Omics Studies of Medicinal Plants - 1st Edition
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ii
EXPLORING MEDICINAL PLANTS
Series Editor Azamal Husen
Wolaita Sodo University, Ethiopia
Medicinal plants render a rich source of bioactive compounds used in drug formulation and devel-
opment; they play a key role in traditional or indigenous health systems. As the demand for herbal
medicines increases worldwide, supply is declining as most of the harvest is derived from naturally
growing vegetation. Considering global interests and covering several important aspects associated
with medicinal plants, the Exploring Medicinal Plants series comprises volumes valuable to aca-
demia, practitioners, and researchers interested in medicinal plants. Topics provide information on a
range of subjects including diversity, conservation, propagation, cultivation, physiology, molecular
biology, growth response under extreme environment, handling, storage, bioactive compounds, sec-
ondary metabolites, extraction, therapeutics, mode of action, and healthcare practices.
Led by Azamal Husen, Ph.D., this series is directed to a broad range of researchers and
professionals consisting of topical books exploring information related to medicinal plants. It
includes edited volumes, references, and textbooks available for individual print and electronic
purchases.
Omics Studies of Medicinal Plants, Altaf Ahmad and Ambreen Asif
Traditional Herbal Therapy for the Human Immune System, Azamal Husen
Environmental Pollution and Medicinal Plants, Azamal Husen
Herbs, Shrubs and Trees of Potential Medicinal Benefits, Azamal Husen
Phytopharmaceuticals and Biotechnology of Herbal Plants, Sachidanand Singh, Rahul Datta, Parul
Johri, and Mala Trivedi
Exploring Poisonous Plants: Medicinal Values, Toxicity Responses, and Therapeutic Uses,
Azamal Husen
Plants as Medicine and Aromatics: Conservation, Ecology, and Pharmacognosy, Mohd Kafeel
Ahmad Ansari, Bengu Turkyilmaz Unal, Munir Ozturk and Gary Owens
iii
Omics Studies of
Medicinal Plants
Edited by
Altaf Ahmad and Ambreen Asif
iv
First edition published 2023
by CRC Press
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and by CRC Press
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© 2023 selection and editorial matter, Altaf Ahmad and Ambreen Asif; individual chapters, the contributors
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ISBN: 9781032014791 (hbk)
ISBN: 9781032015675 (pbk)
ISBN: 9781003179139 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003179139
Typeset in Times
by Newgen Publishing UK
v
Contents
Preface...............................................................................................................................................vii
Editor Biographies ............................................................................................................................ix
.
List of Contributors............................................................................................................................xi
Chapter 1 Medicinal Plants for Health Care.................................................................................. 1
Neha Chaurasiya and Altaf Ahmad
Chapter 2 Translational Research for Medicinal Plants: Integrative Approaches,
Trends and Perspectives.............................................................................................. 25
Siva P. K. Chetri, Lokesh Kumar Agarwal, Akanksha Vashishtha,
Vibhuti Singh, Ratan Lal, Amit Kumar Gupta and Kuldeep Sharma
Chapter 3 Unraveling Medicinal Plant Chemical Diversity for Novel Drug Discovery
Through Biotechnological Interventions..................................................................... 45
Mir Zahoor Gul, Mohd Yasin Bhat, Elizabeth P. Ryan
and Irfan A. Ghazi
Chapter 4 Big Omics Data and Medicinal Plants........................................................................ 75
Ankita Chatterjee, Geetanjali Baruah and Jagajjit Sahu
Chapter 5 An Overview of Genomics, Transcriptomics and Proteomics Approaches
for Medicinal Plants Research..................................................................................... 89
Anindita Sengupta, Faizia Bano, Neha Arora, Saima Wajid and
Mohd Mughees
Chapter 6 Genomic Profiling of Medicinal Plants....................................................................... 99
