scholarly journals Ayurvedic Medicine for the Treatment of Dementia: Mechanistic Aspects

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhlaq A. Farooqui ◽  
Tahira Farooqui ◽  
Anil Madan ◽  
Jolin Hwee-Jing Ong ◽  
Wei-Yi Ong

Ayurvedic medicine is a personalized system of traditional medicine native to India and the Indian subcontinent. It is based on a holistic view of treatment which promotes and supports equilibrium in different aspects of human life: the body, mind, and soul. Popular Ayurvedic medicinal plants and formulations that are used to slow down brain aging and enhance memory include Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), Shankhpushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis, Evolvulus alsinoides, and other species), gotu kola (Centella asiatica), and guggulu (Commiphora mukul and related species) and a formulation known as Brāhmī Ghṛita, containing Brahmi, Vacā (Acorus calamus), Kuṣṭha (Saussurea lappa), Shankhpushpi, and Purāṇa Ghṛita (old clarified butter/old ghee). The rationale for the utilization of Ayurvedic medicinal plants has depended mostly on traditional usage, with little scientific data on signal transduction processes, efficacy, and safety. However, in recent years, pharmacological and toxicological studies have begun to be published and receive attention from scientists for verification of their claimed pharmacological and therapeutic effects. The purpose of this review is to outline the molecular mechanisms, signal transduction processes, and sites of action of some Ayurvedic medicinal plants. It is hoped that this description can be further explored with modern scientific methods, to reveal new therapeutic leads and jump-start more studies on the use of Ayurvedic medicine for prevention and treatment of dementia.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 4178-4191

Ayurveda, often known as Ayurvedic medicine, is a customized system of the traditional system of medicine with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. This alternative medicine system has been used for more than 5,000 years in India, and it is grounded on a holistic view of treatment that stimulates and supports equilibrium in diverse facets of human life: the body, soul, and mind. A great variety of herbs and plants are used in Ayurveda for numerous advantages; however, the popular Ayurvedic medicinal plants and formulations that are used to delay the aging of the human brain and improve memory consist of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), Turmeric (Curcuma longa), Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri), Shankhpushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis, Evolvulus alsinoides, and other species), gotu kola (Centella asiatica), and guggulu (Commiphora mukul and correlated species) and a preparation identified as Brāhmī Ghṛita, containing Brahmi, Vacā (Acorus calamus), Kuṣṭha (Saussurea lappa), Shankhpushpi, and Purāṇa Ghṛita (old clarified butter/old ghee). One of the extremely common progressive neurodegenerative disorders is Alzheimer s disease (AD), which is characterized by profound memory loss ample enough to hinder social and occupational functioning. Globally, more than 20 million people are affected by this most common form of dementia. AD is characterized by a stealthy loss of memory, allied functional decline, and behavioral disturbances. With modern scientific methods, it is anticipated that this description can be further explored to disclose novel therapeutic pointers and push-start additional studies on the use of Ayurvedic medicine to prevent and treat AD. This paper reviews the clinical effects of a number of generally used types of herbal medicines to treat AD.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evelyn Saba ◽  
Bo Ra Jeon ◽  
Da-Hye Jeong ◽  
Kija Lee ◽  
Youn-Kyoung Goo ◽  
...  

The beneficial health promoting effects of ginseng from vitalizing the body to enhancing long life have been well explored very rapidly in the past few years. Up till now many ginsenosides have been discovered for their marvelous therapeutic effects. However during past three years, a novel ginseng compound has been discovered, called gintonin, that differs from other ginsenosides on the basis of its signal transduction and chemical nature. Gintonin has been widely studied for its anti-Alzheimer’s disease activities and other neuropathies. However, its anti-inflammatory activity remained unexplored. In our study we have reported for the first time the anti-inflammatory activity of gintonin on RAW 264.7 cells. We found that gintonin potently suppresses the nitric oxide production without any cytotoxicity at given doses and also efficiently suppressed the levels of proinflammatory cytokines. Moreover, it mediaes its signal transduction via MAPK and NF-κB pathways and revives the levels of mir-34a and mir-93. These findings are valuable for the anti-inflammatory effects of this new compound with particular reference to microRNA involvement in the ginseng family.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-199
Author(s):  
Maria A. Gracheva ◽  
Anna A. Kazakova ◽  
Dmitry F. Pokrovskiy ◽  
Igor B. Medvedev

Bronchial asthma (BA) and obesity are one of the major modern problem, requiring the development of an effective therapeutic strategy. The frequent combination of these diseases in one patient indicates the general pathophysiological mechanisms and future study for targeted drug exposure are needed. The endocannabinoid system is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes and can be considered as a general mechanism and a potential therapeutic target in asthma and obesity, the receptors of the system are expressed in many central and peripheral tissues. This signal system modulates the functions of the autonomic nervous system, immune system and microcirculation, plays an important role in the regulation of energy balance, metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids. The main research aimed at studying the functioning of this system was focused on neurology and psychiatry, while numerous scientific data demonstrate the importance of the participation of this system in the pathogenesis of other diseases. In particular, this system is involved in the mechanisms of obesity. The role of the endocannabinoid system in the pathogenesis of asthma is actively studied. The wide prevalence of the endocannabinoid signaling system and its regulatory role in the body opens up prospects for therapeutic effects in the treatment of asthma and obesity, as well as the possible phenotype of asthma, combined with obesity. The review is devoted to modern ideas about endocannabinoids, their receptors, mechanisms of action and their role in the pathophysiology of asthma and obesity. The therapeutic prospects and difficulties associated with the use of endocannabinoids and phytocannabinoids in medicine are discussed.


