Standardized Herbal Products Research Articles

Antibacterial and anticancer activities of cardamom volatile oil and its application in food covering

Phytochemicals and bioactive compounds in medicinal plants significantly benefit human health and well-being. Cardamom essential oil (CEO) exhibits potential as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and anticancer agent. A modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique was used to test cardamom essential oil’s antimicrobial activity and identify the inhibition zone. Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 6538) and Bacillus cereus (ATCC6629) are two examples of Gram-positive bacteria against which the essential oil was evaluated for antibacterial activity. Gram-negative microorganisms such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), Escherichia coli (ATCC25922), and yeast Candida albicans were also evaluated for antimicrobial activity. The essential oil was assessed further against human liver (HEPG-2) and breast (MCF7) cell lines for anticancer properties. The findings suggest that, compared to the control, cardamom essential oil exhibits a significant zone of inhibition against all types of microbes except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Additionally, for anti-cancer actions, the IC50 values were 42.3 µg/ml for MCF7 and 54 µg/ml for HEPG-2 cell lines, while IC90 results for MCF7 were 68.9 µg/ml and for HEPG-2 cell line were 80.7 µg/ml. The essential oil was developed in functional coating to preserve the postharvest mango fruit for 60 days at cold storage. The treated fruit showed reduced weight loss (10%), with a relative reduction of 78% compared to the control, chilling injury incidence (2.5%) at day 45, and rind pitting (3%) at day 30 compared to the control. This therapeutic plant may yield novel compounds for broad-spectrum antimicrobial and anticancer medicines and be transformed into economical and secure standardized herbal products.

Quercetin Bioavailability Evaluation on Standardized Herbal Medicine Containing Guava Leaf Extract with HPLC

Standardized herbal medicines are classified as one of Indonesia's natural medicine ingredients in addition to herbal medicine and phytopharmaceuticals. The safety and efficacy of standardized herbal medicines are scientifically proven through preclinical trials, and raw materials and products have been standardized. One includes standardized herbal medicines is diapet, psidii, lelap, fitolac, and glucogarp. To determine the bioavailability of standardized herbal products containing guava leaf extract (Psidium guajava L.). which uses single and combined natural materials. The method used is experimental with a crossover design. Blood samples are taken from the marginalis vein of the rabbit ear at 0.5 hours; 1; 2; 4; and 6. The level of quercetin in the blood is determined by the reverse-phase HPLC method. The mobile phase used is methanol:aquabidest (59:41,v/v), stationary phase octadecyl silica (C18), flow rate 1 mL/min, UV-Vis detector 370 nm, and injection volume 20 ?L. The value of bioavailability parameters obtained in the parameters Cpmax, Tmax, and AUC of product A is 1.486454 ?g / ml; 1.4 hours and 10.2615291 ?g/ml/h, product B is 1.29224019 ?g/ml; 1.5 hours and 11.30810501 ?g/ml/hour. Based on the results of this study, it can be concluded that the bioavailability profile of the two products is not much different, so it is expected that the effects caused are the same.

Unveiling major ethnopharmacological aspects of genus Diospyros in context to its chemical diversity: A comprehensive overview.

