Kareti Srinivasa Rao

Purpose: To explore the phytochemical composition of Schleichera oleosa bark and evaluate its potential antimalarial activity through in vitro and in silico analyses.Methods: The bark of S. oleosa was subjected to Soxhlet extraction using petroleum ether, chloroform, and methanol. The quantitative analysis of the extracts was performed to determine total phenolic, flavonoid, and tannin contents. Advanced analytical techniques such as Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS) were employed to identify 175 phytoconstituents from the methanolic extract In-vitro antimalarial activity was assessed against Plasmodium falciparum using the candle jar method, measuring parasite growth inhibition. The inhibitory concentration (IC50) values were calculated and compared with standard antimalarial drugs, chloroquine and quinine. Furthermore, computational analyses, including molecular docking and molecular dynamics simulations, were conducted to evaluate the interactions of identified phytochemicals with key malarial targets (1CEQ and 4ZL4). The efficacy of these compounds was compared with standard drugs like artesunate and chloroquine. Additionally, ADMET (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion, and Toxicity) profiling and drug-likeness assessments were performed.Results: The methanolic extract of S. oleosa exhibited promising in-vitro antimalarial activity with an average IC50 value of 0.780 μg/mL, which, while higher than chloroquine (0.020 μg/mL) and quinine (0.268 μg/mL), still demonstrated significant efficacy. GC-MS and LC-MS analyses identified 175 phytoconstituents, among which two novel lead compounds, scillarenin and 4-[(Z)-(6-hydroxy-3-oxo-1-benzofuran-2(3H)-ylidene) methyl] phenyl beta-Dglucopyranoside, exhibited the highest docking scores and favorable ADMET profiles. Molecular docking and dynamics simulations confirmed strong binding affinities to malarial targets, surpassing some standard drugs in efficacy.Conclusion: This study reports, for the first time, the antimalarial potential of bioactive constituents derived from the bark of S. oleosa. The identified compounds, scillarenin and 4-[(Z)-(6-hydroxy-3-oxo-1-benzofuran-2(3H)-ylidene) methyl] phenyl beta-D-glucopyranoside, demonstrated promising antiplasmodial activity, validating traditional medicinal claims. The findings highlight the potential of S. oleosa as a source of novel antimalarial agents with fewer side effects compared to existing therapies. Further in vivo studies are warranted to confirm these results and support the development of new antimalarial drugs. This groundbreaking discovery contributes to the growing evidence supporting the role of medicinal plants in drug discovery.

The creation of stability-indicating analytical methods, phytoconstituent identification, and validation for content and impurity estimation in pharmaceutical drug products and drug substances using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS), gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) employing contemporary analytical techniques are the primary topics of this chapter. The intricacy and diversity of herbal components provide the most analytical hurdle. Effective analytical methods are thus crucial for the separation and qualitative and quantitative analysis of multi-component systems. Recent advances in selectivity, sensitivity, and speed of analysis have made a number of newly developed analytical approaches a major support for complex component analysis. This chapter provides an overview of the application of advanced chromatography for the separation and identification of natural components in herbal medicines. By carefully choosing and refining both fixed and mobile phases, the scope of applications was increased.

Baccharoides anthelmintica (L.) Moench is a popular medicinal plant with a long history of use in several traditional remedies to cure a variety of diseases including; its effect on the central nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, metabolism, kidneys, gynecology, skin diseases, and general health. The present review aims to provide the latest, organized information on toxicological, pharmacological, phytochemical, and ethnomedicinal applications of Baccharoides anthelmintica. For this; several well‐known searchable websites (search engines) like; Web of Science, Google Scholar, Scopus‐Elsevier, Taylor & Francis, Springer, and DOAJ, were used to empirically investigate the knowledge of this useful medicinal plant. Based on previous studies, the pharmacological action of B. anthelmintica is due to various secondary metabolites including alkaloids, terpenoids, lignans, steroids, and other phytoconstituents. Hence, the present study recorded 225 phytochemicals obtained from different parts of the plant, where the steroids and derivatives (48), terpenes and sesquiterpenes (46), flavonoids and derivatives (41), fatty acids and derivatives (40), phenolic acids (12), triterpenes (11), chalcones (06), diterpenes (01) and miscellaneous (20) were reported. The present review also covered the pharmacological importance, including antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiparasitic, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic action, liver disease, anticancer potential, anti‐HIV, antiosteoporotic action, antitoxic action, skin disorder, wound healing and immunomodulatory activity, systemic infection, and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases etc. The review concluded that B. anthelmintica has several pharmacological activities, which were due to the presence of secondary metabolites present in it, and thus indicates the importance of medicinal value of this plant. Hence, B. anthelmintica may be a good source for developing a lead molecule in the process of new drug discovery and development. More study is required to determine the pharmacokinetics, mechanism of action, long‐term toxicology testing, safe dosage, and possible interactions with other herbs/drugs.

