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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.


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01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Qualitative phytochemical analysis of Momordica charantia confirms the presence of phytochemicals like flavanoids, saponins, terpenoids, coumarins, emodins, alkaloids, proteins, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones, anthocyanins, steroids etc.
Abstract: Momordica charantia commonly known as bitter melon/gourd, a member of Cucarbitaceae, is a slender, tendril climbing, annual vine. Bitter melon is a common food in tropics and is widely used as medicinal plants in countries like India, Brazil, China, Africa etc. In M. charantia primary metabolites are common sugars, proteins and chlorophyll while secondary metabolites are alkaloids, flavonoids, tanins, saponins, disogenin, proteins, calcium, copper etc. Secondary metabolites are responsible for medicinal activity of Momordica charantia. The medicinal values of Bitter melon lies in the bioactive phytochemical constituents that are non nutritive chemicals that produce definite physiological effects on human body and protect them from various diseases. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of Momordica charantia confirms the presence of phytochemicals like flavanoids, saponins, terpenoids, coumarins, emodins, alkaloids, proteins, cardiac glycosides, anthraquinones, anthocyanins, steroids etc.

26 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This is the first report of the detection and isolation of diosgenin and oleanolic acid from the rhizome extracts of Ee and Pp, and suggests that crude extracts were more potent than their respective fractions.
Abstract: Background: Elephantorrhiza elephantina (Ee) and Pentanisia prunelloides (Pp) are two medicinal plants which are widely used to remedy various ailments including diarrhoea, dysentery, inflammation, fever, rheumatism, heartburn, tuberculosis, haemorrhoids, skin diseases, perforated peptic ulcers and sore joints in southern Africa (South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana and Zimbabwe). The following study was conducted to explore the in vitro cytotoxicity, antioxidant properties and phytochemical profile of the two medicinal plants. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxicity of the aqueous and methanol extracts and fractions of both species was studied using the brine shrimp lethality tests (BST) for the first time. Results: The results demonstrated that the lethality (LC50) for crude extracts for both plants ranged between 1.8 and 5.8 ppm and was relatively greater than that for the methanol, ethyl acetate and chloroform fractions of the extracts which ranged between 2.1 ppm and 27 ppm. This suggested that crude extracts were more potent than their respective fractions, further explaining that the different fractions of phytochemicals in these plant species work jointly (in synergy) to exert their therapeutic efficacy. Both aqueous and methanol extracts of the two medicinal plants demonstrated a high degree of antioxidant capacity against the DPPH radical with the Duh and Yen inhibition percentage ranging between 4.5% and 72%. Phytochemical studies of the rhizome extracts showed that the major compounds present include flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanidins, anthraquinones, triterpenoids (oleanolic acid), the steroidal saponin Diosgenin, the sugars, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, Arabinose and hexoses. Conclusion: This is the first report of the detection and isolation of diosgenin and oleanolic acid from the rhizome extracts of Ee and Pp. All structures were determined using spectroscopic/spectrometric techniques (1H NMR and 13C and LC-ESI-MS) and by comparison with literature data.

26 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined 38 plants known to have antioxidant activity concerning DPPH radical scavenging activity and selected 13 plants exhibiting the activity, the seed of Carthamus tinctorius L, to search for active compounds due to rareness of study.
Abstract: On the purpose of development of antioxidative compounds from natural sources, 38 plants known to have antioxidant activity have been examined concerning DPPH radical scavenging activity. Among 13 plants exhibiting the activity, the seed of Carthamus tinctorius L, was selected as resources to search for active compounds due to rareness of study. The seed of the plant has been used as edible oil or preventive and remedial drugs for osteoporosis, arthritis. To reveal the principal component manifesting the antioxidant activity, the MeOH extracts was successively solvent-fractionated with EtOAc, n-BuOH and water. In order to isolate active component from the EtOAc fractions, application of silica gel column chromatographies and activity tests were repeated for a active component to be isolated. Its chmical structure was determined to be N-feruloylserotonin, a conjugated serotonin compound, by the interpretation of spectral data, NMR. MS and the adaptation of chemical reactions.

26 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored the hydrogen donating and hydroxyl radical scavenging potential of methanol extract of 10 medicinal plants belonging to six families including mimosaceae, Apocynaceae, moraceae, sapindaceae, rutaceae and meliaceae using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and plasmid nicking assay, respectively.
Abstract: Indian medicinal herbs and plants are used since ancient times to treat different diseases and ailments as these natural products exert broad-spectrum actions. The present study was aimed to explore the hydrogen donating and hydroxyl radical scavenging potential of methanol extract of 10 medicinal plants belonging to six families including mimosaceae, Apocynaceae, moraceae, sapindaceae, rutaceae and meliaceae using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and plasmid nicking assay, respectively. The total phenol and flavonoid content of these extracts was also estimated using Folin-Ciocalteu and colorimetric assay respectively. It was found that methanol leaf extract of Koelreutaria paniculata, Acacia catechu and Mimusops hexandra showed strong inhibitory activity whereas that of Hamelia patens exhibited moderate DPPH radical scavenging activity at concentration of 200 µg/ml. However, methanol extract of Swietenia mahogoni, Murraya exotica, Murraya koenigii, Alstonia scholaris, Ficus benjamina and Sapindus trifoliatus exhibited weak hydrogen donating potential in DPPH assay. The methanol extract of these plants was effective in plasmid nicking assay and the activity was found to be correlated to the phenolic and flavonoid content in these fractions. These results emphasized the benefit of the phenolic compounds rich plant extracts and thus augmented the urge of in vivo studies to further confirm the beneficial effect of these extracts.

26 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
2023617
20221,438
2021239
2020262
2019227
2018252