Antibacterial activity and phytochemical characterisation of Saussurea gossypiphora D. Don.

The study demonstrates that S. gossypiphora contain number of secondary metabolites such as steroids, tannins, flavonoids, phenolics, carbohydrates, saponins, and amino acids. Methanolic extract (MESG) of the plant contained highest quantity of phenolics, flavonoids and has greater antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity in comparison to other extracts. Moreover, acute toxicity studies revealed that none of the extracts produced any toxic symptoms and mortality when administered orally to mice at a dose of 2000 mg/kg b. w. Furthermore, in MESG, the SG-4 fraction exhibited the highest antibacterial activity than other isolated fractions against all tested bacterial strains in a dose-dependent manner. SG-4 fraction showed significant anti-inflammatory effect (60.91%) as evident by maximum inhibition of Carrageenan-induced paw oedema in rat model. The HPTLC analysis confirmed the presence of apigenin and luteolin in the SG-4 fraction of methanolic extract. A noticeable number of mineral elements were also found to be present in S. gossypiphora. Conclusively, our study reveals that Saussurea gossypiphora contains plethora of bioactive compounds that contributes to its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity. Apigenin and luteolin possibly being one of them. Besides, the presence of ample minerals hints is utilisation as nutritionally valuable herb.

Ficus plants: State of the art from a phytochemical, pharmacological, and toxicological perspective.

Ficus genus is typically tropical plants and is among the earliest fruit trees cultivated by humans. Ficus carica L. is the common fig, Ficus benjamina L. is the weeping fig, and Ficus pumila L. is the creeping fig. These species are commonly used in traditional medicine for a wide range of diseases and contain rich secondary metabolites that have shown diverse applications. This comprehensive review describes for Ficus genus the phytochemical compounds, traditional uses and contemporary pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, cytotoxic, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antiulcer, and anticonvulsant. An extended survey of the current literature (Science Direct, Scopus, PubMed) has been carried out as part of the current work. The trends in the phytochemistry, pharmacological mechanisms and activities of Ficus genus are overviewed in this manuscript: antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activity, antiseizure and anti-Parkinson's diseases, cytotoxic and antioxidant. Health-promoting effects, recent human clinical studies, safety and adverse effects of Ficus plants also are covered. The medical potential and long-term pharmacotherapeutic use of the genus Ficus along with no serious reported adverse events, suggests that it can be considered as being safe.

Lifestyle, Oxidative Stress, and Antioxidants: Back and Forth in the Pathophysiology of Chronic Diseases.

Oxidative stress plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer. Long term exposure to increased levels of pro-oxidant factors can cause structural defects at a mitochondrial DNA level, as well as functional alteration of several enzymes and cellular structures leading to aberrations in gene expression. The modern lifestyle associated with processed food, exposure to a wide range of chemicals and lack of exercise plays an important role in oxidative stress induction. However, the use of medicinal plants with antioxidant properties has been exploited for their ability to treat or prevent several human pathologies in which oxidative stress seems to be one of the causes. In this review we discuss the diseases in which oxidative stress is one of the triggers and the plant-derived antioxidant compounds with their mechanisms of antioxidant defenses that can help in the prevention of these diseases. Finally, both the beneficial and detrimental effects of antioxidant molecules that are used to reduce oxidative stress in several human conditions are discussed.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz.: A review on traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and pharmacological activities.

Fruits of Terminalia chebula Retz. (Combretaceae) are widely used as crude drugs in various traditional medicine systems. The aim of this article is to review the available scientific information regarding the traditional uses, bioactive chemical constituents and the pharmacological activities of T. chebula. Numerous researches conducted on T. chebula have confirmed the presence of wide range of the phytochemicals such as flavonoids, tannins, phenolic acids and other bioactive compounds. T. chebula is also widely studied regarding its pharmacological activities such as antioxidant, hepatoprotective, neuroprotective, cytotoxic, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory activities among others. However, more in vivo and clinical studies for mechanism-based pharmacological evaluation should be conducted in future to provide stronger scientific evidences for their traditional uses.

Areca catechu-From farm to food and biomedical applications.