Diospyros species (DS), "Ebenaceae," were known for their therapeutic uses in folk medicine since days of yore. Thereafter, scientific evidence related their health benefits to a myriad of chemical classes, for instance, naphthoquinones, flavonoids, tannins, coumarins, norbergenin derivatives, sterols, secoiridoids, sesquiterpenes, diterpenoids, triterpenoids, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and carotenoids. The available literature showed that more than 200 compounds were isolated and identified via spectroscopic techniques. Many pharmacological activities of DS have been previously described, such as antioxidant, neuroprotective, antibacterial, antiviral, antiprotozoal, antifungal, antiinflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic and cosmeceutical, investigated, and confirmed through versatile in vitro and in vivo assays. Previous studies proved that genus Diospyros is a rich reservoir of valuable bioactive compounds. However, further comparative studies among its different species are recommended for more precise natural source-based drug discovery and clinical application. Accordingly, this review is to recall the chemical abundance and diversity among different members of genus Diospyros and their ethnopharmacological and pharmacological uses. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Practically, providing sufficient background on both secondary metabolites divergence and pharmacological properties of genus Diospyros has many fruitful aspects. As demonstrated below, extracts and many isolated compounds have significant curative properties, which can lead to the discovery of pharmaceutically relevant alternative substitutes to conventional medicine. Consequently, molecular docking on various receptors can be applied. On the grounds, Naoxinqing tablets, a standardized herbal product containing D. kaki leaves extract, have been patented and recorded in Chinese Pharmacopeia as an approved Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for the treatment of cerebro- and cardiovascular diseases, although the underlying mechanism remains under advisement. Moreover, the antimicrobial applications of DS are of considerable concern; since the widespread use of antibiotics resulted in different forms of bacterial resistance, hence, limiting and compromising effective treatment. In addition, as a result of contemporary rampant memory disorders, neuroprotective activities of different extracts of DS became of great emphasis.

Efficacy of a standardized herbal product from Pistacia atlantica subsp. Kurdica in type 2 diabetic patients with hyperlipidemia: A triple-blind randomized clinical trial

BackgroundHyperlipidemia is one of the consequences of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) that puts the patients at the risk of getting cardiovascular disease. Pistacia atlantica subsp. Kurdica is used by local people for the improvement of lipid and glucose indices. This study was carried out to evaluate clinical effects of P. atlantica subsp. Kurdica on hyperlipidemia related to T2DM patients. Materials and methodsIn this randomized, triple-blind, and placebo-controlled study, type 2 diabetes patients with hyperlipidemia were randomly allocated to receive either P. atlantica kurdica or placebo capsule for 2 months. 58 Patients were followed up at the beginning and after the end of each month for assessment of lipid profiles, glucose indices, and liver and renal function tests. The herbal capsule was standardized according to volatile and nonvolatile compounds by GC-MS/FID and RP-HPLC-PDA, respectively. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were also determined with a spectrophotometer. ResultsAfter 1 and 2 months of the intervention period, mean differences of 2HPP, total cholesterol, and LDL-c have been reduced significantly (P < 0.05) between the two groups, but there were not reported any significant statistical changes in FBS, HbA1c, TG, HDL-c, ALT, AST, and Cr. The herbal capsule was standardized according to benzoic acid, ballic acid, rutin, and quercetin standard (6.5, 2.1, 1.4, 0.7 mg, respectively), and also α-pinene as major volatile constituent 28.51%. ConclusionAccording to results the P. atlantica kurdica is effective in the improvement of lipid profile and glucose indices in line with its local application. Clinical trial id(IRCT201708109014N178).

Advances in Fingerprint Analysis for Standardization and Quality Control of Herbal Medicines.

Herbal drugs or herbal medicines (HMs) have a long-standing history as natural remedies for preventing and curing diseases. HMs have garnered greater interest during the past decades due to their broad, synergistic actions on the physiological systems and relatively lower incidence of adverse events, compared to synthetic drugs. However, assuring reproducible quality, efficacy, and safety from herbal drugs remains a challenging task. HMs typically consist of many constituents whose presence and quantity may vary among different sources of materials. Fingerprint analysis has emerged as a very useful technique to assess the quality of herbal drug materials and formulations for establishing standardized herbal products. Rather than using a single or two marker(s), fingerprinting techniques take great consideration of the complexity of herbal drugs by evaluating the whole chemical profile and extracting a common pattern to be set as a criterion for assessing the individual material or formulation. In this review, we described and assessed various fingerprinting techniques reported to date, which are applicable to the standardization and quality control of HMs. We also evaluated the application of multivariate data analysis or chemometrics in assisting the analysis of the complex datasets from the determination of HMs. To ensure that these methods yield reliable results, we reviewed the validation status of the methods and provided perspectives on those. Finally, we concluded by highlighting major accomplishments and presenting a gap analysis between the existing techniques and what is needed to continue moving forward.

