Pharmacological Evaluation of Gnetum ula Brongn and Bridelia scandens Roxb Willd for Hepatoprotective Activity

Abstract

Medicinal plants are known to mankind from the beginning of human civilization. These are used to treat varied number of disorders and are effective too. Global usages of these medicinal plants are extensive due to their promising therapeutic properties. Demand for the herbal drugs are intensifying with rise in population along with 15% to 25% increase in the rate ($14billion) annually and expected to reach US$5 trillion by 2050. In India, there is widespread floral diversity spread across with unique knowledge about the wild plants for curing diseases. The confluence of Eastern and Western Ghats is at Biligirirangana hills, Karnataka having a heterogeneous type of habitat favourable for all major vegetation. Tribal community here possess a distinctive knowledge about the usage of wild plants for healing various illnesses. newline newlineLiver diseases are one of the main reasons for deaths in the world and its ranks 9th in Central Asia, 10th in Europe and 12th in America. It becomes important to maintain a healthy liver for the present populace. Despite of modern medicines available to cure liver issues, still there is no effectual treatment for restoration of liver functions and regeneration of hepatic cells. There are several medicinal plants used for treating liver disorders with their various herbal formulations and isolated phytoconstituent. Many herbs are documented with their pharmacological properties in curing liver problems, yet only small number of herbal species are explored for their phytochemicals and pharmacological assays. Many of traditional plants used to cure liver complications are still not explored and analysed scientifically. Tribal community has many such undisclosed ethnomedicinal plants, which are useful for researchers to investigate for human welfare. On the other hand, these plant drugs are sometimes misused due to wrong identification, adulteration with other plant material, biochemical variations, deterioration etc. Therefore, it becomes important to evaluate crude plant drugs for pharmacognosy studies, as it helps in sustaining the therapeutic efficiency, authenticate and standardize the crude drugs for reproducibility. In this regard, two plants; stem of Gnetum ula and leaf of Bridelia scandens were selected to evaluate their hepatoprotective nature based on their traditional knowledge. newline