Uncovering the Key Factors Influencing Phytochemical and Phytopharmacological Properties During Medicinal Plant Processing

Background Medicinal plants are currently in considerable significance view due to their special attributes as a large source of therapeutic phytochemicals that may lead to the development of novel drugs. Herbs are staging a comeback and herbal ‘renaissance’ is happening all over the globe. The herbal products today symbolize safety in contrast to the synthetics that are regarded as unsafe to human and environment. It has been estimated that in developed countries such as United States, plant drugs constitute as much as 25% of the total drugs, while in fast developing countries such as China and India, the contribution is as much as 80%. Thus, the economic importance of medicinal plants is much more to countries such as Nepal than to rest of the world. Inventorisation of herbal drugs used in traditional and modern medicines for a country like Nepal, appears to be a stupendous task, where a number of well established indigenous or traditional systems, including Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homoeopathy, Tibetan, Amchi, Yoga and Naturopathy are practiced along with modern medicine for the management of total health care system.Method Classic techniques for the solvent extraction of active constituents from medicinal plant matrices are based on the choice of solvent coupled with the use of heat. Soxhlet extraction is a general and well-established technique, which surpasses in performance other conventional extraction techniques. : In this method, finely ground sample of Grewia species were placed in a porous bag or “thimble” made from a strong filter paper or cellulose, which is place, is in thimble chamber of the Soxhlet apparatus. Extraction solvents was heated in the bottom flask, vaporizes into the sample thimble, condenses in the condenser and drip back. When the liquid content reaches the siphon arm, the liquid contents emptied into the bottom flask again and the process is continued. The resultant extracts were used for qualitative phytochemical analysis by color reactions, antibacterial effects by disc diffusion method and Human RBC membrane stabilization method was used to test the anti-inflammatory potential of the phytoconstituents.Findings Two species Grewia asiatica and Grewia optiva (family: Tiliaceae) from genus Grewia were studied for their phytochemical and biological properties. The result showed that the extractive value of Grewia optiva was found to be greater (2.56 % in hexane and 7.17 % in methanol) than Grewia asiatica (n-hexane 2.24% and methanol 5.04%) respectively. The test for the phytoconstituents for both species showed the presence of glycosides, steroids, tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids and saponins. No any extract of both species at dose of (0.25mg, 0.5mg and 1mg per cup) possessed a zone of inhibition against tested bacterial strains. The potency of n-hexane extract and methanol extract of both species for Human RBC membrane stabilization test were compared with standard Diclofenac potassium. HRBC stabilization and resulted a good membrane stabilization of n-hexane extract of Grewia asiatica (40.89%, 73.57%, 78.23%, 80.07%, 80.91% and 51.95%) at (50 μg/ml, 100μg/ml, 200μg/ml, 400μg/ml, 600μg/ml and 800μg/ml) than methanol extract of both species. The result of the both species possessed similar phytochemicals and showed some membrane stabilization property which supports the traditional use.Conclusion Alkaloids were absent in the Grewia species extracts. The tested extracts have no any antibacterial effects against the tested bacterial stamps. The human RBC membrane stabilization tests were compared with standard Diclofenac potassium showed the good membrane stabilization of n-hexane extract of Grewia asiatica indicating the potent anti-inflammatory effect.Journal of Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences Vol. 2 2016 p.53-60

The aim of this review is to identify which types of selected medicinal plants for phytochemical characteristics were analyzed and which one is not analyzed as Ethiopian levels. In this review, the most traditional medicinal plant species found and used in Ethiopia are chosen. The state of the phytochemical characteristics of selected medicinal plants was stated under the literature. The qualitative phytochemical characteristics, some of which are the most important phytochemicals such as Tannins, Alkaloids, Saponins, Cardiac Glycosides, Steroids, Terpenoids, Flavonoids, Phlobatannins, Anthraquinones, and Reducing Sugars are studied by researcher. Most studies reviled that some phytochemical properties present in some medicinal plants while some of phytochemical properties are absent in some medicinal plants as well as the phytochemical properties of some species were studied like Opuntia ficusindica (L.) Miller (Yebereha Kulkual), Eucalyptus globules Labill (Nech Bahir Zaf), Cordia Africana Lam. (Wanza), Foeniculum vulgare. (Ensilal). However, some most important phytochemical properties of medicinal plants like Barleria eranthemoides R. Br. Ex C. B. Cl. (Yesetaf), Premna schimperi Engl. (Chocho), Capparis tomentosa L. (Gumero), Tragia pungens (Forssk.) Mull. Arg. (Ablalit) and Cymbopogonsp. (Serdo), Tribulus terrestris L. (Kurinchit) are not studied in Ethiopia. This review has shown that traditional medicinal plants those phytochemical properties are not studied have various medicinal purpose like treating mastitis, preventing boils, Haemorrhoids, congestion, headache, hepatitis, liver, vertigo, stomatitis, kidneys, liver, and vision for treating anemia, hemorrhoid coughs, fluxes, and stomatitis in most animals and human beings. So that identifying the plants based on the investigation and analysis of phytochemical properties of such plant species are more important as Ethiopian levels.