Recent Advances in Standardization of Herbal Drugs

Background:Herbal drugs play a significant role to maintain the human healthiness and to treat the ailments since the dawn of civilization. Moreover, these plants have provided many lead compounds that culminated in modern medicine. A single herb is regarded as mini-combinatorial library of phytoconstituents hence the quality control of herbal drugs in an herbal formulation is not an easy task because a number of factors impact their pharmacological efficiency and consistent therapeutic effects. Hence, to provide consistent beneficial therapeutic effects, standardized herbal products of consistent quality and purity are required.Methods:This review is based on publications obtained by a selective search in PubMed using the keywords “Standardized herbal products”, “fingerprinting”, “authentication”, “chemometric, hyphenated techniques”, “quality control of herbal drugs”, “identification”.Results:In the era of modernization, chromatographic techniques coupled with sophisticated spectroscopic analytical methods are used in estimating the authenticity, identity and characteristic of herbal products. Further, with the advancement of computer technology, chemometrics methods have become a leading tool with an unsupervised pattern recognition technique for handling multivariate data without prior knowledge about the studied samples and mines more beneficial and valuable information about the chemical entities from the raw data.Conclusion:Standardization of HDs chromatographic fingerprint is not always a perfect way to present all compounds. To assess the quality of medicinal plants, new ways are regularly being explored such as combination chemical fingerprint with biological methods, biofingerprint and metabolic fingerprint quality metrology, pharmacodynamics and export system of medicinal plants have been researched in some groups but still a significant amount of work is required to achieve a perfect system for quality evaluation of herbal drugs. Further, novel chemometric techniques have been unfolded that mines more beneficial and valuable information about the chemical entities from the raw data. So this review emphasis mainly on hyphenated techniques associated with chemometric method used in herbal drugs for identifying more valuable information and various methods for providing data, among which most commonly used techniques are chemometric resolution method and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method.

Effect of Milk Thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn) Seed Extract on Bacterial Activities and Growth of Human Liver Cancer Cells

Silymarin is a polyphenolic flavonoid mixture isolated from milk thistle which is believed to be responsible for the plant’s hepatoprotective action. Silymarin is hepatoprotective flavonoid drug available as bio marker in Silybun marianum (common name milk thistle). Silymarin is being used in treatment of various liver disease of different etiology because of its hepatoprotective action. Phytochemicals are playing a vital role for the treatment of different types of diseases and still used in both traditional and modern medication system. The phytochemical analysis of milk thistle seeds extract indicated that the plant is rich in secondary compounds. The results revealed that milk thistle seeds contain high amount of total phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant compounds. The antibacterial activities of the ethanol seeds extract of milk thistle was tested against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aures) and Gram-negative bacteria (Salmonella entirica). Antibacterial effects of crude extract were performed using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique to determine the zone of inhibition. The results demonstrated that ethanol seeds extract of milk thistle is shown strong inhibition zone against Staphylococcus aures and Salmonella entirica compared to the control. Also, milk thistle seeds extract showed highly anticancer activity. This medicinal plant could be developed into affordable and safe standardized herbal products and may serve as a source of new molecules for broad-spectrum anticancer, antimicrobial agents.

Regulatory compliance of herbal medicines – A review

Recently, herbal medicinal products (HMP) have gained importance and are extensively used in the prevention and treatment of various ailments. A commercial herbal medicinal product should comply with the regulatory requirements of quality, safety and efficacy. Currently, the standards and regulations of herbal medicinal products are varying from country to country, which poses a challenge to the manufacturing companies to place a standardized herbal product in the global market. Hence a collaborative effort must be taken both by regulatory bodies and the World Health Organization (WHO) to establish harmonized regulations for a herbal medicinal product. An attempt has been made in this review which may pave the way to meet out the constraints and challenges in the manufacturing and marketing of herbal medicinal product worldwide.