Kritika Shukla, Mohd Ashraf Ashfaq and Md. Salik Noorani
Chapter 7 Genome-based Barcoding for the Authentication of Medicinal Plants and
Their Products........................................................................................................... 123
Samia Khan
Chapter 8 Genome-wide Transcriptome Profiling of the Medicinal Plants............................... 137
Sana Basri
Chapter 9 LC-MS-based Metabolomics of Medicinal Plants.................................................... 157
Gaurav Gautam, Rabea Parveen and Sayeed Ahmad
v
vi
vi Contents
Chapter 10 Metabolomic Profiling of Some Medicinal Plants.................................................... 181
Sahrish Aftab
Chapter 11 Mutagenesis in Medicinal Plants............................................................................... 211
Ambreen Asif
Chapter 12 Nanoparticle Fabrication from Herbal Plants and Their Role in Antimicrobial
Activities................................................................................................................... 243
Fekadu Ashine C., Rakesh Kumar Bachheti, Archana Bachheti,
Limenew Abate and Azamal Husen
Chapter 13 Tools for Safety Evaluation and Conservation of Medicinal Plants.......................... 263
Shipra Rani Jha and Mohd Mughees
Chapter 14 Phytochemical Evaluation and Biotechnological Approach for the
Conservation of Some Medicinal Plants................................................................... 279
Renu Pandey
Index............................................................................................................................................... 309
vii
Preface
Medicinal plants (MPs) deliver some of the most imperative sources of life-preserving medications
to the entire world. A majority of the world’s inhabitants chiefly rely on herbal remedies. Medicinal
plants are also a good source of income. The herbal medicine market, over the last decade, has
shown immense growth and is projected to reach $107 billion by the end of 2020. The emerging
demand for herbal medicine has also burdened their original stocks. A cumulative worldwide urge
for herbal drugs is accompanied by a dwindling reserve of medicinal plants due to over-harvesting.
Approximately 90 percent of the harvest comes from wild and naturally growing resources, which
are not explicitly cultivated for commercial usage. This overutilization of medicinal plants from
their natural resources has directed these plant species to the danger of extinction. To cope with this
rising demand for medicinal plants, their genetic improvement is required for having higher yields
and more active ingredients. These ameliorated high-yielding MPs can be utilized for commercial
cultivation purposes.
Biotechnological intrusions have likewise played an essential role in upgrading the yield and
quality of crops. Crops have also been engineered to produce valuable enzymes, heterologous
proteins, and antibodies. Today, natural-product drugs have a very pivotal and definite role in modern
medicine and pharmaceutical care. Despite great progress in plant molecular biology for the improve-
ment of crop plants, only limited biotechnology applications have been seen in medicinal plants.
Recent revolutions in high-throughput approaches have emphasized the research intentions toward
omics approaches, such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. In recent years,
extensive attention has been paid to the up-gradation of medicinal and aromatic plants using “omics”
approaches. Various groups of scientists are using these approaches to characterize medicinal plants
at genes, proteins, and metabolite levels. The first chapter of the book deals with the role of medicinal
plants in the treatment of various health ailments. The second chapter focuses on the in vitro biosyn-
thesis, elicitation, and upregulation of secondary metabolites, the role of integrative omics approaches,
and the prospects of herbal-based clinical practices. Chapter 3 provides valuable insights into how
biotechnology approaches have helped address various challenges faced by medical plant research
and illustrate future strategies that can be adopted. Recent interventions that have the potential to
revolutionize medicinal plant research for pharmaceutical industry application are also discussed.
