Sekhar Shailasree, Karmakar Ruma, K Ramachandra Kini, Siddapura Ramachandrappa Niranjana and Harischandra Sripathy Prakash
Department of Studies in Biotechnology, University of Mysore, Mysore – 570006, Karnataka, India
Pharmacognosy Communications,2012,2,2,2-12
DOI: 10.5530/pc.2012.2.2
Published:April 2012
Type: Reveiw Article
ABSTRACT
Natural products have long been a thriving source for the discovery of new drugs because of their chemical diversity. With increased use of herbal remedies, traditionally used medicinal plants are receiving increased attention from scientific and pharmaceutical communities. The newer work on medicinal plants is mostly the rediscovery of traditional effects at cellular and molecular levels. Development of standardized, safe and effective herbal formulations as multi-target therapeutics and prophylaxis could be a tenable approach for the future. Hundreds of plant metabolites are reported to have many pharmacological activities although most of these reports are of academic interest and very few find entry at clinical trials. Compilation of the information would help promote wider acceptance and use of these plant based drugs in main stream of medicine. The present review is directed towards compilation of the pharmacological attributes of medicinal plants of Western Ghats, India in the drug discovery and development process as it could be a driving force to identify lead molecules providing an attractive strategy for novel and improved therapeutics.
Key Words: Herbal medicine, Plant bioactives, LOX, COX, iNOS.