Bioactive compounds from medicinal plants: Focus on Piper species

Ethno pharmacological relevance: Traditional medicinal plants are practiced worldwide for treatment of arthritis especially in developing countries where resources are meagre. This review presents the plants profiles inhabiting throughout the world regarding their traditional usage by various tribes/ethnic groups for treatment of arthritis.
Materials and methods: Bibliographic investigation was carried out by analysing classical text books and peer reviewed papers, consulting worldwide accepted scientific databases from the last six decades. Plants/their parts/extracts/polyherbal formulations/toxicity studies for arthritis have been included in the review article. The profiles presented also include information about the scientific name, family, dose, methodology along with mechanism of action and toxicity profile. Research status of twenty potential plant species has been discussed. Further, geographical distribution of research, plants distribution according to families has been given in graphical form.
Results: 485 plant species belonging to 100 families, traditionally used in arthritis are used. Among 100 plant families, malvaceae constitute 16, leguminasae 7, fabaceae 13, euphorbiaceae 7, compositae 20, araceae 7, solanaceae 12, liliaceae 9, apocynaceae, lauraceae and rubiaceae 10, and remaining in lesser proportion. It was observed in our study that majority of researches are carried mainly in developing countries like India, China, Korea and Nigeria.
Conclusion: This review clearly indicates that list of medicinal plants presented in this review might be useful to researchers as well as practioners. This review can be useful for preliminary screening of potential anti- arthritis plants. Further toxicity profile given in the review can be useful for the researchers for finding the safe dose.

Medicinal plants with potential anti-arthritic activity:

A systematic review on Piper longum L.: Bridging traditional knowledge and pharmacological evidence for future translational research

Piper longum (P. longum, also called as long pepper) is one of the common culinary herbs that has been extensively used as a crucial constituent in various indigenous medicines, specifically in traditional Indian medicinal system known as Ayurveda. For exploring the comprehensive effect of its constituents in humans at proteomic and metabolic levels, we have reviewed all of its known phytochemicals and enquired about their regulatory potential against various protein targets by developing high-confidence tripartite networks consisting of phytochemical-protein target-disease association. We have also (i) studied immunomodulatory potency of this herb; (ii) developed subnetwork of human PPI regulated by its phytochemicals and could successfully associate its specific modules playing important role in diseases, and (iii) reported several novel drug targets. P10636 (microtubule-associated protein tau, that is involved in diseases like dementia etc.) was found to be the commonly screened target by about seventy percent of these phytochemicals. We report 20 drug-like phytochemicals in this herb, out of which 7 are found to be the potential regulators of 5 FDA approved drug targets. Multi-targeting capacity of 3 phytochemicals involved in neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathway was further explored via molecular docking experiments. To investigate the molecular mechanism of P. longum's action against neurological disorders, we have developed a computational framework that can be easily extended to explore its healing potential against other diseases and can also be applied to scrutinize other indigenous herbs for drug-design studies.

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A census of P. longum's phytochemicals and their network pharmacological evaluation for identifying novel drug-like molecules against various diseases, with a special focus on neurological disorders.

Due to their characteristic benefits and medicinal value, medicinal plants are gaining importance worldwide. It is becoming famous, and people are using herbal therapy as an alternative medicinal therapy. Because of their increased traditional use and cultural acceptability, these medicinal plants are greatly admired and also have minimal side effects and thus are gaining global importance. Herbal drugs which are cost-effective than synthetic drugs in many cases are being promoted by most of the developing countries, and they have started discovering and filing patents on the medicinal plants and their derivatives. Many drugs still have not undergone the process of drug approval and are not yet validated for their safety and efficacy. These medicinal plant-derived drugs can be formulated by medicine-based industries. The international trade of medicinal plants and their products was estimated to be USD 60 billion in 2010, and by 2050, it is expected to reach USD 5 trillion. Asian countries are very rich in medicinal plant species and are the major exporters of these plants and their products. These medicinal plants can be popularized and used to improve the economy of low-income countries of Asia and create livelihoods for its people. Moreover, overexploitation of these medicinal plants should be limited, the valuable species of high marketing value should be conserved, and their cultivation should be promoted for future use.

Economic Importance of Medicinal Plants in Asian Countries

Medicinal plants have shown tremendous potential for the development of the new drug molecules for various serious diseases. Many plant derived products have found to play an important role in various disease conditions. Piper longum Linn. is a native of the Indo-Malaya region, belongs to family Piperaceae. Piper longum Linn. (Piperaceae) has been used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of various pathological conditions. The tribal population uses the plant for cardiovascular activities, anti-inflammatory activity and as a spice. Alkaloids, Lignans and volatile oil are reported in this plant. Extract of Piper longum fruits have been shown to posses various activities like Bio-availibity enhancer, immunomodulatory effect, antiasthamatic and hepatoprotective activity. In the present review an attempt has been made to explore different aspects of Piper longum.

Patel Anar

Papers

Phytoc hemical and therapeutic potential of piper longum linn a review

Paederia foetida Linn. as a potential medicinal plant: a review.