Natural Products Journal, The - Volume 5, Issue 4, 2015

The plants of Salacia genus (Celastraceae) have distribution in tropical areas, especially in regions of Asia as in India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia, and in South America, as in Brazil. Around the world, about 120 species are known. Salacia`s species are known to elaborate secondary metabolites like anthocyanidines, catechins, phenolic acids, quinones, friedo-oleanones, quinonemethide and related triterpenoids (celastroloids). Biological activities have been reported for crude extracts, fractions and isolated compounds, which are mainly antidiabetic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. This review aims to identify key species, their chemical components, and the reported bioactivity as a guide to future research about this genus.

Agricultural production is constrained by insect pests, which cause serious post-harvest losses of up to 43% in developing countries. Maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky.) is one of the most destructive pests of maize. Synthetic chemicals have been used to protect stored grain from damage by insects. The increasing knowledge about the harm derived from the indiscriminate use of synthetic insecticides has prompted research aimed at finding safe methods of pest control. Efficacy of extractives and isolates from Warburgia ugandensis (Canellaceae) were evaluated for maize grain protection against S. zeamais. The oil extract was the most repellent (P<0.05) with repellence distance of 6.37 within 2-hour exposure duration followed by n-hexane extract (6.20 cm). The most repellent compounds were mukaadial (6) and polygodial (1) (5.43 and 4.83 cm, respectively). Essential oil was the most toxic (P<0.05) to the weevils and showed 100% mortality at 21 days. The toxicity levels of the organic extracts ranged from 18.3 to 78.0% with n-hexane exhibiting the highest toxicity followed by ethyl acetate extract. Polygodial (1) and warburganal (2) were the most toxic compounds (70.0 and 65.0% respectively). The oil extract was as active as the Actellic dust and completely inhibited the emergence of the insect adults. Polygodial (1), ugandensolide (3) and warbuganal (2) had the best growth inhibition activity. The results from the present study indicate that W. ugandensis could be a useful alternative in stored grain protection against maize weevil and the isolated compounds could be good candidates as phytoinsecticidal agents against insect pests.

There is much diversity in the peppers in the genus Capsicum. They are considered to be good sources of vitamins C and E, as well as phenolic compounds. The present study evaluated the concentrations of total phenolics in 19 different cultivars from five species of peppers. The highest concentration was in the malaguetas (C. frutescens) with 2.54 mg gallic acid equivalents per 100g (mg GAE 100 g-1), followed by the biquinho (C. chinense) with 1.74 GAE 100 g-1 and the bhut jolokia (C. chinense) with 1.24 mg GAE 100 g-1. The lowest concentration was found in Americana (C. annuum) and cambuci verdi (C. chinense), each of which had 0.10 mg GAE 100 g-1.

Objective: A rapid, simple, and reliable method, flow-injection mass spectrometric (FIMS) fingerprinting method, was developed to discriminate between the two major Echinacea species (E. purpurea and E. angustifolia) samples and the aerial and root portions of E. purpurea. Methods: Fifty-eight Echinacea samples collected from United States were analyzed using FIMS. Principle component analysis (PCA) and soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) were used to process the FIMS data. Key Findings: The results showed that the FIMS fingerprinting technique (1 min per sample) successfully discriminated between the two Echinacea species and aerial and root plant components. The FIMS method also identified cichoric acid, caftaric acid, echinacoside, and some sugars as the components contributing most significantly in differentiating the two Echinacea species as well as the aerial and root parts.

