In VitroConservation of Twenty-Three Overexploited Medicinal Plants Belonging to the Indian Sub Continent

Priyanka Verma,Sheetal Prasad Jain,Archana Mathur,Ajay Kumar Mathur

doi:10.1100/2012/929650

Abstract

Twenty-three pharmaceutically important plants, namely, Elaeocarpus spharicus, Rheum emodi, Indigofera tinctoria, Picrorrhiza kurroa, Bergenia ciliata, Lavandula officinalis, Valeriana wallichii, Coleus forskohlii, Gentiana kurroo, Saussurea lappa, Stevia rebaudiana, Acorus calamus, Pyrethrum cinerariaefolium, Aloe vera, Bacopa monnieri, Salvia sclarea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Swertia cordata, Psoralea corylifolia, Jurinea mollis, Ocimum sanctum, Paris polyphylla, and Papaver somniferum, which are at the verge of being endangered due to their overexploitation and collection from the wild, were successfully established in vitro. Collections were made from the different biodiversity zones of India including Western Himalaya, Northeast Himalaya, Gangetic plain, Western Ghats, Semiarid Zone, and Central Highlands. Aseptic cultures were raised at the morphogenic level of callus, suspension, axillary shoot, multiple shoot, and rooted plants. Synseeds were also produced from highly proliferating shoot cultures of Bacopa monnieri, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Stevia rebaudiana, Valeriana wallichii, Gentiana kurroo, Lavandula officinalis, and Papaver somniferum. In vitro flowering was observed in Papaver somniferum, Psoralea corylifolia, and Ocimum sanctum shoots cultures. Out of 23 plants, 18 plants were successfully hardened under glasshouse conditions.

Highlights

Numerous drugs or their precursors used in the current pharmacopoeias originate from plant sources
The demand for medicinal plant-based raw materials is growing at the rate of 15 to 25% annually, and according to an estimate of World Health Organization (WHO), the demand for medicinal plants is likely to increase more than US $5 trillion in 2050
B. moneeiri, S. rebaudiana, V. wallichii, L. officinalis, and P. somniferum showed 100% germination rate of synseeds, while only 50% and 70% germination was observed in G. glabra and G. kurroo, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Numerous drugs or their precursors used in the current pharmacopoeias originate from plant sources. Medicinal plant-based drugs have the added advantage of being simple, effective, and offering a broad spectrum of activity with well-documented prophylactic or curative actions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the present demand for medicinal plants is approximately US $14 billion per year. In India, the medicinal plant-related trade is estimated to be approximately US $1 billion per year [4]. Medicinal plants-based industries old and vast are still being managed on traditional ethos and practices and lack a proactive and socially responsible image. Many studies have confirmed that pharmaceutical companies are responsible for inefficient, imperfect, informal, and opportunistic marketing of medicinal plants. There is a vast, secretive, and largely unregulated trade in medicinal plants, mainly from the wild which continue to grow dramatically in the absence of serious policy attention with environmental planning. Confusion exists in the identification of plant materials where the origin of a particular drug is assigned to more than one plant, sometimes having vastly different morphological and taxonomical characters; adulteration is common in such cases [5,6,7]

Methods

Results

Conclusion