Any kind of metabolic abnormality in insulin pathway causes health problems, which makes the body highly vulnerable to other disease like diabetes, dyslipidemia, hypertension and liver disorders (Marchesini et al., 2003; Lim and Kim, 2008; Pervez, 2000). This altogether with hepatitis B-C infection, aggressively increases the risk of liver failure and mortality. Liver is involved in anabolic/catabolic reactions of several proteins, lipids, blood cells and toxic compounds, thus any problematic effects on it will cause heavy burden on human health. As it is the 3rd leading disease, causing mortality in Minnesota, USA; impaired fasting glucose and cirrhosis increase the death rate of liver patients (Adams et al., 2005). Liver disorders are usually linked with an increase in its enzyme concentration (Harris, 2005). For example in diabetes 2 patients, diseased liver has elevated levels of serum aminotransferases, Alanine aminotransferase (ALT), Alkaline Phosphatase (AP) and Aspartate aminotransferase (AST) etc. The increase in these enzyme levels is a major cause for end stage liver disease and patient’s death (Ekstedt et al., 2006). Hence metabolic problems severely affect liver, which needs great attention and plants can efficiently behave as hepatoprotectants (Garba et al., 2006), which is likely to be due to their phytochemical composition. Ocimum gratissimum is medicinally important plant; it has large variety of phytochemicals and possesses analgesic effects (Okiemy-Andissa et al., 2004; Vieira et al., 2001). It is used in folk medicines and its analgesic effective concentrations, when used in combination with other herbs do not cause any toxicity in mice body (Iroanya et al., 2010). Moreover it is also responsible for anti-inflammatory effects in mice. The methanolic extracts of its leaves have anti-ulcer activity and are able to protect the rat’s stomach from ethanol and indomethacin-induced ulcers (Akah et al., 2007). Its extract has concentration dependant relaxation effect on the rabbit jejunum and does not cause any sign of acute toxicity. Its methanolic extract is rich with flavonoids, tannins, saponins, steroids, alkaloid etc., which are responsible for its gastroprotective effects. Thus it is a rich source of phytochemicals and may also be helpful in the treatment of liver diseases.

Many practitioners consider O. gratissimu leaves as a good remedial source and Uhegbu et al. (2012) studied its claimed analgesic and hepatoprotective activities. For analgesic studies, a concentration dependant effect of its methanolic extracts was examined on mice when subjected to thermal-induced pain. These extracts delayed the time of pain perception from 3.2±0.25 sec (pretreatment reading) to 11.56±0.15 sec (after treatment reading for extract’s maximum concentration used). All other (100 and 200 mg kg^-1) concentration were also effective and their effects were non-significantly different from the maximum (300 mg kg^-1) concentration and standard drug: acetylsalicylic acid. Thus O. gratissimum extracts was effective in lowering the pain at all concentrations. Its extract also showed distinctive hepatoprotection against CCl₄ caused liver toxicity. The CCl₄ implementation damaged liver’s veins and cells architecture; it also caused necrosis in many liver cells mainly due to increase in fat and some degrading enzymes. But the application of O. gratissimum’s methanolic extract conserved the liver cells and tissues from its adverse damage, as its application maintained the cells-veins arrangement and their physiology as well. Thus O. gratissimum protected the anatomical structure of liver from cytotoxication. However this was not all, its extract also protected the liver from the extensive increase in catabolic enzymes level, which were AST, ALT and ALP. The increase in enzymes level damaged the liver tissue and the application of plants methanolic extract lowered their level. Highest remedial effect was on ALP enzyme level, as the extract lowered its level from 55.4±0.27 to 30.2±0.01, while its value in healthy group was 26.2±1.32. The extracts effect on other enzymes (AST and ALT) was also significant and their levels were non-significantly different from healthy control group. Thus it can be said that enzyme level lowering activity of O. gratissimum extracts, made it an important hepatoprotective agent. As the determination of enzyme levels are important to estimate the liver’s health (Somchit et al., 2005; Satyapal et al., 2008). Moreover its use as analgesic agent would also help in lowering the demands of acetylsalicylic acid, because the use of acetylsalicylic acid could severely damage liver (Bjornsson and Olsson, 2005). Acetylsalicylic acid was also responsible for ecotoxicity (Cleuvers, 2004) and its reduction would protect environment. Thus O. gratissimum’s analgesic and hepatoprotective property would help in saving the lives from acetylsalicylic acid caused toxicity.