Medicinal plants are affordable and accessible, but documentation and evidence of their effectiveness is limited. A study was conducted in Kieni forest, Kiambu County with the aim of documenting the therapeutic plants, exploring their phytochemical properties and potential antimicrobial properties. Semi-structured questionnaires administered via the snowball technique was used in the survey. Phytochemical investigations was carried out using standard methods while disc diffusion method was used to evaluate antimicrobial properties. The study identified 28 medicinal plants from 25 families. The most common conditions treated by the plants were noted to be skin infections (31 %). The primary sources of medicinal plant knowledge were from parents and grandparents (63%). Plant parts that were most utilized were the leaves (27%), while only 2% of the seeds were used. Qualitative analysis of methanol extracts from Croton macrostachyus, Cordia africana, Elaeodendron buchananii, Senna didymobotrya, and Coleus barbatus identified phytochemicals such as terpenoids, flavonoids and tannins. The microbial sensitivity assay showed that the plant extracts displayed efficacy against Gram-positive bacteria, such as Bacillus subtilis, Streptococcus pyogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. However, limited efficacy was observed against isolates of Salmonella typhi and Escherichia coli although the former exhibited susceptibility to E. buchananii leaves extracts. All the tested plant extracts were unable to inhibit the growth of Candida albicans. E. buchananii emerged as the most effective species against tested microorganisms with a mean zone of inhibition of 9.90 (SD 0.391), while C. macrostachyus and C. africana were relatively less effective. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) revealed S. pyogenes as the most susceptible microorganism, with an average MIC of 65.63 mg/ml. S. aureus and B. subtilis had a MIC of 81.25 mg/ml and 125.00 mg/ml respectively. Conducting further research on isolated phytochemical compounds and properties could potentially lead to the development of cost-effective and less toxic drugs for managing microbial infections.

The leaves of two medicinal plants namely; Morinda lucida and Nauclea latifolia were investigated for their antibacterial, mineral and phytochemical properties. Results of the study showed that the aqueous and ethanolic extract of the two leaves had significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Listeria monocytogenes and Proteus mirabilis. The biologically active constituents present in the extracts were cardiac glycosides, tannins, saponin, coumarins, reducing sugar, terpenoids, alkaloids, steroids and flavonoids. The percentage yield extracts of the respective plants were Morinda lucida leaves 12.9% for ethanol and 9.0% for aqueous extracts while Nauclea latifolia had 12.1% for ethanol and 8.4% for aqueous extracts. Results of the antibacterial activity analysis revealed that the ethanolic extracts of the two medicinal plants at different concentrations were more active against the test organisms named above than the aqueous extracts. The MIC values for the ethanolic extracts ranged between 25.0 and 100.0 mg/ml while that of aqueous extract ranged between 50.0 and 100.0 mg/ml. The MBC values for ethanolic extract ranged between 50.0 and 100mg/ml while that of aqueous extracts also ranged between 50.0 and 100mg/ml. Analysis of the mineral content of the plant leaves shows that they were rich in potassium and calcium. This study confirms that the leaf extracts have some reasonable level of antimicrobial activity and appreciable amounts of mineral content which could be beneficial to human health. The findings from this work can be further exploited for isolation and characterization of novel Phytochemical compounds which could be used in the treatment of infectious diseases especially in light of the emergence of drug-resistant microorganisms and the need to produce new effective antimicrobial agents.

Marcela, a promising medicinal and aromatic plant from Latin America: A review

Plant species are fundamental source of nectar in beekeeping since bees access nectar and pollen from flowers. Consequently, bee products are strongly linked to the bee foraging flora source, and, depending on this, they acquire defined features, including their health and medicinal properties. Medicinal plants contribute greatly to increase the beneficial properties of bee products, such as honey, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis. Bee products represent a potential source of natural antioxidants that can counteract the effects of oxidative stress underlying the pathogenesis of many diseases. The antioxidant properties of bee products have been widely studied and there is an abundance of information available in the literature. Notwithstanding, the uniqueness of the presented perspective is to provide an updated overview of the antioxidant properties of bee products derived from medicinal plants as beekeeping sources. This topic is divided and discussed in the text in different sections as follows: (i) beekeeping and the impacts of environmental factors; (ii) an overview of the role of medicinal plants for bee products; (iii) definition and categorization of the main medicinal bee plants and related bee products; (iv) the study approach of the antioxidant properties; (v) the conventional and innovative assays used for the measurement of the antioxidant activity; and (vi) the antioxidant properties of bee products from medicinal plants.