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF Codiaeum variegatum LEAVES

Natural substances of botanical origin have been important in African traditional medical practice. They have been used for various illnesses such as infections. Infectious diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria affect many communities and the treatment was made difficult partly because of antibiotic resistant strains. Phytochemicals isolated from medicinal plants are known to be effective in treating bacterial infections. The antibacterial activities of the ethanol and water leaf extracts of Codiaeum variegatumwere tested. Antibacterial effects of crude extracts were performed using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique to determine the zone of inhibition. The extracts were tested for the antibacterial activities against Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative bacteria (Serratia marcescens). The results demonstrated that both of ethanol and water leaf crude extracts of Codiaeum variegatumhave shown strong zone of inhibition against Serratia marcescens (20 mm) and Bacillus subtilis(12 mm) compared to control. This medicinal plant could be developed into affordable and safe standardized herbal products and may serve as a source of new molecules for broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents.

ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF WATER AND ETHANOLIC EXTRACTS OF Bauhinia variegata LEAVES

Phytochemicals isolated from medicinal plants are known to be effective in treating bacterial infections. The antibacterial activities of the ethanol and water leaf extracts of Bauhinia variegata were tested. Antibacterial effects of crude extracts were performed using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique to determine the zone of inhibition. The extracts were tested for the antibacterial activities against Gram-positive bacteria (Sarcina ventriculi) and Gram-negative bacteria (Serratia marcescens). The results demonstrated that both ethanol and water leaf extracts of Bauhinia variegata have shown strong inhibition zone against Serratia marcescens and Sarcina ventriculi compared to control). This medicinal plant could be developed into affordable and safe standardized herbal products and may serve as a source of new molecules for broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents. Our results revealed that Bauhinia variegata leaves contains total phenolic contents (453 mgGAE/ g), flavonoid 166 mg QE/g and total alkaloid 1.674 g/100g. Also Bauhinia variegata leaf extracts showed highly antioxidant activity.

Therapeutic potential of seabuckthorn: a patent review (2000-2018)

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Seabuckthorn (SBT) has received worldwide attention for therapeutic, nutraceutical and cosmetic purposes. It is used for the treatment of a number of diseases. Hundreds of commercial products containing SBT are available in the market.Areas covered: This review article covers patents on the therapeutic potential of SBT and its chemical constituents. The therapeutic areas covered in this review include cancer, cardiovascular, diabetes, inflammation, anti-oxidant, and anti-microbial. The patents were searched through Sci-finder, Espacenet, Google Patent, and US Patent.Expert opinion: Plant-based drugs have played an important role in the modern drug industry. Since ancient times, SBT has been used to cure several ailments. SBT has emerged as an important plant, which has been investigated for numerous pharmacological properties and shown to be beneficial in a number of therapeutic areas. Several clinical trials have demonstrated the therapeutic potential of SBT for the treatment of many diseases including cardiovascular, inflammation, diabetes, platelet inhibition, etc. There is huge potential for developing standardized herbal products from different parts of SBT.

Validated UV-Vis Spectrophotometric Determination of Andrographolide in Herbal Nano-Preparation

Determination of major bioactive compounds in polyphyto-formulation is important for production of standardized herbal products. A fast, simple and inexpensive method for detection and quantification of andrographolide concentration in nanoemulsion preparations containing a combination of Andrographis paniculata (Burm f.) Ness. and Phyllanthus niruri L. has been developed. Detection and quantification were carried out using UV-vis spectrophotometry analysis with picric acid reagent and NaOH (8:2) in methanol solvents, read at maximum wavelength 479 nm with 22 min of incubation time. Validation was done by determine the parameters such as linearity, intra and interday precision, accuracy, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ). The results obtained showed linearity with r = 0.9945 (y = 0.0109x − 0.2066) in the range of 30-80 μg/mL. The accuracy (recovery) varied in the range of 97.15 to 104.42 %. Percentage of relative standard deviation (% RSD) for precision and intermediate precision value were 3.23 and 3.02 % with LOD value 211 μg/mL and the LOQ 705 μg/mL. As a conclusion, this method is suitable to detect andrographolide content in herbal nano-preparation.