10.26524/kr9 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41
Author(s):  
Gunavathy N ◽  
Megala N

Plants have the ability to synthesize mixtures of structurally diverse bio-active compound, with multiple and mutually potential therapeutic effects. Acorus calamus a medicinal harp is known to be rich in β asarone in its composition. The rhizome of this plant appears to have traditional usage for the treatment ofinsomnia, melancholia, remittent fever, delirium, neurosis, cough etc. The solvent extracts of the drug yielding plants were subjected for preliminary phyto-chemical screening, before evaluation of their biological activity.The curative properties of medicinal plants are perhaps due to the presence of various secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, saponins, sterols etc. The successive extracts of root of Acorus calamus revealed the presence of tannins, flavonoids, steroids, glycosides, alkaloids, proteins and phenols. The preliminary screening tests may be useful in the detection of the bioactive principles and subsequently may lead to the drug discovery and development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 200-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Y. Kytikovа ◽  
Tatyana P. Novgorodtseva ◽  
Yuliya K. Denisenko ◽  
Marina V. Antonyuk ◽  
Tatyana A. Gvozdenko

Bronchial asthma (BA) and obesity are one of the major modern problem, requiring the development of an effective therapeutic strategy. The frequent combination of these diseases in one patient indicates the general pathophysiological mechanisms and future study for targeted drug exposure are needed. The endocannabinoid system is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes and can be considered as a general mechanism and a potential therapeutic target in asthma and obesity, the receptors of the system are expressed in many central and peripheral tissues. This signal system modulates the functions of the autonomic nervous system, immune system and microcirculation, plays an important role in the regulation of energy balance, metabolism of carbohydrates and lipids. The main research aimed at studying the functioning of this system was focused on neurology and psychiatry, while numerous scientific data demonstrate the importance of the participation of this system in the pathogenesis of other diseases. In particular, this system is involved in the mechanisms of obesity. The role of the endocannabinoid system in the pathogenesis of asthma is actively studied. The wide prevalence of the endocannabinoid signaling system and its regulatory role in the body opens up prospects for therapeutic effects in the treatment of asthma and obesity, as well as the possible phenotype of asthma, combined with obesity. The review is devoted to modern ideas about endocannabinoids, their receptors, mechanisms of action and their role in the pathophysiology of asthma and obesity. The therapeutic prospects and difficulties associated with the use of endocannabinoids and phytocannabinoids in medicine are discussed.


Author(s):  
Pavani C H

Hyperlipidemia is the immediate results of the excessive fat intake in food. This results in the elevated levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. This leads to heart conditions like CAD, hypertension, congestive heart failure as risk factors which can be lethal. There are many drugs to treat and control the lipids levels in the body. These drugs are either designed to prevent LDL accumulation and VLDL synthesis. Some drugs also lower the elevated levels of saturated lipids in the body. But many drugs are known to cause side effects and adverse effects; therefore, alternatives to the drugs are the subjects for current investigations. Herbs and medicinal plants are used as treatment sources for many years. They have been used in the Indian medical systems like Ayurveda, Siddha etc. As the application of herbs in the treatment is growing, there is an urgent need for the establishment of Pharmacological reasoning and standardization of the activity of the medicinal plants. Chloris paraguaiensis Steud. is Poyaceae member that is called locally as Uppugaddi. Traditionally it is used to treat Rheumatism, Diabetes, fever and diarrhoea. The chemical constituents are known to have anti-oxidant properties and most of the anti-oxidants have anti-hyperlipidemic activity too. Since the plant has abundant flavonoid and phenol content, the current research focusses on the investigation of the anti-hyperlipidemic activity of the plant Chloris extracts. Extracts of Chloris at 200mg/kg showed a comparably similar anti hyperlipidemia activity to that of the standard drug. The extracts showed a dose based increase in the activity at 100 and 200mg/kg body weight.


Author(s):  
Ramin Ansari ◽  
Amirhossein Dadbakhsh ◽  
Fatemeh Hasani ◽  
Fatemeh Hosseinzadeh ◽  
Zohreh Abolhassanzadeh ◽  
...  

