Pharmacognostical Phytochemical and Biological studies on Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Plant based drugs have been used worldwide in traditional medicine for the treatment of various diseases. The deterioration of human population due to the enhanced prevalence of infectious diseases is becoming a worldwide problem. Over the last few years, tuberculosis is one of the major challenging health problems around the world. Cancer is the second leading cause of death Worldwide. Medicinal plants maintain the health and vitality of individual and also cure various diseases including tuberculosis, cancer and various infectious diseases without causing toxicity. There is urgent need to combine natural and modern system of medicine to develop new drugs to improve the health care system of mankind. The arial parts Ammania baccifera L. (Family: Lythraceae) and Melothria maderaspatana (L) cogn (Family:Cucurbitaceae) and roots of Azima tetracantha Lam (Family : Salvadoraceac) were selected for the study. This is the first report of Pharmacognostical studies on the aerial parts of A.baccifera L. and M.maderaspatana and roots of A.tetracantha. The plant is sold in the Ayurveda raw material wholesaler in the form of small fragments, mostly in dry condition. The exomorphic features of the plant with the flowers and fruits are not usually available in the crude drug. So anatomical features of the aerial part and root to be sought for establishing the genuineness of the drugs. Ammania baccifera L. (lythraceae), Azima tetracantha Lam. and Melothria maderasapatana (L.) Cogn (Mukia maderasapatana (L.) Roem; Cucurbitaceae) were subjected to comprehensive analysis of external features as well as microscopic structure. The results of antimicrobial studies show promising effects for the extracts tested against various Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial and fungal strains. Based on the results obtained and observations we can infer that the three plants viz., A.baccifera L., Mmaderaspatana and A.tetracantha could be used for infectious diseases (anti tubercular, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal organisms) and cancer.