Study of Plant Extracts for their Immunomodulatory Activity

Abstract

Ayurveda is known to be the most prehistoric and first medical system of medicine. It is newlineevident from literature that herbal plants, traditional knowledge of medicinal system and the healing procedures of ancient Ayurvedic techniques are more efficient as compared to newlinemodern conventional medicine techniques. An array of plant-derived materials such as newlinetannins and saponins, proteins, peptides such as cytokines and chemokines, lipopolysaccharides, glycoproteins, and lipid derivatives, sterols and sterolins, lectins, newlinephenolics, flavonoids, polysaccharides have been reported to modulate the immune system, newlinebesides compounds such as yohimbine, cannabinoids, muscarine, forskolin, colchicine and phorbol esters obtained from plants, are important tools used in pharmacological, physiological and biochemical studies. The natural immune modulators act to strengthen the weak immune systems and to moderate the immune systems that are overactive. They have lucratively been used so far for the treatment of complicated situations of benign and newlinemalignant tumors, thyroid diseases, allergies, poly-arthritis, antibiotic-resistant infections, psoriasis and other pathologies. In the present study the four different plants, Dillenia indica Linn., Diospyros embryopteris Pers., Veteveria zizanioides Linn. and Bombax ceiba Linn. were selected for pharmacognostic, phytochemical investigation, antioxidant screening of immunomodulatory activity. newlineIn the phytochemical and pharmacognostic study macroscopic analysis, microscopic analysis, physicochemical analysis, preliminary phytochemical analysis for determination of different bioactive compounds, thin layer chromatography (TLC), high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC analysis), estimation of total phenols, estimation of total flavonoids newlinewere carried out. The shade dried leaves were subjected to alcoholic extraction by hot percolation method using soxhlet apparatus.