So, it can be said that O. gratissimum is medicinally important plant; it has analgesic, gastroprotective and anti-inflammatory effects. Moreover the therapeutically effective concentration of its extracts does not cause acute toxicity or death of tested animal, thus its use may be safe for humans also. According to Uhegbu et al. (2012), its methanolic extracts were excellent hepatoprotectant and its analgesic property was comparable to that of acetylsalicylic acid (a potential cytotoxic pain killer). Thus its use will favor the human health more than acetylsalicylic acid; hence there should be more research on its possible cytotoxic levels and effective phytochemicals. This will guide the medicinal chemists for developing safer painkiller or hepatoprotective drug.

References
Adams, L.A., J.F. Lymp, J.St. Sauver, S.O. Sanderson, K.D. Lindor, A. Feldstein and P. Angulo, 2005. The natural history of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: A population-based cohort study. Gastroenterology, 129: 113-121

Akah, P.A., L. John-Africa and C.S. Nworu, 2007. Gastro-protective properties of the leaf extracts of Ocimum gratissimum L. against experimental ulcers in rat. Int. J. Pharmacol., 3: 461-467

Bjornsson, E. and R. Olsson, 2005. Outcome and prognostic markers in severe drug-induced liver disease. Hepatology, 42: 481-489

Cleuvers, M., 2004. Mixture toxicity of the anti-inflammatory drugs diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, and acetylsalicylic acid. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Safety, 59: 309-315

Ekstedt, M., L.E. Franzen, U.L. Mathiesen, L. Thorelius, M. Holmqvist, G. Bodemar and S. Kechagias, 2006. Long-term follow-up of patients with NAFLD and elevated liver enzymes. Hepatology, 44: 865-873

Garba, S.H., S. Ahmadu and I.A. John, 2006. The effect of aqueous stem bark extract of Sclerocarya birrea (Hoechst) on alcohol carbon tetrachloride induced liver damage in rats. Pak. J. Biol. Sci., 9: 2283-2287

Harris, E.H., 2005. Elevated liver function tests in type 2 diabetes. Clin. Diabetes, 23: 115-119

Iroanya, O., J. Okpuzor and H. Mbagwu, 2010. Anti-nociceptive and anti-phlogistic actions of a polyherbal decoction. Int. J. Pharmacol., 6: 31-36

Lim, Y.S. and W.R. Kim, 2008. The global impact of hepatic fibrosis and end-stage liver disease. Clin. Liver Dis., 12: 733-746

Marchesini, G., E. Bugianesi, G. Forlani, F. Cerrelli and M. Lenz et al., 2003. Non-alcoholic fatty liver, steatohepatitis and the metabolic syndrome. Hepatology, 37: 917-923

Okiemy-Andissa, N., M.L. Miguel, A.W. Etou, J.M. Ouamba, M. Gbeassor and A.A. Abena, 2004. Analgesic effect of aqueous and hydroalcoholic extracts of three congolese medicinal plants: Hyptis suavolens, Nauclea latifolia and Ocimum gratissimum. Pak. J. Biol. Sci., 7: 1613-1615

Pervez, K., 2000. Diagnosis and genotyping of hepatitis C virus by polymerase chain reaction in chronic liver disease patients. Pak. J. Biol. Sci., 3: 1098-1099

Satyapal, U.S., V.J. Kadam and R. Ghosh, 2008. Hepatoprotective activity of livobond a polyherbal formulation against CCl₄ induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Int. J. Pharmacol., 4: 472-476

Somchit, M.N., A. Zuraini, A. Ahmad Bustamam, N. Somchit, M.R. Sulaiman and R. Noratunlina, 2005. Protective activity of turmeric (Curcuma longa) in paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Int. J. Pharmacol., 1: 252-256