The current scenario of omics data in medicinal plant research is described in Chapter 4 with a brief
discussion on issues that need to be addressed while analyzing these data. There have been quite a
favorable number of reports available for omics analyses in several medicinal plants. The authors
have also attempted to document selected research works in this chapter. An overview of the gen-
omics, transcriptomics and proteomics approaches for the improvement of medicinal plants is given
in Chapter 5. Information about genomic profiling of medicinal plants has increased greatly in the
past decade. Efforts have been undertaken to characterize medicinal plants at genome levels with the
help of molecular markers for justifiable application of the gene pool, its conservation and future
research programs. Chapter 6 documents the genome profiling of medicinal plants using the DNA
fingerprinting approach. Adulteration has become prevalent in the herbal healthcare industry and is
becoming a threat to the safety of consumers. This is further exacerbated by the fact that plants and
their products sold in the herbal market are devoid of apparent phenotypic features that mask their
authenticity due to being either in a dried or powdered state. Chapter 7 explains that the challenge of
misidentification can be overcome by the molecular technique of DNA barcoding. This method
uniquely identifies every living organism, just like every product in the supermarket is barcoded and
labeled. This will aid consumers to easily and efficiently identify medicinal plants and their products
irrespective of their physical state. Customs officers and other related agencies could use these
generated barcodes for checking illegal trade and thus carry out conservation efforts. DNA barcoding
can also help in the conservation of endangered plant species and protect biodiversity. With
vii
vii
viii Preface
species-specific barcode databases, chances of adulterations, accidents related to herbal medication,
and over-exploitation of flora will be reduced. The author has further stressed that, en masse, this will
be a big step toward the conservation of resources. Transcriptomics analysis of genes is another
advancement in the analysis of gene expression at mRNA transcript levels. In the case of medicinal
plants, the information on the use of this technique is meager because genomic sequences of limited
medicinal plants are available. The author of Chapter 8 has discussed the relevance of transcriptomic
approaches in the analysis of the expression of the gene of metabolic pathways associated with the
biosynthesis of the secondary metabolites. While genomics and transcriptomics technologies illus-
trate the expression profiling of the genes in an organism and help understand the structures and
functions of expressed proteins, the profiling of metabolites of an organism is provided by
metabolomics at various life levels. Several techniques, such as LC-MS, GC-MS, NMR-MS, and so
on, are associated to illustrate the metabolic pattern of medicinal plants, qualitatively and quantita-
tively. The LC-MS is one of the growing and highly advanced techniques used for metabolomic
analysis due to its high specificity, selectivity and precision and accuracy in an overall assessment of
data selectivity and integrity. Chapter 9 describes the role of LC-MS in metabolomic and the various
steps to reduce the associated problems such as experimental design, selection of method, sample
preparation, and method optimization. Metabolomics is also an important tool in quality control and
in standardizing the production of medicinally important natural products. It has also been used in
identifying and characterizing rare or endangered species of medicinal plants. It has provided useful
information regarding the biochemical evolutionary relationships among different medicinal plants.
Chapter 10 provides information on the metabolomic approaches used to study some common medi-
cinal plants. Since the genetic variability in medicinal plants is very narrow, induced mutagenesis is
witnessed as a practical tool for broadening the genetic variation to circumvent these bottleneck
conditions. Plant mutagenesis allows the deliberate induction of viable mutations to generate the
novel mutants with upgraded agronomic characters and increased yield. With the rapid understanding
of different types of mutagens and other mutation technologies, plant mutagenesis has become a
right-hand tool in mutation breeding programs that embrace its increased use in related research
fields. Chapter 11 discusses a valuable vision of mutagenesis on account of ample knowledge of bio-
logical, morphological, yield, and cytological parameters. Also, the expanding research horizons in
terms of phytochemical, molecular, and proteomics allow the significant possibility to assess induced
mutagenesis in these medicinal plants. Chapter 12 summarizes the fabrication of nanoparticles from
various parts of herbal plants, characterization techniques, their potential application in antimicrobial
activities and future perspectives. Adulteration with medicinal plants always remains a major con-
cern of users for reasons of safety and effectiveness. Correct authentication and identification of
genuine medicinal herbs has always been a great challenge for the people using them. With an
increase in the consumption of herbal medicine, the authentication and characterization of these
medicinal plants are becoming a critical issue. Further, over-exploitation of the medicinal plant in the
preparation of herbal formulations without any prior steps for their conservation has led to their
becoming endangered. Even many plant species are on the verge of extinction. Chapter 13 provides
an insight into the safety aspects and conservation strategy of the medicinal plants. In this last chapter,
the phytochemical evaluation of some medicinal plants has been provided by the author, and the bio-
technological approach for the conservation of these medicinal plants is discussed. The present book,
therefore, provides a comprehensive treatise of the chapters to provide an in-depth analysis of the
recent breakthroughs in high-throughput approaches for the research of medicinal plants. We hope
that this book will cater to the needs of all those who are working on or have an interest in the modern
research of medicinal plants.