Metabolomics assisted fingerprint of Hypericum perforatum chemotypes and assessment of their cytotoxic activity

Hypericum perforatum is known as an important medicinal plant, used for the treatment of several diseases, while its pharmacological properties are attributed to the presence of a wide range of secondary metabolites. Due to the great chemotypic variability of Hypericum species in the nature, and the demand for standardized herbal products, a detailed phytochemical investigation was carried out on different parts (herba, leaf, flowers) from wild collected and cultivated populations, using advanced chromatographic tools. Liquid Chromatographic analysis (LC-MS/MS MRM) revealed significant variability in the secondary metabolites content of the examined methanolic extracts. The most common derivatives belong to 9 groups i.e. benzoic acids, phenylpropanoids, coumarins, flavones, flavonols, flavan-3-ols, anthocyanins, phloroglucinols and naphtodianthrones. The main polyphenolic compounds were catechin, epicatechin, quercetin, quercetin 3-O-rhamnoside, quercetin 3-O-glucoside, neochlorogenic acid, proanthocyanidins (A and B series) and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside. In addition, the content of the characteristic compounds hypericin and hyperforin in herba crude extracts ranged between 0.5 and 1.7 mg/g and 0.6–3.3 mg/g respectively. The cytotoxic activity of the crude extracts was assessed at concentrations ranged between 0.01 and 100 μg/mL, on Caco-2 intestinal cancer cell cultures, and a cytotoxic behavior was shown only at the highest concentration of 100 μg/mL.

In‐vitro Anticholinesterases Screening and antioxidant activity of three standardized herbal products used in ethnomedicine of South‐East Nigeria

Many herbal drugs possess multiple pharmacological actions which in part hinges on its anti‐oxidant properties, which could act through multiple pathways and may offer beneficial effects in the management of multi‐factorial diseases like Alzheimer, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative conditions. In the present investigation, in vitro anticholinesterases, DPPH antioxidant, ferric reducing power capacity and total phenolic contents of crude methanolic extracts of three standardized herbal products (Neocare herbal tea (NHT), Herbalin complex tea (HCT) and Phytoblis herbal tea (PHT) used in ethnomedicine of Eastern Nigeria were studied to established ethnomedicinal claim.The extracts were scrutinized for anticholinesterases activity using Ellman's Assay. DPPH free radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing capacity were investigated by spectrophotometric assays. Total phenolics and flavonoid contents were estimated and expressed in mg GAE/g and mg Quercetin E/g of samples respectively.All herbal extracts exhibited significant concentration dependent AChE inhibitory activity (p &lt; 0.01–0.001). The extract with the highest AChE inhibition is NHT with 99.7 % (IC50= 324 μg/ml); HCT and PHT demonstrate 73.77 (IC50= 0.2 μg/ml) and 60.6 % (IC50 = 0.7 μg/ml) respectively compared to eserine with AChE inhibition of 148.26% (IC50= 0.9 μg/ml) at 200μg/ml. The order of strength of inhibition of AChE is: NHT &gt; HCT &gt; PHT and the order of potency is HCT &gt; PHT &gt; NHT when compared to eserine.In DPPH free radicals scavenging assay, HCT, NHT and PHT showed high percentage of radical scavenging activities; 82.13, 77.43 and 76.28 % inhibition of free radicals respectively at 1 mg/mL concentration was observed. The IC50 of antioxidant activity of these three herbal products, HCT, NHT and PHT, are 0.08, 0.01 and 0.3 μg/ml respectively. The reducing power assessed by ferric to ferrous reduction activity by the extracts revealed a dose dependent effect with NHT &gt; PHT &gt; HCT. Thus NHT demonstrate most active antioxidant activity from DPPH and reducing capacity assessment while NHT demonstrate highest AChE activity with low potency.The order of total phenolics content (TPC) in the extract showed that PHT &gt; HCT &gt; NHT and for total flavonoids content (TFC) PHT &gt; NHT &gt; HCT dose dependently (p &lt; 0.0001).The study established that these three standardized herbal products possesses potential phenolic contents with significant anticholinesterases and antioxidant activities. This investigation provides preliminary evidence that the herbal extracts could be useful as a neuroprotective and for treatment of Alzheimer disorders.Support or Funding InformationUniversity of Nottingham Visiting Fellowship Name of Standardized Herbal products, components and yield of methanolic extract S/No. Names of Herbal product Constituents/Common name Family Composition (%) Yield (%) 1 Neocare herbal tea 4.22 NHT (9a) Alcornea cordifolia (Christmas bush) Euphurbiaceae 25 Azadirachta indica (Neem leaves) Meliaceae 25 Pteridium acquilinum (Fern) Dennstaedtiaceae. 50 2 Herbalin complex 5.52% HCT 10a Hippocratea volubilis (Hepocreatea pollens) Hippocreateaceae 50 Viscum album Santalaceae 25 Thymus pulegiodes (Mother thyme) Meliaceae 25 3. Phytoblis herbal tea 5.24% PHT 1 la Urtica dioica (Stinging nettles) Urticaceae 25 Hippocratea volubilis (Hepocreatea pollens) Hippocreateaceae 50 Thymus vulgaris (thyme) Meliaceae 25 Aloe vera Xanthorrhoeaceae) 25 Neocare herbal tea (NHT), Herbalin complex tea (HCT) and Phytoblis herbal tea (PHT).

