Importance of Herbal Plant with their Medicinal Values

Exploring the significance of herbal plants in traditional medicine

by Dinesh Kumar Yadav*, Dr. Kamlesh Kumar,

- Published in Journal of Advances and Scholarly Researches in Allied Education, E-ISSN: 2230-7540

Volume 18, Issue No. 4, Jul 2021, Pages 1207 - 1211 (5)

Published by: Ignited Minds Journals


ABSTRACT

Man relied on the therapeutic effects of medicinal plants before the development of modern medications. Some people place a high value on these plants because of an old myth that claims plants were designed to give humans food, medicine, and other benefits. The World Health Organization estimates that about 80 of the 5.2 billion people in the world live in less developed nations and that among them, traditional medicine accounts for almost all of their primary healthcare requirements. More than 3.3 billion people in the less developed countries regularly use medicinal plants because they are the backbone of traditional medicine. Finding the significance of herbal plants with is the main goal of the current study.

KEYWORD

herbal plant, medicinal values, therapeutic effects, traditional medicine, primary healthcare, less developed nations, World Health Organization, medicinal plants, modern medications, myth

INTRODUCTION

According to information now available, more than 75 percent of the world's population depends mostly on plants and plant extracts for their medical requirements. More than 30% of all plant species have been used medicinally at some point. According to estimates, plant-based medications account for up to 25% of all pharmaceuticals used in industrialised nations like the United States, while they account for up to 80% of all drugs consumed in rapidly growing nations like India and China. As a result, nations like India place a considerably greater value on medicinal plants economically than the rest of the globe. The health care system for the rural population depends on indigenous systems of medicine, and these nations contribute two thirds of the plants utilised in contemporary medicine. The use of medicinal herbs is seen to be quite safe since there are seldom any negative side effects. The major benefit is that these treatments work in harmony with nature. The usage of herbal remedies may benefit people of all ages and genders, which is a key fact. The ancient academics simply thought that plants were treatments for many illnesses and health issues. To get to precise conclusions on the effectiveness of various plants with therapeutic potential, they carried out detailed research on the subject and tested. The majority of the medications created in this way don't have any negative effects or responses. This is the reason why herbal medicine is becoming more and more well-liked worldwide. These medicinal plants provide logical solutions for the treatment of several interior disorders that are otherwise thought to be challenging to cure. Aloe, Tulsi, Neem, Turmeric, and Ginger are examples of medicinal plants that treat a variety of common illnesses. In many regions of the nation, they are regarded as natural treatments. It is a well-known fact that many customers use basil (also known as tulsi) in their daily lives for pooja, preparing medications, black tea, and other activities. Many different plants are used across the globe to honour rulers, serving as a lucky charm. Many patients began planting tulsi and other medicinal plants in their backyard gardens as a result of discovering the use of herbs in healing. The traditional medicine practitioners provide extremely powerful recipes for treating common illnesses including diarrhoea, constipation, hypertension, low sperm count, dysentery, weak penile erection, piles, coated tongue, menstrual problems, bronchial asthma, leucorrhoea, and fevers. Although the use of herbal medicine has significantly increased over the last 20 years, there is still a dearth of research data in this area. As a result, three volumes of WHO monographs on specific medicinal plants have been released since 1999.

HERBAL PLANT

The phrase "medicinal plant" refers to several different plant species utilised in herbalism The Latin word "herba" and the ancient French word "herbe" are the origins of the term "herb." Today, the term "herb" is used to describe any component of the plant, including the fruit, seed, stem, bark, flower, leaf, stigma, or root of a non-woody plant. Before, only non-woody plants, such as those that derive from trees and bushes, were referred to as "herbs." These healing plants are also used in certain types of spiritual practises, as well as in food, flavonoids, medication, and perfume. According to recent estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO), 80% of people worldwide depend on herbal remedies for some part of their basic medical requirements. Around 21,000 plant species have the potential to be utilised as medical plants, according to the WHO.

