RESUMEN
The role of organic and inorganic elemental profiles in the growth, development, and secondary metabolite synthesis of plants is crucial, particularly concerning their medicinal value. However, comprehensive studies addressing both aspects are scarce. Hence, the present manuscript aims to investigate the potential use of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) techniques to obtain the functional groups and organic and inorganic elemental profiles of significant medicinal plants belonging to the Zingiberaceae family collected from two different geographic regions in India. The FT-IR analysis of the methanolic extracts shows the presence of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols, esters, ethers, carboxyl compounds, and their derivatives. In LIBS analysis, the spectral characteristics of atomic and molecular species present in the samples were observed, encompassing both organic and inorganic elements. The presence of heavy metals and trace elements have also been observed in the LIBS spectra of the samples. Furthermore, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) has been used to obtain classification pattern of the samples based on their spectral fingerprints. This study not only helps in reflecting the significance of micronutrients in aiding secondary metabolism thus enhancing the medicinal properties of plants, but also enables the identification of trace elements within plants. This facilitates the determination of the suitable usage and dosage of particular plant components, contributing to the research goal of establishing pharmacological and nutraceutical significance. This study is imperative as it fills a critical gap in research, although further work in this direction is warranted.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Plants are the repository of variable number of valuable secondary metabolites that bears pharmacognostic and pharmacological implications having potentiality to emerge as super drugs in future. In-vivo production of these metabolites is influenced by the biotic and abiotic stresses resulting in continuous accumulation of diverse phytochemicals and their derivatives that can be useful in designing and developing potential drugs for future. The aim of the present study is to review the existence of medicinally important secondary metabolites and possible pharmacological and pharmacognostic importance of under-explored weed plant species Hyptis suaveolens (L.) Poit., to explore the potentiality of the plant for developing and designing the drugs for future. MAIN BODY OF THE ABSTRACT: Hyptis suaveolens belonging to family Lamiaceae is the rich source of medicinally important phytochemicals like essential oils, tannins, saponins, phenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and sterols. One or many of these compounds have antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, anti-septic, anti-cancer, anti-ulcer, antimicrobial, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, anti-diabetic, anti-fertility, diaphoretics, anticutaneous, anticatarrhal, antirheumatic, anti-ulcer, gastroprotective, immunomodulatory, analgesic, and antiviral activity. SHORT CONCLUSION: Hyptis suaveolens contains unique terpenoid metabolites like suaveolic acid, suaveolol, methyl suaveolate, beta-sitosterol, ursolic acid, and phenolic compound like rosamarinic acid, methyl rosamarinate that have potentiality to substitute the traditional drugs as therapeutic agent against the resistant and newly emerged bacterial and viral pathogens. Pentacyclic triterpenoid, ursolic acid have been reported to have effective antiviral response against the SARS-CoV2 responsible for the present COVID-19 pandemic and HIV virus for which no effective vaccines are available till date. Ursolic acid has the ability to modulate the activity of main protease (Mpro) that is essential for processing of SARS-CoV2 replicase-transcriptase machinery needed for viral replication and particle assembly.