The family Arecaceae includes 181 genera and 2,600 species with a high diversity in physical characteristics. Areca plants, commonly palms, which are able to grow in nearly every type of habitat, prefer tropical and subtropical climates. The most studied species Areca catechu L. contains phytochemicals as phenolics and alkaloids with biological properties. The phenolics are mainly distributed in roots followed by fresh unripe fruits, leaves, spikes, and veins, while the contents of alkaloids are in the order of roots, fresh unripe fruits, spikes, leaves, and veins. This species has been reputed to provide health effects on the cardiovascular, respiratory, nervous, metabolic, gastrointestinal, and reproductive systems. However, in many developing countries, quid from this species has been associated with side effects, which include the destruction of the teeth, impairment of oral hygiene, bronchial asthma, or oral cancer. Despite these side effects, which are also mentioned in this work, the present review collects the main results of biological properties of the phytochemicals in A. catechu. This study emphasizes the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, and clinical effectiveness in humans. In this sense, A. catechu have demonstrated effectiveness in several reports through in vitro and in vivo experiments on disorders such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, or anticancer. Moreover, our findings demonstrate that this species presents clinical effectiveness on neurological disorders. Hence, A. catechu extracts could be used as a bioactive ingredient for functional food, nutraceuticals, or cosmeceuticals. However, further studies, especially extensive and comprehensive clinical trials, are recommended for the use of Areca in the treatment of diseases.

Cordyceps spp.: A Review on Its Immune-Stimulatory and Other Biological Potentials.

In recent decades, interest in the Cordyceps genus has amplified due to its immunostimulatory potential. Cordyceps species, its extracts, and bioactive constituents have been related with cytokine production such as interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, phagocytosis stimulation of immune cells, nitric oxide production by increasing inducible nitric oxide synthase activity, and stimulation of inflammatory response via mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway. Other pharmacological activities like antioxidant, anti-cancer, antihyperlipidemic, anti-diabetic, anti-fatigue, anti-aging, hypocholesterolemic, hypotensive, vasorelaxation, anti-depressant, aphrodisiac, and kidney protection, has been reported in pre-clinical studies. These biological activities are correlated with the bioactive compounds present in Cordyceps including nucleosides, sterols, flavonoids, cyclic peptides, phenolic, bioxanthracenes, polyketides, and alkaloids, being the cyclic peptides compounds the most studied. An organized review of the existing literature was executed by surveying several databanks like PubMed, Scopus, etc. using keywords like Cordyceps, cordycepin, immune system, immunostimulation, immunomodulatory, pharmacology, anti-cancer, anti-viral, clinical trials, ethnomedicine, pharmacology, phytochemical analysis, and different species names. This review collects and analyzes state-of-the-art about the properties of Cordyceps species along with ethnopharmacological properties, application in food, chemical compounds, extraction of bioactive compounds, and various pharmacological properties with a special focus on the stimulatory properties of immunity.

Antineoplastic potential of the Vitex species: an overview / Potencial antineoplásico de la especie Vitex: una visión general

Irrespective of progressive treatments, cancer remains to have the utmost rate of treatment failure due to numerous reasons associated. In recent years, the use of traditional medicine in cancer research has established considerable interest. Natural products represent an amazing source for cancer therapy and combating associated side-effects. More than thousand plants have been found to possess significant anticancer properties. Vitex is the largest genus in the family Lamiaceae which comprises 250 species distributed throughout world and several species have been reported to have anticancer properties. Despite a long tradition of use of some species, the genus has not been explored properly in terms of its anticancer profile. Here we are reporting the updated knowledge of the antineoplastic profile of this genus available so far. In the concluding part, the future scope of Vitex species has been emphasized with a view to explore its multifarious antineoplastic activities and mode of action.

Independientemente de los tratamientos progresivos, el cáncer sigue teniendo la mayor tasa de fracaso del tratamiento debido a numerosas razones asociadas. En los últimos años, el uso de la medicina tradicional en la investigación del cáncer ha despertado un gran interés. Los productos naturales representan una fuente increíble para la terapia contra el cáncer y la lucha contra los efectos secundarios asociados. Se han encontrado más de mil plantas que poseen propiedades anticancerígenas significativas. Vitex es el género más grande de la familia Lamiaceae, que comprende 250 especies distribuidas en todo el mundo y se ha informado que varias especies tienen propiedades anticancerígenas. A pesar de una larga tradición de uso de algunas especies, el género no ha sido explorado adecuadamente en términos de su perfil contra el cáncer. Aquí presentamos el conocimiento actualizado del perfil antineoplásico de este género disponible hasta el momento. En la parte final, se ha enfatizado el alcance futuro de las especies de Vitex con el objetivo de explorar sus múltiples actividades antineoplásicas y su modo de acción.