Uhegbu, F.O., I. Elekwa, E.I. Akubugwo, G.C. Chinyere and E.E.J. Iweala, 2012. Analgesic and hepatoprotective activity of methanolic leaf extract of Ocimum gratissimum (L.). Res. J. Med. Plant, 6: 108-115

Vieira, R.F., R.J. Grayer, A. Paton and J.E. Simon, 2001. Genetic diversity of Ocimum gratissimum L. based on volatile oil constituents, flavonoids and RAPD markers. Biochem. Syst. Ecol., 29: 287-30

How to Cite:
Idress Hamad Attitalla , 2011. Ocimum gratissimum as an Analgesic and Hepatoprotective Plant. Insight Ethnopharmacology, 1: 9-10
DOI: 10.5567/ETHNOPHARMA-IK.2011.9.10

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is brain disorder, happens due to inflammation in brain and according to WHO report it is a global disease, mainly in high income countries (WHO, 2008). Worldwide its prevalence is 5-80/100000 persons with mean onset age of 29.2 years. MS cause immune T cells mediated demyelation of axons, lesions or complete axons loss in Central Nervous System (CNS), whose severity depends on patients genetics (Lassmann et al., 2001). These ambiguities in CNS cause severe fatigue and depression in patients, which strongly limit their activities (Bakshi et al., 2000). Recently it is observed that cannabinoids (CB) present on human cells, have long term protective effects on brain (Wu et al., 2011). CB are the G-protein mediated receptors involve in signal transduction of various process e.g., regulation of calcium and potassium channels, protein kinase, inhibition of adenylate cyclase etc. (Howlett, 2002; Davis et al., 2003; Lipina et al., 2010). The CB are present in various human organs like brain, liver, heart etc. and have different distribution depending upon the functions (Howlett et al., 2010; Rieder et al., 2010). As in brain CB1 receptors are majorly found on CNS’ cells while CB2 are found in the immune responsive cells. CB suppresses the immune T cell mediated responses by decreasing their concentration in spinal cord cells; hence protecting the brain from MS caused inflammation injuries (Arevalo-Martin et al., 2003). Their immune modulation also includes the reduced inflammatory responses, by balancing the cytokines in brain (Tanasescu and Constantinescu, 2010). These CB receptors are activated at the arrival of a signal, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which activates the different pathway in CB cells (Newton et al., 2009). For example in CB1 cells it causes IL-12Rβ2 signaling dependant reduction in T cells, while in CB2 cells it mediates the GATA-3 dependant reduction. But it does not efficiently activate the CB as it is a partial agonist of these receptors (Pertwee, 2008). Thus partial agonist property of THC may not be trusted in MS patients, where the activation of CB is highly required to protect the axons. As CB are the major helpers in reducing the T cell induced autoimmune damage there should be more promising activator of these receptors. This will help in treating the globally spreading, MS disease of brain.

HU-210 is another potential agonist of CB receptors and it imposes neuroprotective effects via mediating the AKT signalling pathway (Molina-Holgado et al., 2005). It is an analogue of THC with complete agonist property for CB; it is also used in herbal medicines of USA and UK (Fattore and Fratta, 2011). Aarabi et al. (2011) conducted an experiment to evaluate the subsequent positive effects of HU-210 on an Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis (EAE) model of MS in C57BL/6 mice. EAE was induced in mice through the supplementation of 250 μg of myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, which caused inflammation similar to MS. A significant difference in inflammation was observable after the concentration dependant implementation of HU-210 in EAE models. Its 3 mg kg^-1 dosage significantly reduced the inflammation in mice than 10 mg kg^-1 concentration. But the implementation of 30 mg kg^-1 HU-210 cause highest significant decrease in disease. It lowered the inflammation causing agents (TNFα, IFN-γ and IL-12) in mice body; their values were close to the healthy control group. The disease severity also judged by the researchers via examining the mice disability in placing its paw against light beams of different intensities, highest disability was present in EAE mice. It was also found that HU-210 implementation cause significant reduction in paw placing disability of mice at all concentration, but highest disease recovery happened at 30 mg kg^-1 supplementation. Moreover, HU-210 did not pose any side effects on mice at all tested concentrations. Its positive effects on mice health also included the increased concentration of anti-inflammatory agent, IL-4. And once again highest positive effects on IL-4 concentration occurred after the implantation of 30 mg kg^-1 HU-210. Thus this analogue of THC (HU-210) showed many promising effects in MS mice; it not only lowered the inflammatory agents but also cause an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokinins. It also improved the disease caused disabilities (reduced paw placing) in mice and imposed positive effects in a concentration dependant manner, thus can be use in the MS treating drugs. Its use in drugs can also be favoured by its IL-12 lowering ability. IL-12 is the major stimulator of autoimmune T cell-mediated inflammatory responses and also caused an increase in IFN-γ and TNFα (Hart et al., 2008). So its decrease may lower the inflammatory problems in disease like MS. Moreover HU-210 also increases the concentration of another anti-inflammatory agent viz. IL-10 (Smith et al., 2000). Thus HU-210 has many beneficial effects on immune systems and can be used in drugs dealing with immune problems.