Altaf Ahmad
Ambreen Asif
Editors
ix
Editor Biographies
Altaf Ahmad, Ph.D., is Professor of Plant Biotechnology in the Department of Botany, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Dr. Ahmad has 22 years of research experience and more than
125 significant publications to his credit. A regular reviewer and on the panel of editorial boards of
national and international journals, Dr. Ahmad is also a member of prestigious national and inter-
national scientific societies. He has guided the thesis research of 30 Ph.D. students (12 as super-
visor and 18 as co-supervisor) and over 30 M.Sc. students. He has organized several national and
international seminars/symposia. Dr. Ahmad handled several research projects funded by various
agencies such as UKRI- GCRF, BBSRS- UK, DST, DBT, CSIR, UGC, CCRUM, ICAR, and
INSA. He was Visiting Scientist at Virginia Polytechnic and State University, USA, University of
Freiburg, University of Aberdeen, and the University of Cologne. Based on his research contribu-
tion, Dr. Ahmad has been honored with the INSA Medal for Young Scientist (2003) and Professor
LSS Kumar Memorial Award (2003) of Indian National Science Academy, Young Scientist Award
(2005) of Council of Science & Technology, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh, and was elected an Associate
of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Ambreen Asif, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh, India. She earned her M.Sc. (Botany) degree in 2013 from Aligarh Muslim
University and secured first position in order of merit, and thereafter was awarded her Ph.D. degree
on the topic “Characterization of genetic variability and mutagenecity induced by mutagens in
Nigella sativa L. –an important medicinal herb of India” in 2019. She has published several signifi-
cant research papers in journals of national and international repute such as Industrial Crop Products,
Scientific Reports and Genes and Plants. She is a frequent participant in scientific conferences and
seminars in India.
Dr. Asif is a thorough and meritorious student, evident by awards such as the “University Gold
Medal” for securing first position in her M.Sc. (Botany), “Anjalina Khan Award” for securing first
position in her B.Sc. (Honors), and “Mrs. M.J. Haider Academic Memorial Award” for securing first
position at her school in Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. She is a recipient of the Innovation in
Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) fellowship, a flagship program of the Department
of Science and Technology, Government of India for her Ph.D. work. Based on her research contri-
bution, she received the Junior Scientist of the Year award (2018) from the National Environmental
Science Academy and the Emerging Scientist award from the Indo-US A.P.J. Abdul Kalam STEM
ER Centre of The Ohio State University (USA) and Aligarh Muslim University (India), 2018. She
was also awarded with the prestigious “NEWS India-UK Fellowship” of BBSRC, UK to work as a
visiting scientist at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, UK (2017).
