Isolation and Biological Evaluation of Selected Bioflavonoids from Medicinal Plants against Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease in Rats

Abstract

Nature has been a source of medicinal agents for thousands of years and an impressive number of modern drugs have been isolated from natural sources, many based on their use in traditional medicine. Out of 2,97,000-5,10,000 plant species distributed throughout the world, 35,000-70,000 plants have medicinal properties. The estimated number of medicinal plants used worldwide includes 10,000-11,250 in China, 7,500 in India, 2,237 in Mexico and 2,572 in North America. In India, a remarkable achievement has been made in the field of drug development to develop a new leads of therapeutic interest. Whereas, Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, India has developed some plant-based drugs based on the indigenous information from the Traditional Medicines such as Arteether, Guggulipid, Memory Plus and ProMind. newlinePlants have developed numerous antioxidant defense systems and also provide various kinds of medicines, besides supplying food, for the prevention and treatment of diseases. In addition to many essential nutritional components, plants contain phenolic substances. The biological potency of plant phenolics was found empirically already by our ancestors; phenolics are not only unsavoury or poisonous, but also of possible pharmacological value. newlineFlavonoids have long been recognised to possess antioxidant, antiallergenic, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antiproliferative activities. It is important to realize that the polyphenols that are the most common in the human diet are not necessarily the most active within the body, either because they have a lower intrinsic activity or because they are poorly absorbed from the intestine. The aglycones can be absorbed from the small intestine and other polyphenols in food presented in the form of esters, glycosides, or polymers, cannot be absorbed in their native form. These substances must be hydrolyzed before they can be absorbed. newlineGastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a condition in which the stomach contents (food or acid) flow upward into