HERBAL MEDICINE

Life, illness, and plants have all been interconnected ever since the dawn of civilization. Men of the Stone Age began researching illnesses and remedies1. There is no evidence that individuals in the past sought out synthetic medications for their ailments; instead, they tried to make do with what they could easily get. The animals and saplings in the area served as their surroundings' most basic clothing sources. They started utilising plants and discovered that the majority of them could be used as food, while others were either toxic or beneficial as medicines. By virtue of their expertise, this family medical knowledge of herbal treatments was passed down down the generations. As a result, the history of herbal medicine predates that of humans. Despite the enormous advancements in synthetic chemistry, the majority of these plant-derived medications were first discovered via the study of traditional treatments and indigenous peoples' folklore. Some of them could not be replaced. Consequently, it is possible to think of plants as a primary source of medications, not only as separated active principles that may be administered in standardised dose form but also as unprocessed pharmaceuticals for the general populace. In sectors of health care programmes in numerous developing nations, including India4, modern medications and herbal medicines are utilised in conjunction. All societies throughout history have used herbs, but India has one of the oldest, most fruitful, and diversified cultural living traditions related to the use of medicinal plants. The demand for herbal goods is rapidly skyrocketing over the world, and big pharmaceutical corporations are actively researching various plant components for their potential medical benefit. However, the traditional usage of unrefined medications has often been based on observation from clinical studies without any scientific backing. It is Plants have long played a significant role in the treatment of illnesses in both humans and animals. The usage of medicinal and aromatic herbs is becoming more popular on a global scale. Despite the considerable advancements in contemporary medical specialities seen in recent decades, plants continue to contribute significantly to healthcare8. Our best source of medications has always been natural ingredients. Every plant is like a factory that can combine an endless number of very difficult and unusual chemical compounds. Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and homoeopathy are some of the legally recognised alternative health care systems that are provided in India for extremely long, safe, and continuous consumption of various herbal medications. These techniques have coexisted with allopathy decently for some time and are not "in the region of obscurity". Spices, home cures, health foods, over-the-counter (OTC) medications for self-medication, and prescriptions for non-allopathic systems often include herbal ingredients. More than 80% of therapeutic ingredients are derived from or inspired by natural compounds thanks to the development of high-throughput screening and the post-genomic era. More than 100 pharmaceuticals derived from natural inventions are now undergoing clinical trials, and another 100 related initiatives are in the preclinical research stage. A wide range of plants used in conventional medicine are now included in the current health overhaul system, either as a whole or as a component of a plant-based product14. Natural substances that were extracted from higher plants and used as therapeutic medicines are still in use today. Digoxin comes from Digitalis leaves, morphine and codeine from the latex of Cinchona, atropine and hyoscine from plants in the Solanaceae family, and others are still used in therapeutic settings.

IMPORTANCE OF SOME HERBS WITH THEIR MEDICINAL VALUES

  • Wounds, sores, and boils may be treated using herbs including black pepper, cinnamon, myrrh, aloe, sandalwood, ginseng, red clover, burdock, bayberry, and safflower.

 Some significant medicinal herbs that may be grown in kitchen gardens are basil, fennel, chives, cilantro, apple mint, thyme, golden oregano, variegated lemon balm, rosemary, and variegated sage. These herbs are simple to cultivate, beautiful,

  • By removing the metabolic poisons, several herbs are employed as blood purifiers to modify or improve a chronic illness. These are sometimes referred to as "blood cleaners." A person's immunity is increased by certain herbs, which lessens illnesses like fever.
  • Some plants also possess antibacterial qualities. The development of bacteria, dangerous organisms, and germs may be inhibited by turmeric. A popular home treatment for cuts and wounds is turmeric.
  • Traditional Indian medicine practitioners advise using antipyretic herbs like chirayta, black pepper, sandalwood, and safflower to suppress fever and the creation of heat brought on by the disease.
  • In addition to being scented, cinnamon and sandalwood work well as astringents. In particular, sandalwood is used to stop the outflow of blood, mucous, etc.
  • Some herbs are used to balance the stomach's acid production. herbs like the root and leaves of the marshmallow. Antacids are what they do. Such herbs preserve the healthy stomach acid required for successful digestion.
  • Indian sages were said to possess plant-based cures that counteract animal poisons and snake stings.
  • The savoury properties of herbs like cardamom and coriander are well known. The flavour of the cuisine is improved by the use of other fragrant herbs like peppermint, cloves, and turmeric.
  • Many plants, including aloe, sandalwood, turmeric, sheetraj hindi, and khare khasak, have a high level of medical value and are often used as antiseptics.
  • Certain cough syrups include ginger and cloves. They are well-known for having expectorant properties that encourage the thinning and ejection of mucus from the lungs, trachea, and bronchi. Cloves, wild cherry, cardamom, and eucalyptus are further expectorants.
  • Herbs that assist to promote healthy blood circulation include chamomile, calemus, ajwain, basil, cardamom, chrysanthemum, coriander, fennel, peppermint, and spearmint, as well as cinnamon, ginger, and turmeric.
  • Some medicinal plants have disinfection properties that kill disease-causing microorganisms. Additionally, they prevent the spread of dangerous bacteria that cause contagious illnesses.
  • Practitioners of herbal medicine often advise calming plants because they have a calming impact on the body. They're often used as sedatives.
  • A few fragrant herbs, like Chirayata, Aloe, Golden seal, and Barberry, are utilised as gentle tonics. These plants' bitter flavour helps to lower blood toxin levels. They also aid in the eradication of infection.
  • A broad range of plants, including Giloe, Golden seal, Aloe, and Barberry are used as tonics.
  • Some herbs, such as Cayenne (Lal Mirch, Myrrh, Camphor, and Guggul, are used as stimulants to boost the activity of a system or an organ. They may also be nourishing and revive both healthy and sick people.
  • An open wound or new cut may be efficiently treated with honey, turmeric, marshmallow, and licorice. They are known as vulneraries.

