Omics: A Newer Technique in Herbal Drug Standardization & Quantification

Abstract

Herbal plants are found abundant in all parts of the world with various uses for its medicinal, pharmaceutical, and nutritional value as well as the ordinary spice in our culinary. Nature is a principal source of herbal medicines. The increasing use of herbal medicine around the globe requires new scientific approaches for their standardization. Evaluation of Physical and chemical parameters are the most common parameters for standardization. Now days, a number of method exists, but not satisfying everyone all over the globe. With the use of newer technique such as omics, (proteomics, metabonomics, transcriptomics etc.), we can easily have depth knowledge of pharmacodyanamics, pharmacokinetics and toxicological characterization of active constituent of an herbal plant. These techniques have made one standard approach for the standardization and modernization of herbal medicine. The modernization of herbal medicine is the need of hour to cater the global demand by means of patient compatibility. The omic technique can also play an important role for the conservation of knowledge of ancient plant species. Moreover omic technique is an important tool for fingerprinting and quality control of herbal medicine. In this review, an emphasis has been made on different techniques of omics and their use in standardization and modernization of herbal plant.

Review of Possible Mechanisms of Analgesic Effect of Herbs and Herbal Active Ingredient

“…Phenol ingredients such as Thymol and Carvacrol, Coumarin, glycoside steroids, alkaloid ingredients, organic acids, tannins, Limonenes, Cineols and Saponins. 3 The presence of flavonoid and iridoid compounds in siderites extract is responsible for analgesic effects and is the reason for its traditional use. Linalool is also one of the monoterpene ingredients in cinnamon that affect pain receptors and induce an analgesic effect.…”

“…And through mechanisms that reduce vascular permeability and production of pain mediators, is the chief analgesic agent of ginger. 3 Analgesic effect of ziziphora clinopodioiedes from the Lamiaceae family has been attributed to pulegone that seems to do this through inhibiting acid arachidonic and prostaglandins synthesis and affecting opioids. …”

“…This ingredient is present in celery essence, comprising more than 60 percent and in Anethum graveolens comprising about 32 percent of its volume. 3 …”

“…In the past decade, there also has been a significant rise in the usage of these medications among people. 3 The increase in the resistance of pathogens toward chemical medications and also their side effects are one of the chief reasons for pharmaceutical companies, doctors and the public to adopt herbal medications for treatment. Therefore secondary ingredients in herbs may serve as good replacements for synthetic drugs.…”

“…Finding and introducing herbs with medicinal properties such as analgesic properties is necessary and may lay the ground for the treatment of various disorders and complications and opens up new horizons for scientists and researchers. 3 One of the many analgesic ingredients are flavonoids. Flavonoids are polyphenol ingredients that may cross the blood-brain barrier and modulate pain centrally through different mechanisms, such as affecting opioid GABA, alpha 2 adrenergic and inhibiting the enzymes involved in inflammation.…”