Sujay Rai

The sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) - phytochemical and therapeutic profile.

Objectives Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. (Nymphaeaceae), also known as sacred lotus, is a well known medicinal plant. This article reviews the traditional uses, phytochemistry and therapeutic reports on different parts of N. nucifera viz. the seeds, rhizomes, leaves and flowers. This review also describes various compounds isolated from different parts of this plant and the therapeutic benefits derived from those phytoconstituents.

Plants of Indian origin in drug discovery

The Indian system of medicine (ISM) consists of several major components such as Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and homeopathy. All these components provide the major healthcare for a large part of the population in India and have been flourishing in this country for many centuries. Medicinal plants constitute a major part in all of these traditional systems. Several regulations and controls on the use of medicinal plants in traditional medicine have evolved. On the one hand, such regulations will help to cure different aliments through Indian indigenous resources and, on the other hand, they will help in the screening and evaluation of natural resources through the development of potential lead components in order to provide better healthcare through ISM. Several lead molecules have been developed from ISM. This review aims at highlighting aspects of drug development from Indian medicinal plants through the use of ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology and systems biology, with different approaches using metabolomics and allied fields.

Marker Profiling of Botanicals Used for Hepatoprotection in Indian System of Medicine

Quality control of botanicals, including phytomedicines and dietary supplements, is a basic requirement to ensure their safety and effectiveness. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of marker components is a potentially cost-efficient aspect of quality control as any change in quality of the marker compound may also represent the quality of overall product, which would also directly affect the other phytoconstituents of the product. Our studies attempted to develop the marker profile of Andrographis paniculata, Berberis aristata, and Phyllanthus amarus, which are used as hepatoprotectives in the Indian system of medicine. The plant extracts were subjected for high-performance thin-layer chromatographic analysis along with the respective standard markers. Andrographolide appeared at retardation factor Rf 0.7 in a methanolic extract of A. paniculata with a chloroform:methanol (70:10) solvent system. Berberine appeared at Rf 3.6 in a petroleum ether extract of B. aristata with an n-propanol:formic acid:water (90:1:9) solvent system. Phyllanthin and hypophyllanthin appeared at Rf 0.3 and 0.4, respectively, in a methanolic extract of P. amarus with a hexane:ethyl acetate (2:1) solvent system. Densitometric scanning produced characteristic chromatographs. Such characteristic chromatographs can be used as standard fingerprint to develop a quality control protocol for plant materials.