An Exploratory Review on the Hypoglycemic Action of Unani Anti-diabetic Drugs via Possible Modulation of Gut Microbiota.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic, multi-factorial metabolic disorder and also an important public health issue that requires multi-dimensional therapeutic strategies for effective control. Unani herbs have long been used to effectively mitigate diabetes through various mechanisms. In recent years, it has been speculated that the alteration of gut microbiome ecology is potentially one of the important mechanisms through which the Unani drugs exert hypoglycemic action. This review aims at the trans-disciplinary interpretation of the holistic concepts of the Unani system of medicine and the molecular insights of contemporary medicine for novel strategies for diabetes management. METHODOLOGY: We searched scientific databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science-Direct, etc. Unani classical texts (Urdu, Arabic, and Persian), and medical books, for diabetic control with Unani medicine through the gut microbiome. RESULTS: Unani medicine defines, diabetes as a urinary system disorder disrupting the transformational faculty (Quwwat Mughayyira) in the gastrointestinal tract. The Unani system and contemporary biomedicine use different epistemology and ontology for describing diabetes through gutderived factors in whole-body glucose homeostasis. Unani Pharmaceutics have reported in clinical and preclinical (in vitro/ in vivo) trials in improving diabetes by altering gut microbiota composition, microvascular dysfunction, and inflammation. However, the preventive plan is the preservance of six essential factors (Asbab Sitta Daruriyya) as a lifestyle plan. CONCLUSION: This is the first study on the integrative strategy about the hypoglycemic effects of Unani herbs that could serve as a prerogative novel approach for cost-effective, holistic, rationalistic, and multi-targeted diabetes management.

Concept of Unani Jali (detergents/cleansers) drugs and its scientific validation: scope for new opportunities in dermatological pharmacotherapeutics.

OBJECTIVES: The use of detergent-action drugs in traditional Unani therapeutic intervention has been a long-standing Unani medicinal practice. The key aim of the article is to provide thorough information on the novel, unexplored idea of Unani Jali (detergent/cleansers) drugs for the treatment of skin ailments, as well as to identify medicinal plants that have detergent action and correlate these findings with scientific studies that may support evidence for the drug's detergent effect. CONTENT: The ethnobotanical classical literature of Unani medicine was investigated in order to have a comprehensive insight of Unani detergents/cleansers. Scientific studies were carried from databases including PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and google Scholar, among others. More than fifty exclusive plant, mineral, and animal-based detergents are found specifically for skin disorders in Unani therapy. These drugs basically evacuate impurities from the body's excretory system and and have been found to have keratolytic and debris-peeling effects, as well as the ability to maintain skin tone consistency. Unani Jali drugs have also been found to have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, analgesic, and tonic properties, suggesting its usefulness holistically. SUMMARY AND OUTLOOK: Based on phyto constituents, prospective therapeutic response, and scientific data, this review proposes that Unani Jali drugs could be a safe and promising therapeutic option for dermatological illnesses such as vitiligo, acne, dermatitis, psoriasis, and skin sensitivity.

Rapid, sensitive, and validated UPLC/Q-TOF-MS method for quantitative determination of vasicine in Adhatoda vasica and its in vitro culture.

BACKGROUND: Adhatoda vasica a perennial herb has been used in Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicines since last 2000 years and has been employed for the treatment of respiratory tract ailments. OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate new, rapid, and highly sensitive high throughput ultra-performance liquid chromatography/quadrupole-time-of-flight mass-spectrometry (UPLC/Q-TOF-MS) method for the quantitative estimation of vasicine in the leaves and to establish in vitro cultures of Adhatoda vasica for production of vasicine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC™ BEH C8 (100.0 × 2.1 mm; 1.7 µm) column packing using isocratic mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: 20 mM ammonium acetate (90:10; v/v) in a multiple reactions monitoring mode using the transitions m/z 189.09 → 171.08 for vasicine. RESULTS: The vasicine was eluted at 2.58 ± 0.05 min and established a dynamic range of linearity over the concentration range of 1-1000 ng/ml (r (2) = 0.999 ± 0.0005). The lower limit of detection and quantification was 0.68 and 1.0 ng/ml, respectively. There was no significant difference observed in the content of vasicine (0.92-1.04%w/w) among the eleven samples collected from different locations of India. The in vitro cultures developed showed that addition of extra 28 mM KNO3 and 100 mM NaCl in MS medium supplemented with 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) + benzyladenine (BA) + indole acetic acid (IAA) (1 ppm each) produces faster biomass and higher amount of quinazoline alkaloids. CONCLUSION: Rapid, efficient, and sensitive UPLC/Q-TOF-MS method was developed for the estimation of vasicine and an efficient protocol for development of in vitro cultures was proposed, which can be used at large scale for industrial production of vasicine using bioreactors.

A recent update in research on the antihepatotoxic potential of medicinal plants / 中西医结合学报

ABSTRACT: Hepatic damage is a global metabolic and epidemic disease, affecting essential biochemical activities in almost every age group. Conventional drugs used in the treatment of liver disorders are often inadequate. Also, the spectrum of liver abnormalities caused by allopathic drugs is found to be broad. In view of severely undesirable side effects of synthetic agents, it is necessary to search for alternative drugs for the treatment of liver diseases to replace the currently used drugs, which are of doubtful efficacy and safety. Therefore, there is growing focus to follow systematic research methodology and to evaluate scientific basis for the traditional herbal medicines that are claimed to possess hepatoprotective activities. Use of herbal drugs in the treatment of liver diseases has a long tradition, especially in Eastern medicine and can be traced back as far as 2100 B.C. in ancient China (Xia Dynasty) and India (Vedic period), but evidence for efficacy is sparse. The current study is aimed at providing an overview of clinical and experimental studies carried out on the most effective and commonly used hepatoprotective plants and their beneficial aspects.