Plants of Indian origin in drug discovery

Abstract

The Indian system of medicine (ISM) consists of several major components such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and homeopathy. All these components provide the major healthcare for a large part of the population in India and have been flourishing in this country for many centuries. Medicinal plants constitute a major part in all of these traditional systems. Several regulations and controls on the use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine have evolved. On the one hand, such regulations will help to cure different aliments through Indian indigenous resources and, on the other hand, they will help in the screening and evaluation of natural resources through the development of potential lead components in order to provide better healthcare through ISM. Several lead molecules have been developed from ISM. This review aims at highlighting aspects of drug development from Indian medicinal plants through the use of ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology and systems biology, with different approaches using metabolomics and allied fields.

Pharmacognostical and Physico-chemical Standardization of Euphorbia neriifolia Leaves

“…Government of India has initiated several attempts to explore ethanopharmacology and traditional uses of plant for evaluation of their therapeutic potential as well as help to generate data to put these botanicals in international market of public healthcare domain. 38,39 A noticeably small amount of profitable phytochemical entities have entered on facts based therapeutics but hard works are still required to recognize bioactive molecules in herbal drugs. 40 The present investigation provides outline of up-to-date information on pharmacognostical and physico-chemical standardization of E. neriifolia leaves.…”

Cytochrome P450 inhibitory potential of Triphala—A Rasayana from Ayurveda

“…Similarly, the fruit of Terminalia chebula commonly known as "Haritaki" in Hindi is a very sacred plant in Hindu religion. It is used traditionally for its purgative activity and to cure bleeding and piles (Mukherjee et al, 2007). Further it has been reported to possess anticancer (Saleem et al, 2002), antimutagenic potential (Kaur et al, 1998) and inhibits local anaphylaxis (Shin et al, 2001).…”

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Delivery System Containing Phytophospholipid Complex for Skin Aging

“…Many herbs, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains contain anti-oxidant polyphenols which scavenge and eliminate free radicals. Natural skin care products are hypoallergenic in nature and are absorbed quickly by the superficial layers of the skin (5). So, plants containing anti-oxidants can be used as anti-aging agents.…”