Cure and prevention of cardiovascular diseases: herbs for heart

Herbs contribute to more than 60-70% in development of modern medicines in the world market either directly or indirectly. The herbal treatments for congestive heart failure, systolic hypertension, angina, atherosclerosis, cerebral insufficiency and venous insufficiency etc. has been known since ancient times. Unlike allopathic medicines, Ayurveda medicines are considered safe, however, the adverse reactions of herbal drugs is also reported. In this paper, we have compiled 128 herbs and their parts that have medicinal value to prevent, alleviate or cure heart disease related disorders. Jaccard Neighbour-joining cluster analysis using Free Tree software was used to assess the relative importance of plants in context with its healing potential for heart related disease. Based on the medicinal value in context with the heart, five major clusters of the selected 128 herbs were made. Correlation of the distance between herbs revealed that most of these herbs were found to have more than one medicinal property. The distance in dendogram depicted closeness of properties curing heart disease; as less the distance between two medicinal plants or two groups they will more close to cure particular heart disease. During drug development, a medicinal plant can be replaced by another plant of same group or by another plant of its neighbour group but from same pedigree. Thus, in case of non-availability of herbs or if it belongs to the category of rare, threatened, and endangered species, such method may add to new ways of drug development.

Bioprospecting the antimicrobial, antibiofilm and antiproliferative activity of Symplocos racemosa Roxb. Bark phytoconstituents along with their biosafety evaluation and detection of antimicrobial components by GC-MS

BACKGROUND

Plants provide a ray of hope to combat the ever increasing antibiotic resistance and Symplocos racemosa is a valuable medicinal plant. The study focused on highlighting the importance of this plant's phytoconstituents as potential source of novel antimicrobials against planktonic as well as biofilm forming microorganisms, along with their antiproliferative activity. The biosafety of the phytoconstituents was also established, followed by detection of probable antimicrobial components.

METHODS

The best organic extractant and major groups of phytoconstituents were tested for their antimicrobial activity against reference microbial strains and drug-resistant clinical isolates. The anti-proliferative potential of the most active group of phytoconstituents was evaluated against cancerous cell lines. The in vitro biosafety of phytoconstituents was evaluated by Ames and MTT assay, while in vivo biosafety of the most active phytoconstituents, i.e., flavonoids was determined by acute oral toxicity. Further, the probable antimicrobial components in the flavonoids were detected by TLC and GC-MS.

RESULTS

Ethyl acetate extract was the most effective among various organic extracts, whereas phytoconstituents such as flavonoids, cardiac glycosides, saponins, tannins, triterpenes and phytosterols were the major groups present, with flavonoids being the most potent antimicrobials. The phytoconstituents displayed a significant antibiofilm potential, as exhibited by inhibition of initial cell attachment, disruption of the pre-formed biofilms and reduced metabolic activity of biofilms. The phytoconstituents were significantly active against the drug-resistant strains of E.coli, MRSA and Salmonella spp. Further, flavonoids showed significant cytotoxic effect against the cancerous cell lines but were non-cytotoxic against Vero (normal) cell line. All the test preparations were biosafe, as depicted by the Ames test and MTT assay. Also, flavonoids did not induce any abnormality in body weight, clinical signs, biochemical parameters and organs' histopathology of the Swiss albino mice during in vivo acute oral toxicity studies. The flavonoids were resolved into 4 bands (S1-S4), where S3 was the most active and its GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of a number of compounds, where Bicyclo [2.2.1]heptan-2-one,1,7,7-trimethyl-, (1S)- was the most abundant.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that the phytoconstituents from Symplocos racemosa bark could act as potential source of antimicrobial as well as antiproliferative metabolites.

Effect of "DXB-2030," a Polyherbal Formulation, on Experimental Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Associated with Hyperandrogenism

The objective of the present study was to evaluate “DXB-2030,” a polyherbal combination of Trigonella foenum-graecum, Aloe vera, Sphaeranthus indicus, Nardostachys jatamansi, and Symplocos racemosa extracts in an experimental model of testosterone propionate (TP), induced polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in female rats. Thirty animals were divided into 3 groups of 10 each; group 1 served as normal control; group 2 was administered with TP and served as positive control; along with TP, group 3 was treated with “DXB-2030” at a dose of 100 mg/kg p.o., for 60 days. At the end of the study period, the animals were subjected for the estimation of serum testosterone levels, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), weight of the ovaries, estrous cycle, and histopathological evaluation. An in vitro assay on GLUT4 expression was carried out to understand the effect of “DXB-2030” on insulin resistance. Results showed that treatment with “DXB-2030” reversed the TP-induced changes by increasing the GLUT4 expression and decreasing the body weight, testosterone levels, AUC of glucose in OGTT, and the cystic follicles of the ovaries, thus indicating its beneficial effect in PCOS by ameliorating the metabolic dysfunction and reproductive impairment, which are the pathophysiological conditions associated with PCOS. From the results obtained, it can be concluded that “DXB-2030” was effective in the management of experimental PCOS and hence may be recommended in the treatment of PCOS.