MS is globally spreading brain inflammation disease, which happens due to devastating activities of T cells. But it can be treated by the activation of CB receptors in brain cells and Aarabi et al. (2011) findings suggests HU-210 as a potential activator of these receptors. Its implementation in EAE mice model lowers the inflammation and physical disability, which is caused by brains poor functioning. Thus this can be concluded that HU-210 is a potential treatment against MS.

REFERENCES
Aarabi, M.H., M.E. Shahaboddin, K. Parastouei, M. Motallebi, A. Jafarnejad, M. Mirhashemi and G.A. Hamidi, 2011. Evaluation of 11-hydroxy-∆8-THC-dimethylheptyl effects on cytokines profile and locomotor tests in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. J. Med. Plants Res., 5: 4244-4250

Arevalo-Martin, A., J.M. Vela, E. Molina-Holgado, J. Borrell and C. Guaza, 2003. Therapeutic action of cannabinoids in a murine model of multiple sclerosis. J. Neurosci., 23: 2511-2516

Bakshi, R., Z.A. Shaikh, R.S. Miletich, D. Czarnecki and J. Dmochowski et al., 2000. Fatigue in multiple sclerosis and its relationship to depression and neurologic disability. Multiple Sclerosis J., 6: 181-185

Davis, M.I., J. Ronesi and D.M. Lovinger, 2003. A predominant role for inhibition of the adenylate cyclase/protein kinase A pathway in ERK activation by cannabinoid receptor 1 in N1E-115 neuroblastoma cells. J. Biol. Chem., 278: 48973-48980

Fattore, L. and W. Fratta, 2011. Beyond THC: The new generation of cannabinoid designer drugs. Front. Behav. Neurosci. Vol., 5 10.3389/fnbeh.2011.00060

Hart, B.A., R.Q. Hintzen and J.D. Laman, 2008. Preclinical assessment of therapeutic antibodies against human CD40 and human interleukin-12/23p40 in a nonhuman primate model of multiple sclerosis. Neurodegenerative Dis., 5: 38-52

Howlett, A.C., 2002. The cannabinoid receptors. Prostaglandins Other Lipid Mediat., 68-69: 619-631

Howlett, A.C., L.C. Blume and G.D. Dalton, 2010. CB₁ cannabinoid receptors and their associated proteins. Curr. Med. Chem., 17: 1382-1393

Lassmann, H., W. Bruck and C. Lucchinetti, 2001. Heterogeneity of multiple sclerosis pathogenesis: Implications for diagnosis and therapy. Trends Mol. Med., 7: 115-121

Lipina, C., C. Stretton, S. Hastings, J.S. Hundal, K. Mackie, A.J. Irving and H.S. Hundal, 2010. Regulation of MAP kinase-directed mitogenic and protein kinase B-mediated signaling by cannabinoid receptor type 1 in skeletal muscle cells. Diabetes, 59: 375-385

Molina-Holgado, F., E. Pinteaux, L. Heenan, J.D. Moore, N.J. Rothwell and R.M. Gibson, 2005. Neuroprotective effects of the synthetic cannabinoid HU-210 in primary cortical neurons are mediated by phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/AKT signaling. Mol. Cell. Neurosci., 28: 189-194

