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1.introduction Pushpo
1.introduction Pushpo
1.introduction Pushpo
Chapter1: Introduction
1.1: Introduction
Biologically active compounds present in the medicinal plants have always been of
great interest to scientists. Phytochemical and pharmacological investigations of
plants is a huge potential research area where a lot of efforts are made and inputs are
yet to be discovered completely to make it a more affordable option for human
ailment. The phytochemical profiles of herbal remedies can provide hints for
designing, screening and developing novel multi target therapeutics. Nearly 80% of
the world’s population relies on traditional medicines for primary health care. Plants
can produce different kind of secondary metabolites also known as natural products as
they elicit effects on other organisms. For this reason the use of plant derived
medicine is increasing day by day.
As per data available over three-quarters of the world population relies mainly on
plants and plant extracts for their health care needs. More than 30% of the entire plant
species, at one time or other was used for medicinal purposes. It has been estimated,
that in developed countries such as United states, plant drugs constitutes as much as
25% of the total drugs, whiles in fast developing countries such as India and China the
contribution is as much as 80% [3].
methods have been utilized to acquire compounds for drug discovery, including
isolation from plants and other natural sources, synthetic chemistry, combinatorial
chemistry and molecular modeling[6)Different approaches to drug discovery from
plants can be enumerated as: random selection followed by chemical screening,
random selection followed by one or more biological assays, follow-up of biological
activity reports, follow-up of ethnomedical (traditional medicine) use of plants, use of
appropriate plant parts as such in powdered form or preparation of
enriched/standardized extracts (herbal product development), use of a plant product,
biologically potent but beset with other issues, as a lead for further chemistry, and
single new compounds as drugs.
Medicinal plants have been used extensively by a large proportion of the world for
their health care and remedy of diseases during the 2000 years and these data have
revealed a high degree of correlation between traditional medicinal plants uses and
laboratory analysis(7)
In the United States over the period 1999 to 2012, despite several hundred
applications for new drug status, only two botanical drug candidates had sufficient
evidence of medicinal value to be approved by the Food and Drug
Administration[8)Medicinal plants are widely used in non- industrialized societies,
mainly because they are readily available and cheaper than modern medicines [9)The
annual global export value of 50,000 to 70,000 plants with suspected medicinal
properties was estimated to be US$2.2 billion in 2012 and in2017, the potential global
market for botanical extracts and medicines was estimated at several hundred billion
dollars(10)
The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew estimated in 2016 that 17,810 plant species have a
medicinal use, out of some30000 plants for which a use of any kind is documented [11).
By 2007, clinical trials had demonstrated potentially useful activity in nearly 16% of
herbal medicines; there was limited in vitro or in vivo evidence for roughly half the
medicines; there was only phytochemical evidence for around 20%; 0.5% were
allergenic or toxic; and some 12% had basically never been studied scientifically[12)
There is resurgence in the use of herbal medicines globally; hence, implying increased
efforts in evaluating these medicinal plants to establish their safety and efficacy [13)
Extensive phytochemical investigation and isolation of the active components in the
pure form thus become necessary to avoid untoward effects and to ensure safe use of
herbal medicines. Infectious diseases still represent an important cause of morbidity
[14)
and mortality among humans, especially in developing countries Even though
pharmacological industries have produced a number of new antibiotics in the last
three decades, resistance to these drugs by microorganisms has increased [15). Whereas
there are some advantages of using antimicrobial compounds of medicinal plants,
such as often fewer side effects, better patient tolerance, relatively less expensive,
[16)
acceptance due to long history of use and being renewable in nature .Medicinal
plants offer a number of bioactive compounds which may be good candidates for
further future drug development as- they can provide a good lead compound.
Outbreak of newer diseases and development of resistance are forcing the scientists to
widen this research. According to a recent research, scientists said that, we need at
least ten new medicines in each decade due to bacterial resistance.
These can provide a good lead compound and drug discovery can be stemmed
in large proportion from the diverse structures.
Ethnopharmacological Investigation of Grewia nervosa(Malvaceae) Page 5
Chapter1: Introduction
Since secondary metabolites from natural sources have been elaborated within
living systems, they are often perceived as showing more “drug-likeness and
[17)
biologic friendliness than totally synthetic molecules,” making them good
candidates for further drug development.