Hepatoprotective and antioxidant polyphenols from a standardized methanolic extract of the leaves of Liquidambar styraciflua L.

The methanolic extract of the leaves of Liquidambar styraciflua L. (Altingiaceae) (LSE) was evaluated for hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities in carbon tetrachloride liver-damaged rats. Hepatotoxicity was induced via intraperitoneal injection of CCl4 1:9 in olive oil, at a dose of 0.5ml/kg b.wt. The animals received the extract, orally, at two dose levels (250 and 500mg/kg b.wt.) The administration regimen was twice a week, for six consecutive weeks. LSE exhibited a significant dose-dependent protective effect by lowering the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), malondialdehyde (MDA) and ameliorating the level of serum protein. In addition, LSE showed antioxidant activity through improving the levels of blood glutathione (GSH), vitamin C, vitamin E and hepatic total protein contents. The LSE revealed activity approached that of silymarin, a known hepatoprotective agent. These biochemical observations were supported by examination of the histopathological features of the liver. Chromatographic fractionation of LSE afforded seven phenolic compounds. These were identified on the basis of chromatographic, chemical and spectroscopic analyses as: gallic acid (1), isorugosin B (2), casuarictin (3), quercetin-3-O-β-d-4C1-glucopyranoside (4), myricetin-3-O-α-l-1C4-rhamnopyranoside (myricetrin) (5), quercetin (6) and myricetin (7). The isolated phenolics probably account for the antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects exhibited by the parent extract. Furthermore, a validated RP-HPLC method was devised for standardization of LSE, in view to fulfill the requirements of efficient research methodology for evaluation of bioactive herbal drugs. The above findings suggested that LSE could be considered as a standardized herbal product with antifibrotic, hepatoprotective and antioxidant potential.

Macro microscopic fingerprints of panchanga of Ishwari- Aristolochia indica Linn.