: Sciatica is a common back pain caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve. Current pharmacologic therapies have proven inadequate for many patients with sciatic pain. On the other hand, there is a global increasing demand toward the use and administration of natural medicaments for this disorder. Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) is a school of medicine and a medicinal plant based resource for clinical studies put forward by Persian scholars. The aim of the present study is to gather and study the effectiveness of all medicinal plants from five main Persian pharmacopeias. Furthermore, different data bases such as PubMed and Scopus have been checked to derive relevant activities for these plants. In all, 99 medicinal plants related to 42 families have been authenticated. Asteraceae and Apiaceae were the most frequent families and Roots and Seeds were the most reported botanical parts. The employed routs of administration were oral (54%), topical (33%) and rectal (13%). Anti-inflammatory, analgesic activity and anti-nociceptive properties of medicines are known as some main mechanisms to manage sciatic pain. These functions are possessed by 30%, 15%, and 15% of the studied plants, respectively. Medicaments that can be introduced as lead agents for further investigation are Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Olea europaea L., Strychnos nux-vomica L and Artemisia vulgaris L which showed all of these properties in previous studies. Hence, conducting adducible clinical trials using these lead agents may lead to novel drugs with lesser undesirable and much more therapeutic effects on controlling sciatic pain.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-12
Author(s):  
Vandana Garg ◽  
Rohit Dutt

Background: Fever, is known as pyrexia, may occur due to infection, inflammation, or any tissue damage and disease states. Normally, the infected or damaged tissue initiates the enhanced formation of pro-inflammatory mediators like cytokines which further increases the synthesis of prostaglandin E2 (PgE2) near the hypothalamic area and thereby trigger the hypothalamus to elevate the body temperature. Objective: Antipyretics are the agents which reduce the elevated body temperature. The most commonly used antipyretic agent, paracetamol, may be fatal due to its side effects. Methods: In this review paper, Chemical Abstracts, Google Scholar, PubMed, and Science Direct were the sources for the published article to collect information regarding antipyretic activity. Results: This review compiles the antipyretic plants that may be useful to treat fever due to various diseases. Conclusion: These medicinal plants could be good alternatives for traditional allopathic antipyretics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 170-231
Author(s):  
Minky Mukhija ◽  
Bhuwan Chandra Joshi

Background: Peptic ulcer is a deep gastrointestinal erosion disorder that involves the entire mucosal thickness and can even penetrate the muscular mucosa. Nowadays, several plants and compounds derived from it have been screened for their antiulcer activity. In the last few years, there has been an exponential growth in the field of herbal medicine. This field has gained popularity in both developing and developed countries because of their natural origin and less side effects. Objective: This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of currently available knowledge of medicinal plants and phytoconstituents reported for their anti-ulcer properties. Methods: The worldwide accepted database like SCOPUS, PUBMED, SCIELO, NISCAIR, ScienceDirect, Springerlink, Web of Science, Wiley, SciFinder and Google Scholar were used to retrieve available published literature. Results: A comprehensive review of the present paper is an attempt to list the plants with antiulcer activity. The review narrates the dire need to explore potential chemical moieties that exert an antiulcer effect, from unexploited traditional plants. Furthermore, the present study reveals the intense requirement to exploit the exact mechanism through which either the plant extracts or their active constituents exhibit their antiulcer properties. Conclusion: This article is the compilation of the plants and its constituents reported for the treatment of peptic ulcers. The Comprehensive data will surely attract the number of investigators to initiate further research that might lead to the drugs for the treatment of ulcers. As sufficient scientific data is not available on plants, most of the herbals cannot be recommended for the treatment of diseases. This can be achieved by research on pure chemical structures derived from plants or to prepare new lead compounds with proven beneficial preclinical in vitro and in vivo effects. However, a lot remains to be done in further investigations for the better status of medicinal plants.


Biomedicines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 667
Author(s):  
Gabriella Racchetti ◽  
Jacopo Meldolesi

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), the cells distributed in the stromas of the body, are known for various properties including replication, the potential of various differentiations, the immune-related processes including inflammation. About two decades ago, these cells were shown to play relevant roles in the therapy of numerous diseases, dependent on their immune regulation and their release of cytokines and growth factors, with ensuing activation of favorable enzymes and processes. Such discovery induced great increase of their investigation. Soon thereafter, however, it became clear that therapeutic actions of MSCs are risky, accompanied by serious drawbacks and defects. MSC therapy has been therefore reduced to a few diseases, replaced for the others by their extracellular vesicles, the MSC-EVs. The latter vesicles recapitulate most therapeutic actions of MSCs, with equal or even better efficacies and without the serious drawbacks of the parent cells. In addition, MSC-EVs are characterized by many advantages, among which are their heterogeneities dependent on the stromas of origin, the alleviation of cell aging, the regulation of immune responses and inflammation. Here we illustrate the MSC-EV therapeutic effects, largely mediated by specific miRNAs, covering various diseases and pathological processes occurring in the bones, heart and vessels, kidney, and brain. MSC-EVs operate also on the development of cancers and on COVID-19, where they alleviate the organ lesions induced by the virus. Therapy by MSC-EVs can be improved by combination of their innate potential to engineering processes inducing precise targeting and transfer of drugs. The unique properties of MSC-EVs explain their intense studies, carried out with extraordinary success. Although not yet developed to clinical practice, the perspectives for proximal future are encouraging.


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