Newton, C.A., P.J. Chou, I. Perkins and T.W. Klein, 2009. CB₁ and CB₂ cannabinoid receptors mediate different aspects of Δ-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-induced T helper cell shift following immune activation by Legionella pneumophila infection. J. Neuroimmune Pharmacol., 4: 92-102

Pertwee, R.G., 2008. The diverse CB₁ and CB₂ receptor pharmacology of three plant cannabinoids: Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabivarin. Br. J. Pharmacol., 153: 199-215

Rieder, S.A., A. Chauhan, U. Singh, M. Nagarkatti and P. Nagarkatti, 2010. Cannabinoid-induced apoptosis in immune cells as a pathway to immunosuppression. Immunobiology, 215: 598-605

Smith, S.R., C. Terminelli and G. Denhardt, 2000. Effects of cannabinoid receptor agonist and antagonist ligands on production of inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory interleukin-10 in endotoxemic mice. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., 293: 136-150

Tanasescu, R. and C.S. Constantinescu, 2010. Cannabinoids and the immune system: An overview. Immunobiology, 215: 588-597

WHO, 2008. Atlas: Multiple Sclerosis Resources in the World 2008. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, ISBN-13: 9789241563758, Pages: 51.

Wu, C.S., C.P. Jew and H.C. Lu, 2011. Lasting impacts of prenatal cannabis exposure and the role of endogenous cannabinoids in the developing brain. Future Neurol., 6: 459-480

How to Cite:
Madiha Zamin and Hina Akhtar , 2011. HU-210 has Proved Potential for the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Insight Ethnopharmacology, 1: 7-8
DOI: 10.5567/ETHNOPHARMA-IK.2011.7.8

Worldwide the herbal medicines alone or in combination with other medicines are used to treat the diseases. Their preparation is a difficult process which can leads to the variation in quality and quantity of final product and one such product is the essential oils of plants. The major contributors that may bring variation in final product are plant breed/genetics, its physiology, chemical and microbial contaminations, heavy metal contents and the organs used for compounds extraction (Tanko et al., 2005). Moreover, a high-quality medicinal product can be obtained only form a good medicinal plant. Etlingera elatior is an herbaceous medicinal plant which is also known as “torch ginger” and it belongs to family Zingiberaceae. Its leaves in mixture with other aromatic herbs are used by post-partum women for bathing (Chan et al., 2009). Whereas, its fruits have antihypertensive antimicrobial, antioxidant and antitumor activities; its oil also possesses many significant biological activities (Mohamad et al., 2005). The leaves of E. elatior showed most outstanding antioxidant properties among five Etlingera species investigated. Thus this plant has a significant medicinal importance and can be used to treat health problems. In another study conducted on 26 ginger species E. elatior showed the highest phenolic contents and antioxidant property (Chan et al., 2008). And recently, it has been observed that drying technique has significant impact on phenolic content and antioxidant property of E. elatior leaves (Chan et al., 2009). It can increase the essential oils extraction, if plant is harvested at accurate time and dried at favorable temperature (Carvalho Filho et al., 2006). Hence, drying being the most common is an elementary method for post-harvest preservation of plants because it provides quick conservation of the medicinal qualities with uncomplicated manner (Muller and Heindl, 2006). It can increase the concentration of certain compounds in oils, may be due to the chemical reactions-mediated transformations (Faridah et al., 2010). But drying for long period of time can decrease oils concentration, which may be due to the release of volatile compounds (Combrinck et al., 2006).

