collagen production. It has also been found to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in breast cancer cells (IC50 = 5.9 μM for MCF-7 cells) and block angiogenesis in cells and tumors from glioblastomas. Asiatic acid also impacts amyloid-β precursor protein processing by down regulating BACE1 while increasing ADAM10 maturation in primary rat cortical neurons. In addition, it reduces neuronal damage and cognitive defects resulting from glutamate administration in vivo in mice while demonstrating protective effects against glutamate-induced apoptosis in isolated SH-SY5Y cells.
