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Surendra Katikala*, K.V. Rajasri, CH. Vijaya Lakshmi
Swathi College of Pharmacy, Next to Nellore Toll Plaza, Venkatachalam Mandal, Nellore, A.P-524320
A B S T R A C T
The traditional use of medicinal plants can lead to the discovery of new potent botanical agents in the treatment of several diseases. spite of the development of pharmacological agents for the treatment of chronic diseases, the use of medicinal plants continues to flourish. Over the last century, the drastic changes of human life style and eating habits lead to the emergence of various chronic diseases. The decreasing efficacy of some synthetic drugs and the increasing contraindications of their usage make the usage of natural drugs topical again. Herbs and plants can be processed and can be taken in different ways and forms, and they include the whole herb, teas, syrup, essential oils, ointments, salves, rubs, capsules, and tablets that contain a ground or powdered form of a raw herb or its dried extract. Plants and herbs extract vary in the solvent used for extraction, temperature, and extraction time, and include alcoholic extracts (tinctures), vinegars (acetic acid extracts), hot water extract (tisanes), long-term boiled extract, usually roots or bark (decoctions), and cold infusion of plants (macerates). There is no standardization, and components of an herbal extract or a product are likely to vary significantly between batches and producers. Plants are rich in a variety of compounds. Many are secondary metabolites and include aromatic substances, most of which are phenols or their oxygen-substituted derivatives such as tannins. Many of these compounds have antioxidant properties. Ethnobotanicals are important for pharmacological research and drug development, not only when plant constituents are used directly as therapeutic agents, but also as starting materials for the synthesis of drugs or as models for pharmacologically active compounds. With tremendous expansion in the interest in and use of traditional medicines worldwide, two main areas of concern arise that bring major challenges. These are international diversity and national policies regarding the regulation of the production and use of herbs (and other complementary medicines) and their quality, safety, and scientific evidence in relation to health claims.
Keywords: Medicinal plants, therapeutic agents, secondary metabolites, Ethnobotanicals, Herbs and plants.