The drug Ishwari or Nakuli is botanically equated to Aristolochia indica Linn. The drug has been mentioned in Samhitha Granthas in different form for the condition like sheetha jwara (fever with rigor), sarpa visha (snake bite poisoning), vrana (wound), ekanga shopha (local oedema), unmade (schizophrenia), apasmara (epilepsy) etc. Substitution and adulteration due to similar morphological features, same classical vernacular name, and presence of similar active principles affect the therapeutic activity of medicinal products. Systematic macromicroscopy identity of herbal raw drug is becoming increasingly important to produce standardized herbal products. In this study, macro-microscopic and powder characters were recorded for five different parts (panchanga) of raw herb Ishwari using standard methodology. Both root and stem showed the presence of oil globules, stone cells, and starch grain. The midrib region showed a prominent vascular bundle, while there are few trace bundles distributed in the mesophyll tissue. The portion of perianth enlarged showed lower mesophyll tissue formed by parenchyma with intercellular space having a little chlorophyll in it. TS of fruit stalk is circular in outline, shows an epidermis covered with a cuticle. TS of fruit show an epicarp having 8 to 10 layers of parenchyma forming mesocarp. In the parenchyma cells below the endocarp there is a seed having testa, endosperm parenchyma. The powder microscopy showed the important cells of individual part of the plant. These diagnostic features can be used as a fingerprint for the identification and differentiation of their substitute and adulterants of the plant.

Phytochemical Evaluation and Screening of Cardiotonic, Antibacterial and Anthelmintic Activities of Sida cordifolia L.

&#x0D; Several herbs are traditionally used in the treatment of a variety of ailments particularly in the rural areas, where herbal medicine is mainly the source of health care system. Many of these herbs havenot been assessed for safety or toxicity to tissue or organs of the mammalian recipients. An attempt is made to prove the efficacy of Sida cordifolia Linn., (a traditional medicinal plant chosen on the basis of ethnomedical knowledge) for its Cardiotonic, Antibacterial and Anthelmintic activities. Sida cordofolia Linn., is used traditionally, inter alia, in the treatment of various infections, asthma, diarrhoea, heart and stomach disorders. Cardiotonicactivity is performed using isolated Frog Heart Perfusion Technique. Antibacterial activity of the whole plant extracts were assessed by Agar well diffusion method against the strains of Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. Anthelmintic activity was studied against Pheretima posthuma. Phytochemical screening of powdered plant material revealed thepresence of some secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, glycosides and flavonoids. Results indicated that methanol, chloroform, aqueous extracts have significant cardiotonic activity but less than standard drugs. Methanol and Aqueous extracts showed high antibacterial activity and anthelmintic activity than the standard drugs. In a nutshell, we can conclude that the methanol and aqueous fractions of Sida cordifolia Linn., had a profound antibacterial and anthelmintic effect eventhough it possessed very significant cardiotonic activity. This validates its continuous usage in ethnomedicine. This plant could be developed into cheap, safe and culturally acceptable standardized herbal products and may serve as asource of new molecules for broad-spectrum antimicrobial and anthelmintic agent.

Marker based standardization of polyherbal formulation (SJT-DI-02) by high performance thin layer chromatography method.

