Recent Trends In Medicinal Plants Research

Plants and other living organisms have great potential to treat human disease. There are two distinct types of biomedical research that seek to develop this potential. One type of research explores the value of medicinal plants as traditionally used and studies of these plants have the potential to determine which plants are most potent, optimize dosages and dose forms, and identify safety risks. Another type of research uses bioassays to identify single molecules from plants that have interesting bioactivities in isolation and might be useful lead compounds for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. This new volume of Advances in Botanical Research covers the recent trends in Medicinal Plants Research over 11 chapters. Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy. Covers the recent trends in medicinal plants research over 11 chapters Topics that are covered include Development of Drugs from Plants – Regulation and Evaluation, Chinese Herbal Medicines for Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Taxol, camptothecin and beyond for cancer therapy

The book provides an overview of current trends in biotechnology and medicinal plant sciences. The work includes detailed chapters on various advance biotechnological tools involved in production of phytoactive compounds of medicinal significance. Some recent and novel research studies on therapeutic applications of different medicinal plants from various geographical regions of the world have also been included. These studies report the antimicrobial activity of various natural plant products against various pathogenic microbial strains. Informative chapters on recent emerging applications of plant products such as source for nutraceuticals and vaccines have been integrated to cover latest advances in the field. This book also explores the conservation aspect of medicinal plants. Thus, chapters having comprehensively complied in vitro conservation protocols for various commercially important rare, threatened and endangered medicinal plants were provided in the present book.

Since ancient times, plants have been used as a prime natural source of alternative medicines and have played an important role in our lives. The old tradition of medicinal plant application has turned into a highly profitable business in the global market, resulting in the release of a large number of herbal products. People have tried to find different sources of medicines to alleviate pain and cure different illnesses. Due to severe constraints of synthetic drugs and the increasing contraindications of their usage, there is a growing interest world over in the usage of natural products based on medicinal herbs, hence, there is an ever expanding market of herbs and herbal based medicinal preparations all over the world. This has culminated into an exponential increase in number of research groups in different geographical locations and generation of volume of research data in the field in a short span of time. The path breaking advancement in research methods and interdisciplinary approaches is giving birth to newer perspectives. Therefore, it becomes imperative to keep pace with the advancement in research and development in the field of medicinal herbs. There are a large number of researchers in different parts of the world working on various aspects of medicinal plants and ‘herbal medicines’. The idea is to bring their recent research work into light in the form of a book. The proposed book contains chapters by the eminent researchers in different countries and working with different disciplines of medicinal plants. Articles pertain to different disciplines such as: 1. Resources and conservation of medicinal plants 2. Biosynthesis and metabolic engineering of medicinal plants 3. Tissue culture, propagation and bioreactor technology of medicinal plants 4. Phytochemical research on medicinal plants 5. Herbal medicines and plant-derived agents in cancer prevention and therapy 6. Herbal medicines and plant-derived agents in metabolic syndrome management 7. Herbal medicines and plant-derived agents in modulation of immune-related disorders 8. Herbal medicines and hepatotoxicity The book will prove itself an asset for the researchers, professionals and also students in the area of medicinal plants and mechanism of their action.

Papers presented at the National Symposium on Recent Trends in Spices & Medicinal Plants Research, held at Calcutta during 2-4 April 1998.

Brings together the diverse research trends in the field of medicinal botany. Beginning with the core study of distribution patterns of medicinal plants, it covers the wide range of chemical evaluation of their therapeutic properties, unravels the impact of environmental stresses, and highlights the modern research at molecular authentication and quality assessment of medicinal plants.

Stay up-to-date with this important contribution to rationalized botanical medicine The Handbook of Medicinal Plants explores state-of-the-art developments in the field of botanical medicine. Nineteen experts from around the world provide vital information on natural products and herbal medicines—from their earliest relevance in various cultures to today’s cutting-edge biotechnologies. Educated readers, practitioners, and academics of natural sciences will benefit from the text’s rich list of references as well as numerous tables, figures, and color photographs and illustrations. The Handbook of Medicinal Plants is divided into three main sections. The first section covers the use of herbal medicines throughout history in China, Australia, the Americas, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean, emphasizing the need for future medicinal plant research. The second section discusses the latest technologies in production and breeding, crop improvement, farming, and plant research. The third section focuses on groundbreaking advances in the medicinal application of therapeutic herbs. In the Handbook of Medicinal Plants, you will gain new knowledge about: recent research and development in Chinese herbal medicine modern methods of evaluating the efficacy of medicinal plants by “screening” the newest developments of in vitro cultivation prevention and therapy of cancer and other diseases using medicinal plants the challenges and threats to medicinal plant research today trends in phytomedicine in the new millennium The Handbook of Medicinal Plants demonstrates the global relevance of sharing local knowledge about phytomedicines, and highlights the need to make information on plants available on a worldwide basis. With this book, you can help meet the challenge to find scientifically rationalized medicines that are safer, more effective, and readily available to patients from all walks of life.

This book highlights the latest international research on different aspects of medicinal plants and fungi. Studies over the last decade have demonstrated that bioactive compounds isolated from medicinal fungi have promising antitumor, cardiovascular, immunomodulatory, anti-allergic, anti-diabetic, and hepatoprotective properties. In the light of these studies, the book includes chapters (mostly review articles) by eminent researchers from twelve countries across the globe working in different disciplines of medicinal plants and fungi. It discusses topics such as the prevention of major neurodegenerative and neurotoxic mechanisms by Centella asiatica; the medicinal properties and therapeutic applications of several mushrooms species found in different parts of the world; and fungal endophytes as a source of bioactive metabolites including anticancer and cardioprotective agents. There are also chapters on strategies for identifying bioactive secondary metabolites of fungal origin; the use of genomic information to explore the biotechnological potential of medicinal mushrooms; and solid state fermentation of agro-industrial and forestry residues for the production of medicinal mushrooms. It is a valuable resource for the researchers, professionals and students working in the area of medicinal plants and fungi.

Evidence-Based Validation of Herbal Medicines: Translational Research on Botanicals brings together current thinking and practice in the characterization and validation of natural products. The book describes different approaches and techniques for evaluating the quality, safety and efficacy of herbal medicine, particularly methods to assess their activity and understand compounds responsible and their probable underlying mechanisms of action. This book brings together the views, expertise and experiences of scientific experts in the field of medicinal plant research, hence it will be useful for researcher who want to know more about the natural lead with their validation and also useful to exploit traditional medicines. Includes state-of-the-art methods for detecting, isolating and performing structure elucidation by degradation and spectroscopic techniques Highlights the trends in validation and value addition of herbal medicine with different scientific approaches used in therapeutics Contains several all-new chapters on topics such as traditional-medicine-inspired drug development to treat emerging viral diseases, medicinal plants in antimicrobial resistance, TLC bio profiling, botanicals as medicinal foods, bioprospecting and bioassay-guided isolation of medicinal plants, immunomodulators from medicinal plants, and more