The shelf life of onions, or for that matter any food item, is defined as the time period where the produce has an acceptable quality and is safe to consume. For onion farmers and packers, the mode of determining the shelf life depends on the harvesting, drying, grading, packing, cooling, storing, and shipping processes and time. Quality loss can lead to economic loss as well as a decline in consumer confidence. Quality expectation should be maintained at an acceptable level for consumer purchase and consumption. In addition to post-harvest handling, the thermal history of the produce during storage and transportation plays a major part of shelf life and quality management. Due to the differences among onion varieties, some are more susceptible than others to damage resulting from temperature, high humidity, and other factors during processing. In general, the recommended storage temperatures range from 0 to 5 °C during cold storage and 20 to 30 °C during non-refrigerated storage. Both storage methods should have adequate air circulation of about 0.5 to 1.0 m3 of air per minute per 1.0 cubic meter of onions to maintain the temperature and prevent CO2 accumulation. In this study, the cooling and heating processes of different sizes of onions were conducted experimentally and numerically, and temperature readings were recorded. The cooling process was designed to simulate actual industry practice where cooling starts after the onions are placed in a cold storage room where the temperature is not constant. For the heating process, the experiment simulated industry practice where cold onions are transferred into a warm storage room where the temperature is uniform. These thermal environments are a common encounter during the storage and shipping of produce. Initially, the cooling and heating data were experimentally examined and used to estimate the cooling time as well as the cooling rate to gain an understanding of the heat transfer process. Furthermore, the data were used in evaluating the numerical simulation. In the case of small onions, the temperature changed from 21.1 to 4.4 °C after three and a half hours. However, in the case of large onions, a similar temperature change took nearly eight hours. The numerical simulation was conducted using 3D models and the thermal properties of the onions. This paper will discuss the experimental data and the CFD modeling and simulation. Based on this study, the thermal environment and critical time period that could cause changes in produce core temperature can be outlined and used to qualify thermal mishandling.

The present review describes the morphological, traditional, phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of Clausena excavata ( Burm. f., Rutaceae). The plant grows wild in the tropical and subtropical parts of Asia and represents one of the richest sources of medicinal natural products. It is intensively used currently in traditional medicine for treatment of different illnesses. One part or a mixture of two or more parts of the plant in the form of powder or liquid doze is usually given to the patient. Phytochemically, many pure compounds from several secondary metabolite groups of C. excavata have been isolated from different parts of the plant including leaves, stems, stem barks, roots, root barks, rhizomes and flowers. Their chemical structures however, have been elucidated using several spectroscopic techniques. Pharmacologically, many secondary metabolites including alkaloids and coumarins have been tested for their biological activities. Anticancer, immunomodulatory, anti-HIV-1, antioxidant, antibacterialial, insecticidal, antifungal, antinociceptive, anti-malarial and antiplatelet activities of this plant have been detailed here. This paper enumerates an overview of its phytochemical and pharmacological properties, which may provide assistance to researchers to determine further, the efficacy and potency of C. excavata as medicinal plant.

Medicinal plants are common in our environment and have been useful in traditional medicine. The present study was conducted to evaluate the mineral content, the phytochemical, and antimicrobial properties of Carica papaya seed extracts on clinical isolates. The C. papaya seeds were sourced from fruits sellers from the Ekosodin community in Ovia North East Local Government, Benin City, Edo State. The seeds were air-dried for 14 days. The extract was obtained by maceration using distilled water and ethanol as solvents. The results of the mineral composition for both aqueous and ethanolic extracts indicated that sodium, potassium, calcium, zinc, copper, phosphorus, nitrogen, chromium, and iron were present. The phytochemical screening for both aqueous and ethanolic extracts indicated the presence of compounds such as saponins, phenolics, alkaloids, and flavonoids. The antimicrobial assay revealed that C. papaya seed extracts had good antimicrobial properties with a minimum inhibition of 100 mg/mL observed in Staphylococcus epidermidis and Bacillus subtilis for the aqueous extract, 1.04 mg/ml S. epidermidis and B. subtilis, and 2.08 mg/ml Candida spp. for the ethanol extract. The minimum bactericidal concentration of the ethanol extract in this study was 4.16 mg/ml for S. epidermidis and 8.33 mg/ml for B. subtilis, and the minimum fungicidal concentration was 8.33 mg/ml for Candida spp. The results from this study indicated that C. papaya seeds possess sufficient mineral components and phytochemical components, indicating their potential use as supplementary antimicrobial agents and essential nutrients for both humans and animals.