ix
x
xi
Contributors
Limenew Abate, Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence, Addis Ababa Sciences and Technology
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Department of Industrial Chemistry, Addis Ababa Sciences and
Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Sahrish Aftab, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P., India
Lokesh Kumar Agarwal, Department of Chemistry, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur,
Rajasthan, India
Altaf Ahmad, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Sayeed Ahmad, Bioactive Natural Product Laboratory, Department of Pharmacognosy and
Phytochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New
Delhi, India
Neha Arora, Department of Integrative Biology and Pharmacology, McGovern Medical School,
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX, USA
Mohd Ashraf Ashfaq, Department of Botany, School of Chemical and Life sciences, Jamia
Hamdard, New Delhi, India
Fekadu Ashine C., Chemical and Construction Inputs Industry Development Institute, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia; Department of Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University,
Ethiopia
Ambreen Asif, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P., India
Archana Bachheti, Department of Environment Science, Graphic Era University, Dehradun,
Uttarakhand, India
Rakesh Kumar Bachheti, Nanotechnology Centre of Excellence, Addis Ababa Sciences and
Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Department of Industrial Chemistry, Addis Ababa
Sciences and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Faizia Bano, Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
Geetanjali Baruah, Department of Biotechnology, Assam Kaziranga University, Jorhat,
Assam, India
Sana Basri, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P., India
Mohd Yasin Bhat, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad,
Prof. C. R. Rao Road, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Ankita Chatterjee, National Chemical Laboratory, Dr. Homi Bhabha Road, Pune, Maharashtra, India
xi
xii
xii List of Contributors
Neha Chaurasiya, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P., India
Siva P. K. Chetri, Department of Botany, Dimoria College, Kamroop Khetri, Assam, India
Gaurav Gautam, Bioactive Natural Products Laboratory, Department of Pharmacognosy and
Phytochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New
Delhi, India
Irfan A. Ghazi, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad,
Prof. C. R. Rao Road, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Mir Zahoor Gul, Department of Plant Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Hyderabad,
Prof. C. R. Rao Road, Gachibowli, Hyderabad, Telangana, India, and Department of Biochemistry,
University College of Sciences, Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Amit Kumar Gupta, Department of Botany, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur,
Rajasthan, India
Azamal Husen, Wolaita Sodo University, Wolaita, Ethiopia
Shipra Rani Jha, K.L. Mehta Dayanand College for Woman, Fariadabad, Haryana, India
Samia Khan, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Ratan Lal, Department of Botany, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Mohd Mughees, Department of Biotechnology, School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Jamia
Hamdard, New Delhi, India; Department of Breast Medical Oncology, the University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Md. Salik Noorani, Department of Botany, School of Chemical and Life sciences, Jamia Hamdard,
New Delhi, India
Renu Pandey, Department of Botany, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, U.P., India
Rabea Parveen, Bioactive Natural Product Laboratory, Department of Pharmacognosy and
Phytochemistry, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard, New
Delhi, India
Elizabeth P. Ryan, Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado
State University and Colorado School of Public Health, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Jagajjit Sahu, GyanArras Academy, Gothapatna, Malipada, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
Anindita Sengupta, Department of Biotechnology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India
Kuldeep Sharma, Department of Botany, Mohanlal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
Kritika Shukla, Department of Botany, School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Jamia Hamdard,
New Delhi, India
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xii
List of Contributors xiii
Vibhuti Singh, Department of Botany, Swami Shraddhanand College, University of Delhi, Delhi,
Delhi, India
Akanksha Vashishtha, Department of Botany, CCS University, Meerut, U.P., India
Saima Wajid, Department of Biotechnology, School of Chemical and Life Sciences, Jamia
Hamdard, New Delhi, India
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1 Medicinal Plants
for Health Care
Neha Chaurasiya and Altaf Ahmad
CONTENTS
1.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of the Gastro-intestinal System........................................ 2
1.3 Medicinal Plants for the Treatment of the Cardiovascular System........................................... 3
1.4 Neuro-protective Plants............................................................................................................. 3
1.5 Liver-protective Plants............................................................................................................... 4
1.6 Anticoagulant Plants................................................................................................................. 4
1.7 Anticancer Plants....................................................................................................................... 5
1.8 Antidiabetic Plants.................................................................................................................... 6
1.9 Lipid-lowering Plants................................................................................................................ 7
1.10 Antioxidant Plants..................................................................................................................... 8
1.11 Immunomodulatory Plants........................................................................................................ 8
1.12 Antitussive Plants...................................................................................................................... 9