HISTORY OF USE OF TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINES

Traditional uses of herbal remedies by definition imply extensive historical use, and this is undoubtedly true for many products marketed as "traditional herbal remedies." A sizable portion of the populace in many developing nations relies on traditional healers and their arsenal of medicinal plants to meet their healthcare needs. The use of herbal medicines has frequently remained popular due to historical and cultural factors, even though modern medicine coexists with such traditional practices. Commercially, these products are now more widely accessible, particularly in developed nations. In this contemporary environment, ingredients are occasionally marketed for applications that were never thought of in the conventional healing systems from which they originated. Use of ephedra (also known as Ma huang) for weight loss or improving athletic performance is one example. While there are some nations where strict manufacturing regulations apply to herbal medicines, this is not true everywhere. For instance, in Germany, where herbal products are marketed as "phytomedicines," they must meet the same standards for quality, efficacy, and safety as pharmaceuticals. Contrarily, the majority of herbal products sold in the USA are classified and

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY

Ethnopharmacology, a term coined in 1967, refers to the study of alternative medicines, such as those made from plants. For the most part, the term "meditation of ancient medicines" (also known as "ethnopharmacology") is identical with the study of traditional medicines from throughout the world. Atropine (Atropa belladonna), caffeine (Coffea arabica, Thea sinensis), digoxin (Digitalis purpurea), ephedrine (many species of Ephedra), ergometrine (Claviceps purpurea), pilocarpine (Pilocarpus jaborandi), reserpine (Rauwolfia serpentina), etc. were all isolated from plants.

A RESEARCH APPROACH TO DEVELOP PRODUCTS USING ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY

There are a few stages involved in the unveiling of herbal remedies. First, it must be claimed that a naturally occurring substance is being used for therapeutic purposes. There must be scientific recognition and characterization of the item if there is any indication of a curative effect. Afterward, it may be formulated for pilot tests, followed by biological research including the separation and structural identification of any molecules that may be acceptable for some bioactivity. Typically, the active chemicals are discovered after the extract has through many cycles of fractional processing, with accompanying testing for the efficacy of each fraction, culminating in the isolation of pure molecules from the active fractions. Once the molecular structure is known, the next step in developing a therapeutically viable product is to identify active molecules that show promise. In this article, we define reverse pharmacology as the study of turning "hits" from clinical or experiential research into "leads" for further experimental and clinical investigation. Finding structures that have interesting biodynamic effects may also pave the way for new chemical entities in the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of Reverse Pharmacology is to maximise the safety, efficacy, and acceptability of the leads in natural products by elucidating the underlying mechanisms of action across several levels of biological organization. The study of medicinal plants may be broken down into two categories. However, in the second stage, a more wide basis is employed, and the screening of a large number of natural products for biological activity is initiated, regardless of the scenario of whether or not these plants are being used by the conventional system of medicine. Herbal medications include a wide range of plant-based resources, from raw herbs to complex extracts and tinctures. Leaves, flowers, fruit, seeds, stalks, wood, bark, roots, rhizomes, and other unprocessed plant components, in whole or ground-up form, are all considered herbs. Fresh juices, gums, fixed oils, essential oils, resins, and dry powders of plants are may be used to prepare these ingredients in a number of different nations. Herbal preparations, from which final herbal products are derived, might include powdered herbal ingredients as well as extracts, tinctures, and fatty oils of herbal materials. They originate from chemical, physical, or biological processes such as extraction, fractionation, purification, or concentration. Herbal infusions are also included, as are honey and alcohol-based concoctions that include herbal components. Preparations of one or more herbs that have been dried, powdered, or otherwise concentrated and packaged as a finished herbal product. The phrase "mixed herbal product" may be used interchangeably with "multi-herb product" when there is usage of more than one herb. Herbal mixtures and finished herbal products may include excipients in addition to active ingredients.