Background:Preparation of highly standardized herbal products with respect to chemical composition and biological activity is considered to be a valuable approach in this field. SJT-DI-02 polyherbal formulation was successfully developed at our institute and filed for patent at Mumbai patent office.Objective:The present work was marker based standardization of patented, novel and efficacious polyherbal formulation namely SJT-DI-02 for the treatment of diabetes. The SJT-DI-02 was comprised of dried extracts of rhizomes of Acorus calamus, leaves of Aegle marmelose, fruits of Benincasa hispida, roots of Chlorophytum arendinaceum, seeds of Eugenia jambolana, leaves of Ocimum sanctum, pericarp of Punica granatum, seeds of Tamarindus indica. Selected plants were collected, dried and extracted with suitable solvents. The formulation was prepared by mixing different fractions of extracts.Materials and Methods:For successful and best standardization, first of all selection and procurement was carried out. Selection is done on the basis of therapeutic efficacy and amount of the marker present in the particular plant part. At the time of procurement side by side phytochemical screening and estimation of phytoconstituents was carried out. After completion of preliminary screening using characterized markers, we tried to develop best TLC systems using selected solvent composition. Finally well-developed TLC systems were applied in HPTLC. In the present study polyherbal formulation was standardized by using different four markers. TLC Densitometric methods were developed using HPTLC for the quantification of these marker compounds. Solvent systems were optimized to achieve best resolution of the marker compounds from other components of the sample extract. The identity of the bands in the sample extracts were confirmed by comparing the Rf and the absorption spectra by overlaying their UV absorption spectra with those of their respective standards. The purity of the bands due to marker compounds in the sample extracts were confirmed by overlaying the absorption spectra recorded at start, middle and end position of the band in the sample tracks. After conforming all these things fingerprints were developed for all three formulations which will be act as authentification and quality control tool.Results:% w/w of asarones is 3.61, % w/w of marmelosin is 4.60, % w/w of gallic acid is 10.80 and % w/w of lupeol is 4.13. The method was validated in terms of linearity, precision, repeatability, limit of detection, limit of quantification and accuracy. In well-developed mobile phase system linearity was found to be in the range of 0.983-0.995, % recovery was found to be in the range of 97.48-99.63, % RSD for intraday and interday was found to be 0.13- 0.70 and 0.32 -1.41 and LOD and LOQ was found to be in the range of 0.15- 0.61 and 0.45 -1.83 microgram per ml.Conclusion:Thus High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) methods were developed and validated in terms of linearity, precision, repeatability, limit of detection, limit of quantification and accuracy. The methods were rapid, sensitive, reproducible and economical. It does not suffer any positive or negative interference due to common other component present in the formulation and would also serve as a tool for authentication of herbal products containing marmelosin, gallic acid, lupeol and asarones. Thus this work provides standardized and therapeutically active polyherbal formulations for the different ailments.

Preliminary phytochemical screening and antimicrobial evaluation of three medicinal plants used in Nigeria

Methanol extract of three Nigerian medicinal plants were screened for antimicrobial activity using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion and agar dilution techniques to determine the diameters of zone of inhibition and minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of the extracts respectively. The extract of each of the plants were tested against five clinical bacterial isolates comprising of two Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and three Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia) organisms. All the extracts exhibited moderate to high level of antimicrobial activities against these microorganisms. Phytochemical screening of powdered plant material revealed the presence of some secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, saponins, tannins, anthraquinones and flavonoids. These Nigerian medicinal plants could be developed into cheap, safe and culturally acceptable standardized herbal products and may serve as a source of new molecules for broad-spectrum antimicrobial agents.

Efficacy and Tolerability of a Standardized Herbal Product from Galphimia glauca on Generalized Anxiety Disorder. A Randomized, Double-Blind Clinical Trial Controlled with Lorazepam

Galphimia glauca Cav. is a plant used in Mexican traditional medicine as a "nerve tranquilizer". Previous studies have demonstrated that the methanolic extract from this plant species possess an anxiolytic effect. Galphimine B (GB, a nor-seco-triterpene), is the active principle, with an innovative action mechanism. Against this background, a standardized herbal medicinal product was developed from the aqueous extract of G. glauca (GgHP). The present work compared the therapeutic effectiveness, safety, and tolerability of the new GgHP with lorazepam on patients with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). By means of a controlled, randomized, double-blind clinical trial, outpatients of either sex who matched the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria with a score of > or = 19 points on the Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) were included. The experimental group was treated orally with GgHP in capsules twice a day for 4 weeks. The control group received lorazepam (1 mg) under the same conditions and presentation. A total of 152 patients were included in the trial (72 in the experimental group). From the first week of treatment, GgHP showed important anxiolytic effectiveness, very similar to that produced with lorazepam. Both treatments showed therapeutic safety (no alterations on biochemical analysis of hepatic and renal function). Nevertheless, concerning side effects, GgHP evidenced a considerably higher tolerability than lorazepam.