Abdelmageed et al. (2011) conducted a research with an aim to study the effect of post-harvest drying period on essential oil yield and composition of some parts of E. elatior. Its parts were dried for 6, 24, 48 and 72 h and their essential oil composition was analyzed with the help of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. It was observed that all the plant parts used have different oil composition as leaves: 35, pseudostems: 18, rhizomes: 28 and inflorescence have 18 chemical compounds. These plant parts show maximum oil production at different drying time intervals. As leaves give maximum oil production after 48 h drying, while pseudostems and rhizomes give maximum yield after 26 and 6 h, respectively. On the other hand, inflorescence shows maximum yield at two time intervals viz. 24 and 72 h. Since, it must be clear that plant organs have different drying time needs to give maximum oil extracts. Moreover, these oils have 45 new compounds which were not reported previously, while some previously reported compounds of E. elatior were absent in these extracts. Thus the essential oil composition can vary within the species and its parts, which can be categorized according to the presence of abundant chemical. As “the most prominent compounds identified with the highest percentages were 2-cyclohexen-1-one (93.42%) from leaves dried for 6 h, 2-tridecanone (51.55%) from pseudostems dried for 24 h, 1-dodecanol from rhizomes (63.64%) dried for 48 h and from inflorescences (54.48%) dried for 24 h”. The drying time also cause changes in the physical characters like smell and color of these oils. For example leaf extracts obtained from 6 hour drying have strong smell and no color while that obtained from 72 h drying have yellow color and moderate smell. Likewise oils form other plants parts also shows the varying physical properties. Thus drying treatment affects both the physical as well chemical features of E. elatior oils and the selection of perfect drying time will favor the extraction of highly nutritive essential oils. Many previous researches depicted the importance of drying treatments, according to Asekun et al. (2007); the dried plant material of Mentha longifolia gave more essential oils than fresh leaves materials. On the other hand Carvalho Filho et al. (2006) reported drying can decrease the essential oil contents of Ocimum basilicum. Well this may be due to the different plant material used in these experiments as plants are different in their physiology, which is determine by their genetic makeup. Thus drying technique can alter the chemical composition of essential oils but it depends on the material used.

From the above mentioned research works it is evident that drying is a simple method which reserves the medicinal and nutritional values of plants. Some variations in the final medicinal products of plants are possible, which might be due to the fact that plants have different genetics which determine their metabolic products. Moreover, this divergence may be due to postharvest storage conditions or environment provided to plant. As Abdelmageed et al. (2011) in an experiment conducted on E. elatior observed that drying period length can bring changes in oil composition extracted from some parts of same plant. They predict that the change in oils composition depends on the time of drying, leading to the release and transformations of its chemicals. So to get the maximum benefits from a plant extract or its essential oil, extraction procedure should be optimized for each plant species.

REFERENCES
Abdelmageed, A.H.A., Q.Z. Faridah, A. Nur Amalina and M. Yaacob, 2011. The influence of organ and post-harvest drying period on yield and chemical composition of the essential oils of Etlingera elatior (Zingiberaceae). J. Med. Plants Res., 5: 3432-3439

Asekun, O.T., D.S. Grierson and A.J. Afolayan, 2007. Effects of drying methods on the quality and quantity of the essential oil of Mentha longifolia L. subsp. Capensis. Food Chem., 107: 995-998

Carvalho Filho, J.L.S., A.F. Blank, P.B. Alves, P.A.D. Ehlert and A.S. Melo et al., 2006. Influence of the harvesting time, temperature and drying period on basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) essential oil. Braz. J. Pharmacogn., 16: 24-30

Chan, E.W.C., Y.Y. Lim, L.F. Wong, F.S. Lianto and S.K. Wong et al., 2008. Antioxidant and tyrosinase
inhibition properties of leaves and rhizomes of ginger species. Food
Chem., 109: 477-483

Chan, E.W.C., Y.Y. Lim, S.K. Wong, K.K. Lim, S.P. Tan, F.S. Lianto and M.Y. Yong, 2009. Effects of different drying methods on the antioxidant properties of leaves and tea of ginger species. Food Chem., 113: 166-172

Combrinck, S., A.A. Bosman, B.M. Botha, W. Du Plooy, R.I. Mccrindle and E. Relief, 2006. Effects of post-harvest drying on the essential oil and glandular trichomes of Lippia scaberrima sond. J. Essent. Oil Res., 18: 80-85

Faridah, Q.Z., A.H.A. Abdelmageed, A.N. Nor Hazirah and M. Yaacob, 2010. Comparative study of essential oil composition of leaves and rhizomes of Alpinia conchigera Griff. at different post-harvest drying periods. J. Med. Plants Res., 4: 2700-2705

Mohamad, H., N.H. Lajis, F. Abas, A.M. Ali, M.A. Sukari, H. Kikuzaki and N. Nakatani, 2005. Antioxidative constituents of Etlingera elatior. J. Nat. Prod., 68: 285-288

Muller, J. and A. Heindl, 2006. Drying of Medicinal Plants. In: Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Bogers, R.J., L.E. Cracker and D. Lange (Eds.). Springer, Netherland, pp: 237-252.

