Year: 2010
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: Throughout the human history, man has been dependent on plant sources for his very basic needs ( 1 ). The use of medicinally active plants predates modern history. As per a World Health Organization estimate more than 80% of the world’s population is dependant on traditional plants to meet their health requirements ( 2 ). A large number of plants used in the traditional medicine have now become a part of the modern world health care system because of their unique ability to synthesize a wide array of compounds with diverse health-related benefits ( 3 , 4 ). Most recently, the introduction of plant-based products in the form of nutraceuticals and dietary supplements have made a major impact in the drug industry market ( 5 , 6 ). The isolation, structural elucidation, and evaluation of all major constituents of the plant-based products must occur efficiently in order to determine its pharmacological properties. A general isolation and evaluation procedure of plants-based active ingredients is depicted in Scheme 24.1 . Plants provide compounds possessing a broad range of activities such as antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidative, immunomodulatory and antitumor properties ( 7 , 8 ). Because of the rapid advancement in modern day biology, drug discovery from natural sources has evolved into a highly multidisciplinary field utilizing various sophisticated methods of isolation, analysis, and evaluation. Over the last few decades, natural products have been studied for anti-infective and more specifically, antiviral activities. Basic researches in experimental models using various biological systems strongly suggest the protective role of plant-derived natural compounds against different viral infections ( 9 , 10 ). Despite the substantial amount of progress made in the treatment and therapeutic strategies, the incidence, morbidity, and mortality of viral infections remain a major global challenge. The conditions are more complicated in the developing world due to the unavailability of relatively expensive medicines and widespread drug resistance ( 11 ). Unfortunately, many antiviral compounds presently in clinical use have a relatively narrow spectrum of activity, limited therapeutic usefulness, and variable toxicity. Whether natural antivirals can be developed as a viable alternative medicine or a synergistic combination therapy with pre-existing antiviral therapy will entirely depend on identifying broad-spectrum plant-based antivirals combined with a method of delivery and keeping in mind its stability and bioavailability. In addition, the development of a suitable in vitro pharmacodynamic screening technique could contribute to the rapid identification of potential bioactive plants and also to the standardization and/or pharmacokinetic–pharmacodynamic profiling of the bioactive components.
Source: Humana Press eBooks
Language: English
Topic: Medicinal Plant Research
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W173664627