Boswellia serrata Roxb. Ex Colebr is a popular medicinal plant used traditionally in herbal medicinal preparations to treat a variety of diseases. The purpose of the present investigation was to investigate the anti‐hemorrhoidal property of the bark extract of B. serrata (BS). For this, the sequential Soxhlet extraction method was carried out by using different solvents such as hexane, chloroform, and methanol. After the extraction, the obtained dry extracts were tested for quantitative determinations such as total alkaloid content (TAC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total phenol content (TPC), and total tannin content (TTC) for all the extracts. Moreover, in vitro antioxidant activity was measured using 2,2‐diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity and scavenging activity against 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid (ABTS). Methanolic bark extract showed the highest TPC (67.10±1.83), TFC (372.73±4.45), TAC (9.732±1.06), and TTC (48.932±1.82), as well as the antioxidant assays DPPH (IC50=9.88 μg/ml) and ABTS (IC50=15.09 μg/ml). In this study, both LC–MS and GC–MS were performed to identify the chemical composition of all the extracts. Consequently, 19 compounds were identified by GC–MS and 27 compounds were identified by LC–MS analysis. The identified phytoconstituent(s) that could potentially interact with the target protein cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) (PDB: 4RRW) using molecular dynamics simulation and in silico docking were studied. Three compounds that have passed in drug‐likeness and ADME‐Tox properties are having more docking score than the standard. In this study, camptothecin, justicidin B, and taxiphyllin are identified as potential lead compounds with anti‐hemorrhoidal properties and may be helpful in the process of drug development and discovery of novel drugs. Hence, these results demonstrate that BS is a good source of pharmacologically active components with potential applications against hemorrhoidal disease.

Repurposing “old” drugs to treat both common and rare diseases is increasingly emerging as an attractive proposition due to the use of de-risked compounds, with potential for lower overall development costs and shorter development timelines. This is due to the high attrition rates, significant costs, and slow pace of new drug discovery and development. Drug repurposing is the process of finding new, more efficient uses for already-available medications. Numerous computational drug repurposing techniques exist, there are three main types of computational drug-repositioning methods used on COVID-19 are network-based models, structure-based methods and artificial intelligence (AI) methods used to discover novel drug–target relationships useful for new therapies. In order to assess how a chemical molecule can interact with its biological counterpart and try to find new uses for medicines already on the market, structure-based techniques made it possible to identify small chemical compounds capable of binding macromolecular targets. In this chapter, we explain strategies for drug repurposing, discuss about difficulties encountered by the repurposing community, and suggest reported drugs through the drug repurposing. Moreover, metabolic and drug discovery network resources, tools for network construction, analysis and protein–protein interaction analysis to enable drug repurposing to reach its full potential.

Ethnobotanical data were collected from local traditional healers using semi-structured questionnaires, interviews, and group discussions in 29 villages of Anuppur district, Madhya Pradesh, Central India. A total of 114 plant species from 103 genera from 59 families were identified as being used in the treatment of different diseases. Trees constituted the highest proportion of 43 species (38%), and the most preferred method of preparation of traditional medicines from plant material was in crushed powdered form (68, 40.47%). The informants’ consensus about the usage of medicinal plants in the study area ranged from 0.18 to 0.5 for 13 categories. The fidelity level for 11 plant species ranged from 33.33% to 75%.

The main objective of the present study is to identify and record the medicinal plants used by the indigenous tribal communities living in the Amarkantak region of central India. A semi-structured interview schedule was developed to collect ethnobotanical data of the traditional medicinal plants used by the tribes by interviewing the informants. In this study, a descriptive statistical analysis was applied to describe the data. More than 100 practitioners were interviewed in this research, and a total of 118 plant species from 63 families and 108 genera were identified. The most dominant was the family Fabaceae, comprised of 20.63% of total plant species recorded. The most commonly used parts of the plant were the roots (43.96%), and the decoction was the most commonly employed preparation technique (54.85%). The identified diseases were grouped into 13 separate classes out of the 44 disease conditions based on informants’ reports. Therapeutic uses of the collected medicinal plants will provide a basic information that can help scientists to perform more research related to conservation of biodiversity of important plant species and also phytochemical/pharmacological evaluation of these most important species of therapeutic significance will provide potential lead compounds for new drug discovery and development.