Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of Phytochemicals in some Medicinal plants of Western Himalayas

Abstract

Plants have been well known for their medicinal applications for ages and traditional medicines are still a major part of habitual treatments in different parts of the world. They are used since ancient times for treating different ailments and providing valuable drugs such as analgesics (morphine), antihypertensives (reserpine), cardiotonic (digoxin) and antimalarials (quinine and artemisinin). The discovery of medicinal plants helps in achieving the new targets in treating various diseases like cancer, malaria and neurological disorders. Herbs proved to be the only solution for treating a large number of health-related problems. Most of the recent drugs are obtained in one or another way from plants. Medicinal plants contain biologically active, naturally occurring chemical compounds known as phytochemicals which provide health benefits and protect the human cell from any type of damage. Phytochemical screenings of medicinal plants have contributed to the discovery of new drugs. In our present investigation, an attempt has been made to screen out the bioactive constituents of three selected plants of western Himalayas and further they had been subjected to quantitative analysis for estimation of different parameters.