A recent analysis by Fabricant and Farnsworth (2001) showed that the use of 80%
of 122 plant-derived drugs was related to their original ethno-pharmacological
purposes. In fact as this form of therapeutic practice passes on verbally from
generation to generation, proper record and documentations are not found in most
cases. So experiment should be carried out to identify bioactive compounds
responsible for pharmacological activity and new therapeutic value of these plants
other than the ethno-pharmacological use and work should be carried out for
proper documentation as well. Moreover, assessment of these phytomedicines is
also important including quality, stability, safety and efficacy which should also
be conducted in proper way after isolation of bioactive compound.
This observation has driven the interest of the present research work towards
evaluation of phytochemical and pharmacological profile of an important
medicinal plant of Bangladesh “Grewia nervosa(Family-Malvaceae), locally
known as “Kathgua or Fattashi”.
Bangladesh has been gifted with a rich plant diversity base because of its
heterogeneous ecologic condition such as fertile alluvial land, warm and humid
climate. There are about 6000 species of indigenous and naturalized plants growing in
the country. More than 1000 of these plants species in Bangladesh contain
Ethnopharmacological Investigation of Grewia nervosa(Malvaceae) Page 6
Chapter1: Introduction
As a developing country, herbal remedies contribute mostly in the health care system.
Homeopathy, Ayurveda and Unani systems are practiced in Bangladesh from long
time ago. Unani and Ayurvedic systems of medicine were officially recognized by the
Government of Bangladesh immediately after independence and at the same time a
Board of Unani and Ayurvedic systems of medicine was constituted. After the
introduction of a National Drug Policy in 1982, Unani and Ayurvedic drugs have been
brought under the control of the Drugs Administration Department of the Ministry of
Health and Family Welfare by legislation to control and regulate the commercial
manufacturing and marketing of quality Unani and Ayurvedic drugs. The Government
is also planning to incorporate traditional medicine in Primary Health Care (PHC)
activities. In order to achieve the goal of providing basic health needs to maximum of
the rural people in the shortest possible time with minimum expenditure, the
Government is planning to bring traditional medicine into the mainstream of the
organized public health services and health care delivery programs of the country
(19).
Medicinal plants can also contribute significantly to the country’s economy. In the
mean time, a large number of industries (400 herbal factories) have been established
in the country for producing Ayurvedic & Unani medicines. It has been estimated that
Bangladesh has a market of about 300 core taka worth herbal product annually. A
recent study on Medicinal Plants Marketing in Bangladesh sponsored by SEDF &
Interco operation (IC) conducted in October 2003, reviewed the current status &
estimated the quantity & value of medicinal plants used as raw materials both in
organized sector (large companies, small companies),unorganized sector (herbal
doctors/practitioners) & spent annually on approximately 17500 tones medicinal
plants materials accounting approximately Tk.81 Cr. Currently , the export of
medicinal plant is in a rising state. United Arab Emirates is the top export market for
Bangladesh followed by Pakistan & United Kingdom. (20).
Medicinal plants can serve as templates or raw materials for further modification and
synthetic remodeling; those with high potential can minimize dependency on foreign
raw materials and be imported after meeting local demand. But this is a matter of
great concern that this potential sector is not gaining much attention to flourish.
Recently, some research institutes like, Bangladesh Centre for Scientific and
Industrial Research (BCSIR), some universities namely University of Dhaka,
Jahangirnagar university and some non-governmental organizations are collaborating
to boost the country's research, production and conservation of medicinal plants.
Bangladesh Agricultural research institute is trying to establish a medicinal plant gene
bank. Traditional records & ecological diversity indicate that Bangladeshi plants
represent an exciting resource for possible lead structures in drug design.
1.5. Objectives
Plants provide a bank of rich, complex, and highly varied structure and biologically
important compound that are of medicinal value.Grewia nervosa (Malvaceae) is also
a plant which has many ethno-pharmacological uses. Such as ---- Tribal people
(Tripura) use this plant to treat jaundice [21) and many local people in Chittagong hill
tracts use this plant for wound healing purpose. A few chemical and pharmacological
works have been carried out in this plant. There remains a possibility that the extracts
of different parts of the plant may contain some bioactive compounds as they have
various ethno-pharmacological uses. The work described in this dissertation is an
attempt to evaluate the possible pharmacological activities of the crude extract to
Our present study was designed to observe pharmacological activities of the crude
extract & their different partitioning fractions 0f leaf part of plant Grewia nervosa.
Extraction of the plant Grewia nervosa with methanol for fifteen days.
Filtration of the crude methanolic extract by using the Markin cotton
cloth and subsequently through the filter paper and solvent evaporation
with the help of rotary evaporator.
Fractionation of methanolic crude extract with n-Hexane, pet ether,
chloroform and dichloromethane by modified Kupchan partition
method.
In vivo test :