Annals of Phytomedicine; An International Journal

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Authors: Muhammad Iqbal, FNASc

As per the UNESCO Science Report (2010), India’s contribution to research publication in the world lay around 3.7%, whereas that of China and USA around 10.6% and 27.7%, respectively. Our major contribution in scientific research relates to Chemistry and Agricultural Science and forms 6.5% and 6.2% of the global output, respectively. In terms of scientific manpower, each of China, USA and Japan has about 20% of the total number of researchers in the world, while India has a 2.2% alone. For every one million of human population, there are 1070 science researchers in China, 4663 in USA and 5573 in Japan, but only 137 in India. Our position in the world race in biomedical research is especially pathetic. The story of the progress of biomedicine is interesting. Consequent upon new advances in biomedical research and a progressive assimilation of subjects like biology, chemistry, genetics, physics and physiology over the last couple of centuries, ‘medicine’ has emerged as a young, and more comprehensive than ever, scientific discipline. Precise and focused intensive research in medicine (or allopathic medicine) has made it branch into numerous specializations and sub-specializations so as to achieve a quick and targeted cure or alleviation of human ailments. Overspecialization, however, carries some inherent disadvantage, as it narrows down the work area and confines opportunities of mutual discussion and knowledge dissipation to smaller but more unified groups of expert. Describing this situation, Benitez- Bribiesca (1999) stated, “generalists have vanished, yielding to the younger breed of specialists”. Fragmentation of knowledge causes loss of coherence and neglects interactive effects. Although this is now a common trend with all sciences, yet it merits greater attention when it comes to medicine, which deals direct with human well-being. It does not auger well when a human being is not treated as a whole entity, and different parts of his body are supposed to be examined and treated separately by different specialists.

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Authors: Anjaneyulu Musini, M. Jayaram Prakash Rao and Archana Giri

102 Abstract Salacia oblonga Wall, a medicinally important plant, belonging to the family Celastraceae, is a large woody climber distributed in southern India and Sri Lanka. In the present investigation, ethanol extracts of S . oblonga were prepared from aerial and root parts of the plant in the presence and absence of HCl and antibacterial activity was tested. Both aerial and root extracts exhibited pronounced activity against human pathogens. The MIC and MBC values ranged from 0.078-1.25 mg/ml and 0.156 -2.50 mg/ml, respectively. GC-MS profile of aerial and root extracts displayed the presence of 11 and 6 compounds. The present investigation demonstrated that ethanolic extracts of S. oblonga have potential antibacterial activity against human pathogens and could serve as a source for the development of new age antimicrobials

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Authors: Suryakala Gandi and Archana Giri

Abstract Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, is one of the important medicinal plants, belonging to the family Apiaceae, with a range of medicinal values. The secondary metabolites produced by Centella asiatica are of ursane type and are called as “Centellosides”. Asiatic acid is one of the important bioactive compounds produced by the plant, having several medicinal properties. The present study is an attempt towards the production of asiatic acid in the in vitro grown shoots as well as callus. In vitro grown shoots in semisolid and liquid media produced 1.02± 0.03 mg/g FW and 0.47± 0.08 mg/g FW asiatic acid, respectively, whereas leaf callus produced a maximum amount of 1.46± 0.06 mg/g FW asiatic acid

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Authors: C. Venkateshwar, S. Gangadhar Rao and R. Suman Kumar

115 Abstract Leaf epidermal cells are important tool for the identification, adulteration and authentification of crude leaf drugs. Therefore, for baseline data generation, leaf epidermal cell complex of 20 medicinal plants of family, Apocynaceae was studied. Epidermal cells were polygonal (5-6 sided) in twelve species on adaxial, three species on abaxial and in rest, 5-7 sided were dominant on both surfaces, straight anticlinal walls were dominant on both the surfaces, curved condition is predomi- nant on adaxial but wavy to sinuate is predominant on abaxial surface. Smooth surface was dominant on both surfaces, followed by undulated. The epidermal cell frequency differed a lot within the same surface and also on both the surfaces of the same leaf of the species. Highest frequency is dominated at middle zone on both surface. The costal cells are present on both surfaces, as they are trapezoi- dal, were dominant on abaxial and polygonal predominant on both surfaces. Anti- clinal walls were straight on both surfaces. The thick walls were dominated on abaxial, outer wall flat, surface smooth on both surfaces. The epidermal and costal cells study is the pharmacognostic baseline data generation of 20 species of Apocynaceae

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Authors: Meenu Thakur and Wamik Azmi

59 Abstract Nutraceutical is a food or food product that reportedly provides health and medical benefits, including the prevention and treatment of diseases. Carotenoids are the most common naturally occurring terpenoid pigmented nutraceuticals.  -carotene is the main source of provitamin A and has widely been used as a food colorant and nutraceutical. Epidemiological evidences and experimental results suggest that  -carotene inhibit the onset of many diseases in which free radicals are thought to play a role in initiation such as arteriosclerosis in cardiovascular diseases, cataracts, age related macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis and most importantly cancer, due to it’s free radical and single oxygen scavenging property. The outstanding quencher function of  -carotene advocates dietary supplementation.  -carotene is present at high concentrations in a variety of plant sources. However, the seasonal variations in the carotenoid content and composition of plant sources have been considered as disadvantage. The production of  -carotene can be achieved through biotechnology from non-conventional sources viz., algae, yeasts, bacteria or filamentous fungi.

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Authors: A. Subramoniam, V. Madhavachandran and A. Gangaprasad*

Arthritis is one of the oldest diseases. It is a systemic inflammatory disease, affecting mainly joints. It affects globally about 1-2 % of the population. Arthritis is classified into rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. Gout is also a type of inflammatory disease, caused by the pathogenic deposition of uric acid crystals in joints and tissues. Conventional modern medicine is devoid of satisfactory treatment to severe cases of these diseases. To a large extent, these diseases are treated symptomatically and the drugs used in the treatment have varying levels of toxic side effects. In traditional medicines including Ayurveda, Siddha, etc. several herbal drugs are used to treat these diseases. However,their efficacy and safety are not clear. Herbal drugs have a major role in the traditional medicine. In a study in India, 43 % of arthritic patients, had used complimentary alternative medicine therapies, which are mainly herbs. Herbal drugs are promising for the development of effective and safe drugs against arthritis in light of modern medicine. In the r ecent past, a few reviews have appeared on this topic (Arya et al ., 2011; Kaur et al ., 2012; Singh et al ., 2011; Srikanth et al ., 2012). However, it has been felt that a review with almost fuller information on the disease with focus to the development of satisfactory plant based drugs including combination therapy for successful treatment of all forms of arthritis is needed