In recent decades, medicinal plants have been of great interest as they have been the sources of natural products. As a result, there is a need to analyse the phytochemical and antibacterial properties of Eucalyptus globulus against Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This study was carried out to determine the percentage yield, phytochemical properties, antibacterial activity, minimum inhibitory and minimum bactericidal concentration (MIC/MBC) of the crude extracts using the reflux extraction, qualitative phytochemical, agar well diffusion and broth dilution method respectively; while aqueous, normal hexane and ethyl acetate were used as extraction solvents. Aqueous extract has the highest yield of 16.08%, ethyl acetate extract (8.76%) while n-hexane extract had 3.84%. Phytochemicals such as tannins, alkaloids, and phenols were present in all three solvent extracts; while terpenoids, glycosides and steroids were absent. Saponins and flavonoids were present in water extract, flavonoids were present only in the ethyl acetate extract. The most active with mean inhibition zone (MIZ) diameter of 13.33±0.58mm and 10.33±0.58mm against Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus respectively at 50mg/mL while the lowest activity of MIZ diameter of 8.00±2.00mm was obtained with same extract and concentration against Escherichia coli. N-hexane and ethyl acetate extracts show no activity against the test organisms. The lowest MIC of 15.6mg/mL and MBC of 31.3mg/mL were obtained against Escherichia coli. Based on these results, it can be concluded that Eucalyptus globulus leaf extracts possess antibacterial activity against some of the test organisms and can be considered for drug development.

In this paper, the drying process of plantain bananas from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is investigated under two climatic operating conditions, the sunny and the confined oven environments. First, the effect of these environments at 40°C on the process evolution in terms of moisture content, particle size distribution of dried bananas and phytochemical properties (color, composition) is pointed out. Obtained results essentially show that natural sun drying is more favorable for all banana slice thicknesses used. The moisture content of plantain is reduced by 57.2% for natural drying in 28 h, while it is lowered by 52.76% for oven drying in 29 h. Phytochemical composition not detected for fresh bananas features an important quantity of sugar (433,4 ± 4,9 mg/g glucose) for sunny dried bananas and (60,8 ± 0,7 mg/g glucose) for oven drying. In contrast, the total polyphenol contents obtained using natural drying is less (1,78 ± 0,05 mg/g eq GA) and (3,05 ± 1,0 mg/g eq GA) for oven drying, even though the total lipids are mostly similar in both configurations (0,12 g/100 g) for natural drying and (0,13 g/100 g) for oven drying. Considering the impact of banana slice thickness, the use of small thicknesses is more affordable. Finally, the gathered data are used to fit in selected mathematical models for thin layer drying. It turns out that the models by Page (MR = exp(−0,1838t0,9795) and MR = exp(−0,5611t0,0025)) are the best fit to explain the moisture transfer in the DRC banana in the confined oven and in the natural sun environments, respectively. These results are novel as they determine for the first time the drying characteristics of the DRC plantain bananas (abb DRC) while providing their drying kinetics in the two environments under consideration.

An integrated medicine of Bhutan: Sowa Rigpa concepts, botanical identification, and the recorded phytochemical and pharmacological properties of the eastern Himalayan medicinal plants

Optimization of the green extraction of polyphenols from the edible flower Clitoria ternatea by high-power ultrasound: A comparative study with conventional extraction techniques

Solanum violaceum Ortega is a perennial tropical shrub traditionally used as conventional medicine for the treatment of various ailments. The present study aims to validate the use of S. violaceum Ortega leaf (SVLE) and fruit extracts (SVFE) in traditional medicine through untargeted metabolomics and assessment of its biological and phytochemical properties. GC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics identified derivatives of 59 and 50 metabolites in SVLE and SVFE, respectively. The study authenticated the presence of several bioactive compounds including Diosgenin, n-Hexadecanoic acid and Stigmasterol in SVLE and Ricinoleic acid, 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid and Oleic acid in SVFE, thus corroborating the use of the plant in traditional medicine as an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent. Both SVFE and SVLE demonstrated potent antioxidant, protease and anticoagulant properties with partial inhibitory effects on the physiological function of Factor Xa. This study provides insight into the phytochemical and pharmacological properties of S. violaceum and its potential ethnomedicinal relevance.

Cross-Docking: Current Research Versus Industry Practice and Industry 4.0 Adoption