Traditional herbal medicinal products (THMPs) have served as a source of medicines as well as disease-preventive products; consequently, they became the major source of molecular medicines. Roughly 65% of the drugs in the current arsenal are based on natural products or derived from natural products. THMPs are regaining immense popularity in maintaining discovery of new drugs to cope with the challenges of sustaining drug efficacies and countering the emergence of drug resistance. Natural products are the main source for novel skeletons and drug candidate leads. Terminalia chebula, a plant habitant of sub- Himalaya region, is effectively being used against several diseases with no major reported side effects. Our Sci-Finder (CAS) literature search has shown ~2000 research reports on this single specie and ~74 THMPs based on T. chebula alone or in combination with other medicinal herbs. This review provides relevant knowledge covering these 74 THMPs derived from this miraculous cure, i.e. T. chebula and its major nature engineered bioactive chemical constituents. This is expected to make a meaningful contribution, especially: 1) Standardization, dosage and safety studies of these 74 THMPs of T. chebula; 2) its promising role in discovery of new, effective, novel and safer molecular drugs. T. chebula is a rich source of a variety of novel natural products, especially, its abundance in a wide range of tannins could be very important in modulating several biological disorders. T. chebula-derived THMPs are economical and are vastly being used throughout the world. It is important that their use, efficacy and side effects should be studied and documented properly to enhance the efficacy and reduce the adverse effects.

Lavandula angustifolia is a well known herbal medicinal plant with a variety of useful properties, cultivated in the hill area of Uttarakhand was found to have 0.55 % essential oil on dry weight basis analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Thirty four constituents, representing 96.41% of the oil were identified. The higher percentage of major components is linalyl acetate (39.10%), linalool (29.7%), α- terpineol (4.35%), and trans caryophyllene (3.76%). The quality of lavender oil produced in Garhwal Himalayan region can be compared with other parts of the globe which indicates its international quantity.

Dietary intake and incidence of cancer are correlated, which suggests that modification of food habits can be of great benefit for cancer prevention and cure. Fruits and vegetables are rich sources of anticancer agents such as antioxidants and antimutagens and with the advent of vinca alkaloids, the search for novel anticancer compounds from plants has seen a rapid growth. The leaves, seed pods and flowers of the plants of the genus Sesbania belonging to the family Leguminosae, are used as cuisine and traditional medicine in many parts of the world and have potential roles in improving animal nutrition. Sesbania is oftquoted to have a blend of antitumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimutagenic and chemopreventive properties. These diverse pharmacological properties can be attributed to the presence of several active metabolites and pharmacologically active compounds. Research from various groups have shown the pharmacological safety of different parts of various Sesbania species, both in vitro and in vivo, endorsing the need of instant clinical trials to validate their anticancer potential. Most of the information regarding antitumor activity of this genus is on Sesbania grandiflora which demands more deep-rooted studies on this species. This review highlights the importance of the genus Sesbania, indicating the need of including it as a major dietary component and as a target genus that has to be excavated further for identifying novel molecules, which can prevent and cure cancer.

The present research encompasses the formulation and evaluation of pyrilamine maleate fast dissolving tablets (FDTs) by employing Salvia hispanica (Chia) mucilage as natural disintegrants. To evaluate the performance of Salvia hispanica mucilage as natural disintegrants, comparative studies with synthetic superdisintegrant such as croscarmellose sodium were carried out. The Salvia hispanica mucilage was extracted from chia seeds. FDTs of pyrilamine maleate were prepared by direct compression method on Rimek Mini Press-I using mannitol as directly compressible vehicle employing along with 2, 5, and 10% of natural and synthetic disintegrants. The results indicate that formulation SMF3 containing 10 % Salvia hispanica mucilage provides faster disintegration with sufficient hardness which can be simulated comparatively with performance of formulation CCF5 containing 5% of croscarmellose sodium. Results revealed that formulation SMF3 FDTs showed disintegration time of 45 sec and hardness 3.8 kg/cm2 as compared to the formulation CCF5 having disintegration time of 53sec and hardness 3.6kg/cm2 respectively. In general FDTs of Salvia hispanica (Chia) mucilage provide better hardness as compared with FDTs made from croscarmellose sodium. Drug excipient compatibility and short term stability studies for optimized SMF3 formulation reveal that Salvia hispanica mucilage are compatible with drug and form a stable formulation. The synergy of natural and disintegrating effect of Salvia hispanica (Chia) mucilage can be employed as an alternative over the synthetic superdisintegrant for the development and optimization of pyrilamine maleate fast dissolving tablets (FDTs) for superlative management of antihistaminic therapy and explored as a potential natural pharmaceutical excipient for commercialization.