1.13 Anti-inflammatory Plants.......................................................................................................... 9
1.14 Antimutagenic Plants.............................................................................................................. 10
1.15 Antiprotozoal Plants................................................................................................................ 11
1.16 Antiviral Plants........................................................................................................................ 11
1.17 Antifibrotic Plants................................................................................................................... 11
1.18 Antiemetic Plants.................................................................................................................... 12
1.19 Antinociceptive Plants............................................................................................................. 12
1.20 Antifungal Plants..................................................................................................................... 13
1.21 Antivenom Plants.................................................................................................................... 14
1.22 Conclusions and Future Prospect............................................................................................ 15
References......................................................................................................................................... 15
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Natural food has successfully formed the basis of medicines for the treatment of various health
ailments. Every plant is similar to an industrial unit and competent in synthesizing an infinite
quantity of extremely multifaceted and unusual chemical substances (Kinghorn et al. 2011). It is
believed that at least 120 distinctive chemical substances derived from plants are well thought out
as vital drugs now in use in the world, while a number of other drugs are uncomplicated artificial
modifications of the natural products (Farooqi and Sreeramu 2001). Regardless of the long times
past of accomplishment in inventions of drugs from natural sources, natural products have fallen
out of favor in the present elevated throughput selection. People of the developing world (around
80% of the world’s population) primarily rely on herbal products for the treatment of most health
ailments. Many developed countries have also included herbal remedies. Complementary and
alternative medicines (CAMs) are widespread in the United Kingdom, Europe, North America
and Australia (Braun 2010) because of the belief that herbal medicine will promote healthier
DOI: 10.1201/9781003179139-1 1
2 Omics Studies of Medicinal Plants
living. Another reason for the increasing demand for these medicines in developed countries is
a balanced and moderate approach to healing. Therefore, there has been a big boom in sales
of medicines of plant origin. This represents a considerable proportion of the world’s drug
market. Approximately 21,000 plants have been considered by the World Health Organization as
having medicinal value (WHO 2005). The WHO has considered 252 drugs as basic and essen-
tial. Interestingly, the contribution of plant-based drugs is 11% in this list (Akinyemi, Oyewole
and Jimoh 2018). In addition to this, a large number of synthetic drugs are obtained from medi-
cinal plants. Digoxin is obtained from Digitalis spp., atropine from Atropa belladonna, quinine
and quinidine from Cinchona spp., vincristine and vinblastine from Catharanthus roseus. Many
anti-tumor and anti-infectious drugs are available on the market. Ninety species of plants pro-
vide around 120 chemicals in pure forms. These chemicals are used in medicines. The number of
plants known for their medicinal utility is consistently increasing with new ethnomedicinal claims
coming up fast. One of the priority programs of WHO is to examine the drugs that are used in trad-
itional medicine in various countries. Medicinal plants represent a priceless resource with much
use and potential value to humanity.
The last century witnessed a return to nature, particularly in matters related to medicine. Rapid
development in omics technologies is contributing immensely to the exploration of biodiversity for
new medicines. The advances in these omics’ technologies have further redefined the overall scope
and utility of the exploration of medicinal plants for commercially valuable resources. Detailed
studies of medicinal plants at genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome levels are being
carried out to identify biomarkers and targets for therapies for various diseases (Nicora et al. 2020).
A search for new therapeutic resources led to the re-examination of nature that has given remark-
able results. Many ancient medicinal herbs like Podophyllum peltatum, Rauwolfia serpentina,
Catharanthus roseus and Stephania cepharantha are some classic examples. Lonchocarpus
cyanescens, Costus after, Terminalia, Dianthus barbatus, Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco, Brucea
antidysenterica, Jatropha gossypiifolia, Maytenus serrata, Camptotheca acuminata, Sanguinaria
canadensis, Silybum marianum, Lithospermum ruderale, Dioscorea composita, Myrsine africana
and Oldenlandia affinis have been found to be active against a variety of human ailments when
examined through pharmacological trials. Podophyllum hexandrum, which is used in India in
the Ayurvedic systems of medicine extensively, is now proving useful in the treatment of cancer,
Hodgkin’s disease, monocytic leukemia and non- Hodgkin’s lymphoma. For the treatment of
Condyloma acuminatum and Tinea capitis, this drug is a well-thought-out drug of choice (Goel,
Prasad and Sharma 1998). With the increased experimental evidence of the potential of medi-
cinal plants to treat various health ailments, research interests in different aspects of medicinal
plants have developed tremendously. Increased involvement of drug companies in manufacturing
herbal products for herbal healthcare services has further intensified this interest in the research of
medicinal plants. However, the growing demand for herbal drugs has led to an uncontrolled wild
collection that, in turn, has become one of the potential threats to medicinal plants. Being an invalu-
able natural resource, there is a need to conserve and sustainably utilize medicinal plants for the
benefit of the present and future human generations. In the present chapter, an update of medicinal
plants, plant-derived drugs and their use in various therapies is provided.
