Herbal remedies

Medicinal Plants form the basis of traditional medicinal system. The medicinal plants usage is higher in developing countries with respect to the developed nations. In past the usage of medicinal plants use of medicinal plants and traditional medicines derived from medicinal plants has increased at great pace. The reported sales of medicinal plants or herbal medicines have crossed $ 60, 000 million dollars in year after 2000. Luffa accutangula is herbal plant, whose fruit is commonly used as vegetable as well as traditional medicines derived from medicinal plants were reported to be around 40 to 50 percent of population using it in Germany, around 43 percent usage in America, and around 48 percent in Australia and 49 percent in France. However in recent few decades (i.e. three decades) in Asian countries the sales have risen sharply. The plant is highly rich in medicinal values, and many pharmacological activities have been reported in the plant. Looking at the richness of Gourd (Luffa accutangula) the present review has been written in order to provide an up-to-date report on this imperative species of medicinal plant. Keywords: Medicinal plants, Herbal remedies, Pharmacology of medicinal plants, Luffa accutangula  

Ayurveda pharmacopeia is based upon herbal, mineral and herbo-mineral natural products but herbs takes first rank in pharmaceutics.  Herbal medicines have been widely used all over the world since ancient times and have been recognized by physicians and patients for their better therapeutic value as they have fewer adverse effects as compared with modern medicines. Unlike the existing allopathic system, the herbal remedies have hundreds and thousands of constituents that all work together against the diseases. Mostly, the conventional pharmaceuticals or pharmacognostical products in the market are rooted from natural products and their derivatives with herbal products playing pivotal role. All over the world, the research on these herbal remedies has been carried out in the different fields’ for instance pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacognosy, pharmacology and clinical therapeutics.  ‘Nanotechnology’ is the new emerging technology in the drug discovery and it has the property of self targeting in the sense that without the attachment of a specific legend, these can be used for targeting, due to their distinctively small size, at the infected pathological areas. Some of such formulations are already present in the market and many more are expected to come by 2020 after their success in ongoing clinical trials. Drug delivery research is clearly moving from the micro- to the nanosize scale. Nanotechnology is therefore emerging as a field in medicine that is expected to elicit significant therapeutic benefit. Nanoparticles are able to adsorb and/or encapsulate a drug, thus protecting it against chemical and enzymatic degradation. A nanocarrier is nanomaterial being used as a transport module for another substance, such as a drug. Nanocarriers are currently used in drug delivery and their unique characteristics demonstrate potential use in chemotherapy. Herbal remedies may be selected as feasible drug candidate for delivery through a nano delivery system. It is being assumed that the “herbal remedy” with the nanocarriers will increase its potential for the treatment of various chronic diseases and health benefits. In this review, author has made an effort to explore this new approach is escalating the interest of number of scientists to improve and to accelerate the joint drug discovery and development of novel nano delivery systems for ayurveda herbal remedies.

Herbal remedies are very common all over the world and herbal medications are dispensed by apothecaries. Herbal remedies are seen by some as a treatment to be preferred to chemical medications which have been industrially produced. The medicinal values of plants are dictated by their phytochemical and other chemical constituents. Medicinal herbs have been an essential part of human society since the civilization started. They are boon of nature to cure a number of ailments of human beings. In the present study phytochemical screening for the presence of various phyto compounds of Ailanthus excelsa using Acetone Chloroform, n-Hexene & Distilled water has been carried out and was assayed for in-vitro antidermatophytic activity against human pathogenic fungi viz: Microsporum gypseum & Trichophyton mentagrophytes. Results obtained revealed that maximum eight phytocompounds among nine tested, has been observed in the Chloroform solvent extract followed by seven by Acetone & n-Hexene and the least six by aqueous extract. Further the antidermatophytic activity against human dermatophytes has revealed the Inhibition in the mycelial weight of test organisms, and the maximum 57.14% inhibition has been observed in the mycelial weight of Trichophyton mentagrophytes at 2:5 concentration ratio, whereas the maximum 34.88% inhibition ion Microsporum gypseum has further being observed. In the present study it has been observed that Trichophyton mentagrophytes is susceptible among the pathogens whereas Microsporum gypseum is resistant to the selected plant species extract. Key words: Herbal remedies, Phytocompounds, Susceptible & Resistant.