TLC

To separate compounds, thin-layer chromatography is among the most common and low-cost chromatographic methods. Thermo-Liquid Chromatography is widely used in the phytochemical evaluation of herbal medicines because... 1. It allows for minimal sample size analysis of herbal extracts to be completed quickly. 2. This method provides both qualitative and semiquantitative data on the resolved compounds. 3. It makes it easier to quantify substances. The chromatogram, Rf values, band colours, absorption spectra, and max of all resolved bands are all pieces of information that may be captured by a high-performance TLC (HPTLC) scanner for use in TLC fingerprinting. These, together with the profiles obtained after derivatization with various chemicals, constitute the sample's TLC fingerprint. The information obtained in this way may be used to identify a genuine medication, to screen out adulterants, and to preserve the medicine's original composition and consistency. Chromatograms, retention times of distinct peaks, and absorption spectra with various mobile phases are all recorded during HPLC fingerprinting. Like volatile oils, fixed oils found in herbal medicines may also be fingerprinted using GLC. Hybrid chromatography and spectrometry techniques, including High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Diode Array Detection (HPLC-DAD), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS), Capillary Electrophoresis- Diode Array Detection (CE-DAD), High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (HPLC-MS), and High-Performance.

HPTLC for process development, recognition and detection of adulterants in herbal product, and support in identification of pesticide content, mycotoxins, and quality control of herbaceous plants and health foods. Using a smaller amount of mobile phase than in HPLC allows for multiple samples to run simultaneously, as has been carefully designated. The use of HPTLC with mobile phases of pH 8 and higher has been reported. The chromatogram may be seen several times under the same or different circumstances, which is another benefit of HPTLC. Thus, HPTLC has been investigated for multi-component formulation that requires simultaneous assay of multiple components. This method may also be used for the verification of different plant species.

HPLC

Both preparative and analytical HPLC find widespread use in the pharmaceutical business for the purpose of separating and purifying herbal components. Low pressure HPLC (usually under 5 bars) and high pressure HPLC (pressure >20 bar) are the two main categories of preparative HPLC. With analytical HPLC, resolution, sensitivity, and quick analysis time are crucial; in preparative HPLC, on the other hand, what really matters is not only how much chemical can be made per unit of time, i.e. throughput or recovery, but how pure the solute is. Greater stainless steel column and packing material (particle size 10-30 m) sizes are needed for preparative HPLC (pressure >20 bar). Chromasil C18 and Chromasil C8 are examples of reverse phase silica columns, whereas Kromasil 10 m and Kromasil 16 m are examples of normal phase silica columns. In analytical work, information about the sample is sought, but in separation and purification processes, the chemicals themselves are the focus. It's crucial in the modern pharmaceutical business to get new drugs (both natural and synthetic) to market as soon as feasible once they've been developed. This fantastic purification method allows for expedited synthesis conditions.

CONCLUSION

It is clear that even if the plant's other characteristics are widely known, its ability to treat diabetes is yet undiscovered and completely unknown outside of the local area. As a result, Roylea cinerea was chosen for the current inquiry so that it could be further explored. This was done in an effort to popularise and nurture this plant in the future.

REFERENCES

1. Azwanida, N. (2015). A Review on the Extraction Methods Use in Medicinal Plants, Principle, Strength and Limitation. Med Aromat Plants, 4, 196. 3. Batra, P., & Sharma, K. (2013). Anti-cancer potential of flavonoids: recent trends and future perspectives. 3 Biotech, 3 (6), 439-459. 4. Berka-Zougali, B., Ferhat, M. A., Hassani, A., Chemat, F., & Allaf, S. (2012). Comparative study of essential oils extracted from Algerian myrtus communis L. leaves using microwaves and hydrodistillation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 13 (4), 4673–4695. 5. Dhalwal K, Sindhe VM, Biradar YS, Mahadik KR, 2008, Simultaneous quantification of bergenin, catechine, and gallic acid from Bergenia ciliate and Bergenia lingulata by using thin-layer chromatography, J. Food. Comp. Anal, 21, 496-500. 6. Kuntal, D. A. S., Raman, D. A. N. G., Sivaraman, G., & Ellath, R. P. (2018). Phytochemical screening for various secondary metabolites, antioxidant, and anthelmintic activity of Coscinium fenestratum fruit pulp: A new biosource for novel drug discovery. Turkish Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 15(2), 156. 7. Shankar, S., & Aravind, S. (2015). Tradition to therapeutics: Sacrificial medicinal grasses Desmostachya bipinnata and Imperata cylindrica of India, 14 (3), 156–170. 8. Tiwari, P., Mishra, B. N., & Sangwan, N. S. (2014). Phytochemical and pharmacological properties of Gymnema sylvestre: an important medicinal plant. BioMed research international, 2014. 9. Vyas BA (2010) Phytopharmacological action of Pergularia daemia with special reference to its actions and mechanism of action as diuretic and antiinflammatory agent. Ph.D thesis. Veer Narmad South Gujarat University 10. Yerlekar, A., & Dudhe, P. (2014). A Review on Study and Comparison between 2D Gel Electrophoresis and Mass Spectrometry. Iosrjournals.org, 16 (2), 97–104.

Corresponding Author Dinesh Kumar Yadav*

Research Scholar, OPJS University