Tanko, H., D.J. Carrier, L. Duan and E. Clause, 2005. Pre- and post-harvest processing of medicinal plants. Plant Genet. Resour.: Charact. Utilization, 3: 304-313

How to Cite:
Filza Sohail and Hina Akhtar , 2011. Drying Period had a Significant Effect on the Yield of E. elatior Essential Oil Production. Insight Ethnopharmacology, 1: 5-6
DOI: 10.5567/ETHNOPHARMA-IK.2011.5.6

As being a vital ingredient of many drugs and medicines, herbal plants have gained much importance in the field of human medication (Bedi and Shenefelt, 2002). Etlingera elatior also known as Torch ginger is herbal and medicinal plant; it is native to Malaysia but also under wide cultivation in Southeast Asia (Chan et al., 2011). It is also used as condiment and ornament; it has many essential phytochemicals of antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic properties. It has amplified antioxidant property than many other ginger varieties and to facilitate its medicinal use researchers are trying to estimate the highest essential oil producing techniques (Chan et al., 2008, 2009; Abdelmageed et al., 2011a). But one major problem with this species is its propagation through slow growing rhizome. This may makes its rhizome susceptible to rhizome rots caused by soil pathogens (Lins and Coelho, 2004), but the hope to promote its pathogen free propagation is Tissue Culture (TC) technique. In these technique explants are used to develop multiple in vitro shoots by adding different development fasting nutrients (Chan and Thong, 2004; Mendez et al., 2004). These nutrients can be plant growth hormones e.g., cytokinin etc., which upon addition in TC medium stimulate the growth of new plants (Salvi et al., 2002). The efficiency of in vitro technique is measureable via examining the different growth parameters e.g. shoot-root length, number and the survival rate of acclimatized plants (Faridah et al., 2011). Thus to get large number of medicinal products from plants, there should be enough plant biomass and the role of propagation techniques should be critically investigated.

Abdelmageed et al. (2011b) conducted a research to determine the effectiveness of different hormonal concentrations in tissue culture micropropagation of E. elatior. For this purpose the axillary buds of E. elatior rhizome are grown in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium having various concentration of cytokinin (BAP) and auxin (IAA). Their results indicate MS as an efficient medium for TC while BAP as shoot promoting and IAA as root promoting factor. They observe that BAP stimulate the shoot growth at all concentrations but significant increase in shoot number (3.67/explant) per explant was observed at 22.2 μM concentration. It significantly increases shoot length at 26.6 μM concentration which was 4.20 cm, while maximum leaves per shoot were noted for both (22.2 and 26.6 μM) concentration. On the other hand, IAA promotes the root number significantly at 11.4 μM with 3/explant roots and largest root length was observed at 34.2 μM (4 cm). IAA at higher concentrations inhibits the growth in root numbers but promotes the growth of roots length, while BAP impose random effects on shoot number and always have positive effects on its length. All these plants were healthy and their survival rate was 75% when acclimatized in new environment. They also found that both these hormones in combination, when used at correct concentrations, show positive growth effects. As Colombo et al. (2010) reported in his experiment that both hormones in a combination of BAP 4.95 mg L^-1 + IAA 0.87 mg L^-1 concentration promote the shoot growth in MS medium. Similarly the use of MS medium, BAP and IAA growth stimulating hormones for rapid and micropropagation techniques is promoted by many researchers (Anish et al., 2008; Bejoy et al., 2006; Jagadev et al., 2008). Thus TC technique provides advantage to slow growing plants, as it give rapidly growing plantlets of them. It let the addition of growth promoting factors in media depending upon the growers desire i.e. shoot promoting, root promoting or both factors.

