Medicinal plants

About: Medicinal plants is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3816 publications have been published within this topic receiving 108681 citations. The topic is also known as: medicinal herbs & medicinal plants.

LC-MS/MS-QTOF Screening and Identification of Phenolic Compounds from Australian Grown Herbs and Their Antioxidant Potential

Abstract: Culinary spices and herbs have been used to impart a characteristic flavour and aroma in food due to their appealing fragrance. Recently, bioactive compounds from herbs, especially phenolics, have gained much attention due to their potential health outcomes. The aim of this study was to characterize and quantify the phenolic compounds from 10 widely used Australian-grown herbs (oregano, rosemary, bay, basil, sage, fenugreek, dill, parsley, mint and thyme). For this purpose, liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) was used for the complete profiling of polyphenolic compounds and quantification of abundant phenolic compounds was completed with high-performance liquid chromatography—photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA). Polyphenols from Australian-grown herbs were estimated through total phenolic content (TP), total flavonoids (TF) and total tannins (TT) along with their in-vitro antioxidant activities. Oregano and mint were estimated with the highest value of TP (140.59 ± 9.52 and 103.28 ± 8.08 mg GAE/g, milligram gallic acid equivalent/gram) while rosemary and mint had the highest TF (8.19 ± 0.74 and 7.05 ± 0.43 mg QE (quercetin equivalent)/g). In this study, eighty-four (84) phenolic compounds were screened and confirmed through LC-MS/MS by comparing their masses and fragmentation pattern with published libraries. The results of this study validate the use of these herbs as bioactives and their positive impact on human health.

Antibacterial activity in spices and local medicinal plants against clinical isolates of Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract: Context: Development of resistance in human pathogens against conventional antibiotic necessitates searching indigenous medicinal plants having antibacterial property. Twenty-seven medicinal plants used actively in folklore, ayurvedic and traditional system of medicine were selected for the evaluation of their antimicrobial activity for this study. Eleven plants chosen from these 27 are used as spices in local cuisine.Objective: Evaluation of the effectiveness of some medicinal plant extracts against clinical isolates.Material and methods: Nonedible plant parts were extracted with methanol and evaporated in vacuo to obtain residue. Powdered edible parts were boiled three times and cooled in sterile distilled water for 2 min each and filtrate collected. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of plant extracts and filtrates/antibiotics was evaluated against clinical isolates by microbroth dilution method.Results: Water extract of Syzygium aromaticum L. (Myrtaceae) buds, methanol extracts of Ficus carica...

Ethnobotanical Survey and Antimicrobial Evaluation of Medicinal Plants used by the Samburu Community (Kenya) for treatment of Diarrhorea

Abstract: The Samburu are a marginalized nomadic people who have no access to conventional medical services. The Samburu therefore depend on traditional medical practice and medicinal plants for most of their medicare. The medicinal plants used have not been tested for efficacy especially on diarrhoreal diseases which are endemic in the community. This study evaluated plants commonly used for the treatment of diarrhoea in-vitro for antimicrobial activity against standard Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria. Results obtained show that the zones of inhibition for the active plants ranged between 16mm to 36.33mm. The MICs of the most active plants ranged from 0.9375 mg/50μl to7.5 mg/50μl. The MBCs ranged between 0.9375 mg/50μ to 7.5 mg/50μ. These results were significant at p< 0.01. The findings show that most of the medicinal plants used by the Samburu community have significant activity against E.coli (Acacia nilotica- 21.66 mm) S. typhi (Acacia horrida- 19mm) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Cordia monoica- 36.33 mm) which are human pathogens especially Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi which cause diarrhoea.

In vitro antioxidant potential of Prosopis cineraria leaves

Abstract: Damage to cells caused by free radicals is believed to play a central role in the aging process and in disease progression. Many aromatic, medicinal and spice plants contain compounds that possess confirmed strong antioxidative components. The medicinal value of plants have assumed an important dimension in the past few decades owing largely due to the discovery as a rich source of antioxidants that combat oxidative stress through their redox active secondary metabolites and the rising concerns about the side effects of synthetic drugs. These factors have inspired the widespread screening of plants for possible antioxidant properties. Scientific interests in medicinal plants are emerging as plants are invaluable sources of new drugs and plant based antioxidants are preferred to the synthetic ones because of safety concerns. To evaluate antioxidant activity of different solvent fractions obtained from the leaves of Prosopis cineraria. Scavenging ability of the extracts for radicals like DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl, superoxide, nitric oxide and hydrogen peroxide were performed to determine the potential of the extracts. All six fractions showed to have scavenging activity. The ethyl acetate and methanolic extracts showed to have maximum scavenging activity