Ayurvedic perspective and clinical significance of millets

The study aims to elicit the the therapeutic potential of Kudhanya/Kshudra Dhanya (millets) in Ayurvedic perspective substantiated with conventional scientific findings. In this review methodology followed includes review of various literature beginning from ancient Ayurvedic classics, conventional scientific and research-oriented publications comprising research papers, journals, periodicals etc. Ayurvedic classical literature replicate that since long time Kshudra Dhanya (millets) have been widely utilised in day today practice as a supplementary dietary product as well as therapeutic potential to overcome sedentary lifestyle induced epidemic of Non-communicable diseases (Santarpana Janya Vyadhi). In Ayurveda explanation of millets in terms of its properties, therapeutic potential, indications, contra-indications, processing are explained well. Millets are endowed with rich source of minerals, micronutrients, phenolic -componds, anti-oxidants. This analysis was tending to put forth the proper usage of millets to better enhancement of health in mankind

Chemopreventive Activities of Phytochemicals

Inflammation is caused by a variety of stimuli including physical damage, UV irradiation, microbial invasion, and immune reactions. The classical key features of inflammation are redness, warmth, swelling, and pain, and their cascades can lead to the inflammatory bowel disease and psoriasis. Many inflammatory diseases are becoming common among the elderly worldwide. Clinically used anti-inflammatory drugs suffer from the disadvantages of side effects and high treatment costs in the case of biologics. Therefore, research on new anti-inflammatory molecules and the elucidation of their molecular mechanisms are being actively conducted. This Special Issue on "Chemopreventive Activities of Phytochemicals" is intended to offer anti-inflammatory active natural products as candidates and/or leads for pharmaceuticals. The research fields of this Special Issue include natural products, chemistry, phytochemistry, pharmacognosy, food chemistry, bioorganic synthetic chemistry, chemical biology, molecular biology, molecular pharmacology, and other related research fields

Pharmacological Properties, Molecular Mechanisms, and Pharmaceutical Development of Asiatic Acid: A Pentacyclic Triterpenoid of Therapeutic Promise

Asiatic acid (AA) is a naturally occurring aglycone of ursane type pentacyclic triterpenoids. It is abundantly present in many edible and medicinal plants including Centella asiatica that is a reputed herb in many traditional medicine formulations for wound healing and neuropsychiatric diseases. AA possesses numerous pharmacological activities such as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and regulates apoptosis that attributes its therapeutic effects in numerous diseases. AA showed potent antihypertensive, nootropic, neuroprotective, cardioprotective, antimicrobial, and antitumor activities in preclinical studies. In various in vitro and in vivo studies, AA found to affect many enzymes, receptors, growth factors, transcription factors, apoptotic proteins, and cell signaling cascades. This review aims to represent the available reports on therapeutic potential and the underlying pharmacological and molecular mechanisms of AA. The review also also discusses the challenges and prospects on the pharmaceutical development of AA such as pharmacokinetics, physicochemical properties, analysis and structural modifications, and drug delivery. AA showed favorable pharmacokinetics and found bioavailable following oral or interaperitoneal administration. The studies demonstrate the polypharmacological properties, therapeutic potential and molecular mechanisms of AA in numerous diseases. Taken together the evidences from available studies, AA appears one of the important multitargeted polypharmacological agents of natural origin for further pharmaceutical development and clinical application. Provided the favorable pharmacokinetics, safety, and efficacy, AA can be a promising agent or adjuvant along with currently used modern medicines with a pharmacological basis of its use in therapeutics