1.2 MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE
GASTRO-INTESTINAL SYSTEM
The human body has a number of organ systems; among them, the gastro-intestinal system is one
of the most important organs, which is highly prone to several disorders. The medicines available on
the market have less potential and result in several complexities. Prasad, Shyma and Raghavendra
(2013) recorded and analyzed various medicinal plants that are orally transmitted for the treatment
of digestive system diseases by the tribal population in Wayanad district. The parts of the plant are
Medicinal Plants for Health Care 3
used solely or in union to treat various diseases such as piles, ulcers, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dys-
entery, vomiting, acidity, jaundice and stomach pain. Based on results obtained from the review,
several plants have been suggested in certain studies to get rid of digestive disorders and gastro-
intestinal cancers, including Glycyrrhiza glabra, Ribes nigrum, Phyllanthus niruri, Lantana camara,
Streblus asper, Cordia myxa, Coriandrum sativum, Cyperus rotundus, Azadirachta indica, Aloe
vera, Plantago asiatica, Passiflora spp. In several investigations, there are some principle bioactive
compounds: kobusone and isokobusone, rotundone, auxins and phenolic compounds: isoflavone
glabrene, glabridin, phytoestrogens, glycosides, flavonoids and saponins which are isolated from
the medicinal plants results in inhibition in sufferance of patients by reducing pain (Anbari et al.
2019). Out of 482 vascular plants were recorded, Phyllanthus emblica, Centella asiatica and Aegle
marmelos, Carica papaya, Portulaca oleracea and Psidium guajava are present in the Kuki-Chin
region whose boundaries are shared by Bangladesh, India and Myanmar are used in the treatment of
GAS-Ds like abdominal pain epigastric, gastroenteritis presumed infections and diarrhea.
1.3 MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE
CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
The disorders of the cardiovascular system affect the pumping organs: heart, arteries, veins and
capillaries. In today’s world, it is the leading cause of death. The diseases related to this system
constitute 31% of annual global mortality, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The
major factors responsible for such problems are smoking, high consumption of saturated fat and
cholesterol and physical inactivity (Adegbola et al. 2017). Some of the common medicinal plants,
with their functional bioactive compound, have the potential for the treatment of cardiovascular
diseases Table 1.1. Allium sativum, commonly called garlic, is used in the treatment of athero-
sclerosis and hyperlipidemia (Sun, Wang and Qin 2018). Crocus sativus, or Saffron, belongs to the
family Iridaceae and is helpful in vasodilation (Razavi et al. 2016). Hibiscus sabdariffa, also known
as roselle, has the potential in lowering blood pressure (Ojeda et al. 2010). The extracts of Camellia
sinensis (Tea) can lower high blood pressure by elevating brachial artery flow-mediated dilation
(FMD) (Ras, Zock and Draijer 2011). Commiphora wightii (guggal) and Terminalia arjuna (Arjuna)
have an effect on cardiovascular diseases, including ischemic heart disease, congestive heart failure,
arrhythmias and high blood pressure (Rastogi, Pandey and Rawat 2016).
1.4 NEURO-PROTECTIVE PLANTS
The protection of the nervous system refers to the strategies and associated mechanisms which are
competent to shield the central nervous system (CNS) against injury of the nervous system caused
TABLE 1.1
Medicinal Plants and Their Functional Bioactive Compound Having
Potential of the Treatment of Cardiovascular Diseases
Medicinal plants Functional bioactive compounds
Salix alba Aspirin
Digitalis purpurea digoxin
Ephedra sinica ephedrine
Monascus purpureus lovastatin
Taxus brevifolia taxol
Astragalus membranaceus Astragaloside IV
Rauvolfia serpentina reserpine
