Recent Progress in Medicinal Plants Volume 31 : Mechanism and Action of Phytoconstituents

Contents: Foreword. Preface. 1. Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Phagocytic activities in the extract of sedum praceltum (Siempreviva)/Maria Eugenia Castro-Mussot, Rafael Silva Torres and Estela Melendez Camargo (Mexico). 2. Lepidium meyenii (Maca): A Review on its Phytochemical and Pharmacological profile/Alejando Pino Figuerroa, Mark Bohlke, Timothy J. Maher (USA). 3. Medicinal properties and Pharmacological potential of Ficus Benghalensis/Faiyaz Ahmed and Asna Urooj (India). 4. Recent advances in natural bioactive cycloartane Triterpenoids/Ze Tian, Ye Sun, Peigen Xiao and Erxi Wu (USA, China). 5. Resveratrol, an old molecule now targeting obesity/A. Fernandez Quintela, M.T. Macarulla, I. Churruca and M.P. Portillo (Spain). 6. Recent advances in Cranberry stress physiology/Harvey J.M. Hou (USA). 7. Postharvest Handling of Persimmon fruit/C. Besada and A. Salvador (Spain). 8. Quantitative estimation and seasonal fluctuations of some primary and secondary biochemicals of young and mature leaves of solanum villosum Mill. (Solanaceae: Solanales)/Nandita Chowdhury, Anupam Ghosh and Goutam Chandra(India). 9. A Liquid chromatography – atmospheric pressure chemical lonisation-Mass Spectrometry method for the simulatenous determination of curcumin and piperine in food products/Krishna Veni Nagappan, Meyyanathan, S.N, Rajan, S and Elango,K (India). 10. HPTLC determination of compound formulation of  Nebivolol hydrochloride and S-amlodipine Besylate/Anil Kumar Sharma, Bhavesh Patel and Rakshit Patel (India). 11. Combination effects of phenolics of terminalia chebula fruits with antibiotics against clinical isolates of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus/Anwesa Bag, Subir Kumar Bhattacharyya, Nishith Kumar Pal and Rabi Ranjan Chattopadhyay (India). 12. Plant defense against heavy metals: The involvement of pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins/Pirselova Beata and Matusikova Ildiko (Solvak Republic). 13. Traditional ethno-Mycomedicinal practice lattice evaluation (TEMPLE) for prioritization of lead source: A Primer for folklore based drug discovery/Suman K. Lahiri, Mrugesh D.Shukla, Hasmukh A. Modi, Devdas D. Santani and Mamta B. Shah (India). 14. Phytoextracts: A Safe remedy in controlling plant diseases/Ajay K. Gautam and Rekha Bhadauria (India). 15. Preliminary studies on the phytochemical constituents and effects of aqueous crude extract of Lablab purpureus seeds on some biochemical parameters in rats/K.O. Soetan and M.A. Fafunso (Nigeria). 16. Enhancing food quality and safety – A Holistic perspective/Geetanjali Kaushik and S.N. Naik (India). 17. Dietary Antioxidants: The Health promoting compounds in vegetables and fruits (Basna El Gharras (Morocco). 18. Protective effect of vitamin C and aqueous extract of peltigera canina on chromium induced nephrotoxicity/M.L. Avila Ramirez, R. Silva Torres and M.E. Melendez Camargo (Mexico). 19. Ozone: Applications in the food industry/Poonam Singhal, Perminder Dua and Shivani Chaturvedi (India). 20. Modified atmosphere packaging of fruits and vegetables/S. Mangaraj, T.K. Goswami and S.D. Kulkarni (India). 21. Genetic engineering in grapevines: Technical problems solving/Keiko Fujita and Shunji Suzuki (Japan). 22. Interactions of water soluble vitamins with Zinc through cell, protein and animal models/Rashmi S. Tupe and Vaishali V. Agte (India). 23. In vitro propagation of roseroot (Rhodiola rosea L)/Samir C. Debnath (Canada). 24. Taxonomic status and leaf essential oils of Indian Bay Leaves (Cinnamomum tamala Nees and Ebrem)/Akhil Baruah (India). 25. Ethnoveterinary survey of poultry management in some selected farms in Ibadan, Nigeria/A.A. Adedapo and B.O. Bankole (Nigeria). 26. Impact of simulated acid rain on yield and carbohydrate contents of Mentha piperita L. (Peppermint)/Punam Kumari and Y.S. Tomar (India). Subject Index.

Studies on phytoconstituents from medicinal plants have experienced a great deal of changes during the least century, not only regarding the number f compounds described, but also in the concept of action and mechanism of phytoconsituents itself. Since the drug discovery process increasingly requires the availability of large number of compounds chemicals in nature offers a valuable source, for example, secondary metabolites, previously regarded as waste products are now recognized for their resistant activity against diseases and pests. Based on this rationale the present volume provides 26 research and review articles contributed by the eminent scientists form far and wide including Canada, china, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Slovak Republic, Spain and USA with a view to bring the scientific data to the attention of international scientific community.

Some of the important 19 medicinal plants (Astragalus, Cimiciguga, Cinnamomum tamala, Curcuma longa, Diospyros Kaki, Ficus Benghalensis, Ficus Exasperata, Lablab Purpreus, Lagenaria Breviflora, Lepidium Meyenil, Mentha Piperita, Peltigera Canina, Piper Longum, Rhodiola Rosea,Sedum Praealtum, Solanum Villosum, Terminalia Chebula, Thalictrum, Vaccinium Macrocarpon) have been explored for bioactive compounds. Also new analytical methodoloties have been developed for their determination. The chapter on Natural bioactive cycloartane triterpenoids in plants has shown to possess unique structures and cellular mechanisms of action and might prove to have potential for medical applications in various diseases like anti-tumor, anti-virus, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammations, immune regulatory, cardiovascular system, nervous system and hepatoprotective effects. Reservatrol a natural phytoalexin has been presented as a potential new functional molecule for obesity and insulin resistance prevention. The review on Rhodiola rosea L provides an overvies of in vitro propagation methods coupled with highlighting the research efforts for various phenolic compounds. Microbes have an important niche in the pharma sector as they produce thousands of industrially important bioactive molecules including antimicrobials. Three chapters have been presented to identify novel inhibitors for microbial pathogens by the use of classical and modern techniques. Terminalia chebula showed bioactive compounds which kill various drug resistant microbial pathogens including methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus. Pathogenesis related proteins showed an important role in plant responses to heavy metal stress. The phytochemicals from fruits and vegetables hold promising potential in the development of health foods, nutritional supplements and herbal medicines for the application as antioxidants and cancer chemopreventive agents. An attempt has been made to understand the universe of food quality and safety and need of paradigm shift is highlighted to provide a sustainable solution. Simultaneously, the chapter on modified atmospheric packaging has defined conditions that will create the optimum atmosphere inside the package best suited for extending shelf-life of a given produce with shortest possible time-period.

The findings presented would serve as basic material for further work in developing new phyto-therapeutics. The volume has been addressed to phytochemists, pharmacologists, microbiologists, biotechnologists, medical scientists and other researchers engaged in the search of natural products.