Medicinal properties of Saudi Arabian flora extracts

Infectious diseases account for increasing levels of mortality around the world. When microorganisms overcome epithelia barriers and immunological bodily defensive mechanisms of the skin, they can cause soft-tissue infections (SSTIs). This project explores the medicinal properties of five plants indigenous to the western region of Saudi Arabia, with a history of folkloric use: Aizoon canariense L. (Aizoaceae), Citrullus colocynthis (L.) Schrad. (Cucurbitaceae), Maerua crassifolia Forssk. (Capparaceae), Rhazya stricta Decne. (Apocynaceae), and Tribulus macropterus Boiss. (Zygophyllaceae), focusing on treating SSTIs and chronic wounds. An additional aim was to identify compounds to treat infections by following a bio-guided fractionation approach. Following a field trip, the target plants were collected and identified before undergoing methanolic extraction to yield approximately 200g of residual material. Initially, these extracts were evaluated for their effect on immortalized human skin keratinocytes (HaCaT) cell line proliferation, migration, and cytotoxicity through MTT, scratch wound, and flow cytometry. Confocal microscopy (CLSM) was utilized to confirm the morphology and viability of the cells. Antioxidant effects were determined using the acellular 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, and a cell-based method was utilized to measure a reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, namely hydrogen peroxide level (H₂O₂) in cell culture settings (ROS-Glo H₂O₂ assay). Antimicrobial properties were investigated by well diffusion, broth microdilution, and direct bio-autographic methods. The ability of medicinal plants to inhibit and eradicate bacterial biofilm was investigated by crystal violet and Live/Dead microbial viability method using CLSM. Plants that exhibited interesting antimicrobial activities were subjected to bioguided fractionation with liquid-liquid partitioning and column chromatography to identify and isolate active compounds. The anti-inflammatory effects of plant extracts were evaluated by utilising LPS-stimulated HaCaT cells to determine effects on expression of a panel of inflammatory mediators. Results indicated that C. colocynthis possesses cytotoxic activity with significant inhibition of proliferation and migration of human skin keratinocytes. On the other hand, M. crassifolia promoted the wound healing potential of HaCaT by stimulating the proliferation and migration. A. canariense and T. macropterus demonstrated antimicrobial activity against Gram-positive strains in planktonic and biofilm conditions. R. stricta demonstrated broadspectrum antimicrobial properties in planktonic and biofilm conditions against Gram-positive and negative bacterial species associated with SSTIs. The free radical scavenging data showed that both R. stricta and M. crassifolia gave the highest capacity for scavenging the DPPH radical with an IC50 of 335 and 448 μg/mL, respectively. In addition, R. stricta showed the highest H₂O₂ scavenging activity in the cell-based antioxidant method. Bio-guided fractionating of A. canariense and R. stricta successfully isolated γ-linolenic acid and v vincadifformine; further antimicrobial investigation with broth microdilution assay revealed these two compounds' contribution to the antimicrobial activity of the whole plant extract. However, this approach failed to identify and isolate the antimicrobial compounds detected via direct bio-autographic assay in T. macropterus. The anti-inflammatory investigation revealed that a number of plant extracts can decrease the protein levels of several inflammatory mediators. Finally, our study supports some of the documented ethnobotanical uses

The Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Compounds with Medicinal Value

The book explores issues concerning the design, synthetic methods and biological evaluation of molecules of pharmaceutical interest

Public’s perceptions of the emerging role of Cannabidiol (CBD) products

Cannabidiol (CBD) products, derived from hemp (Cannabis sativa) are becoming more popular as people seek alternative ways of managing their health; sales rose 333% in the US in 20181. The market value of CBD is estimated to be worth £1billion by 20252. The objectives were to explore the public’s perceptions and use of CBD products including where products are sourced, how knowledge is obtained and opinions on quality, safety and efficacy of CBD products. A questionnaire comprising open and closed questions was developed to consider quantitative and qualitative perspectives. An online platform, SurveyMonkey, was used to distribute the survey using social and professional networks (September - November 2019), which led to snowball sampling. A total of 596 responses were collected (63% female, 40% White-British) internationally. In total, 11% (n=66) claimed to use CBD products including oils, balm, tinctures and vapes for a range of ailments such as pain, stress and anxiety. Participants who did not personally use CBD products (n=530), 35% claimed they would like to try them, while 42% of participants knew of someone who was already using a CBD product for conditions such as arthritis and epilepsy and “generally improving quality of life”. Knowledge of CBD was commonly attributed to social media and news articles. Perception on safety and efficacy were positive with the notion of natural medicines being superior. Quality of products was associated with well-known brands or products which had a marketing authorisation; participants identified it was difficult to determine the quality of products brought online and better regulation is required. This study identifies that people continue to seek natural alternatives to supplement and maintain their health, thus the popularity of CBD continues to rise. The lack of clinical evidence to help make informed decisions about using CBD products needs to be addressed with more research

Natural Drugs from Plants

Natural Drugs from Plants emphasizes the importance of medicinal plants for drug discovery worldwide. Chapters discuss the active ingredients of certain medicinal plants, their mechanisms of action, and how they can be used to treat different diseases

Natural Medicinal Plants

This book, Natural Medicinal Plants is a comprehensive overview of drugs derived from medicinal plants and their use in treating human illnesses such as cancer. Chapters include scientific evidence on flora rich in active ingredients