In the end this can be said that as medicinal plants are an important part of human life, there should be plant protecting and growth promoting application like tissue culture. Because it helps in getting large number of plants only from small explants, as it has the potential to involve growth promoting compounds. Abdelmageed et al. (2011b) in his experimental study on TC, find out the positive effects of growth hormones on a significant medicinal plant E. elatior. These hormones increase the number and length of its shoots-roots in concentration dependant manner and provide morphologically normal plants, which can be acclimatized in new environment. Thus TC technique is highly efficient in promoting the slow growing medicinal plants’ and future research is needed to reduce the cost of plant production by using this technique.

REFERENCES
Abdelmageed, A.H.A., Q.Z. Faridah, A. Nur Amalina and M. Yaacob, 2011. The influence of organ and post-harvest drying period on yield and chemical composition of the essential oils of Etlingera elatior (Zingiberaceae). J. Med. Plants Res., 5: 3432-3439

Abdelmageed, A.H.A., Q.Z. Faridah, F.M.A. Norhana, A.A. Julia and M. Abdul-Kadir, 2011. Micropropagation of Etlingera elatior (Zingiberaceae) by using axillary bud explants. J. Med. Plants Res., 5: 4465-4469

Anish, N.P., M. Dan and M. Bejoy, 2008. Conservation using in vitro progenies of the threatened ginger-Boesenbergia pulcherrima (Wall.) kuntze. Int. J. Bot., 4: 93-98

Bedi, M.K. and P.D. Shenefelt, 2002. Herbal therapy in dermatology. Arch. Dermatol., 138: 232-242

Bejoy, M., M. Dan and N.P. Anish, 2006. Factors affecting the in vitro multiplication of the endemic zingiber-Curcuma haritha Mangaly and Sabu. Asian J. Plant Sci., 5: 847-853

Chan, E.W.C., Y.Y. Lim and S.K. Wong, 2011. Phytochemistry and pharmacological properties of Etlingera elatior: A review. Pharmacogn. J., 3: 6-10.

Chan, E.W.C., Y.Y. Lim, L.F. Wong, F.S. Lianto and S.K. Wong et al., 2008. Antioxidant and tyrosinase inhibition properties of leaves and rhizomes of ginger species. Food Chem., 109: 477-483

Chan, E.W.C., Y.Y. Lim, S.K. Wong, K.K. Lim, S.P. Tan, F.S. Lianto and M.Y. Yong, 2009. Effects of different drying methods on the antioxidant properties of leaves and tea of ginger species. Food Chem., 113: 166-172

Chan, L.K. and W.H. Thong, 2004. In vitro propagation of Zingiberaceae species with medicinal properties. J. Plant Biotechnol., 6: 181-188.

Colombo, L.A., A.M. de Asis, R.T. de Faria and S.F. Roberto, 2010. Establishing a protocol for in vitro multiplication of Philippine was flower (Etlingera elatior) Jack RM Sm. Acta Sci. Agron., 32: 695-700

Faridah, Q.Z., A.H.A. Abdelmageed, A.A. Julia and R.N. Hafizah, 2011. Efficient in vitro regeneration of Zingiber zerumbet Smith (a valuable medicinal plant) plantlets from rhizome bud explants. Afr. J. Biotechnol., 1002: 9303-9308

Jagadev, P.N., K.N. Panda and S. Beura, 2008. A fast protocol for in vitro propagation of ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) of a tribal district of India. Acta Hortic., 765: 101-108

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Mendez, A.M.V., J.G.A. Moctezuma and J.L.R. Lao, 2004. Propagation of torch ginger (Nicolaia elatior (Jack.) Horan) through in vitro shoot tip culture. Propag. Ornam. Plants, 4: 53-59.

Salvi, N., L. Grorge and S. Eapen, 2002. Micropropagation and field evaluation of micropropagated plants of turmeric. Plant Cell Tiss. Org. Cult., 68: 143-151

How to Cite:
Asia Karim and Saba Munir , 2011. A Newly Developed Method for Rapid Propagation of an Important Culinary and Medicinal Herb (Etlingera elatior). Insight Ethnopharmacology, 1: 3-4
DOI: 10.5567/ETHNOPHARMA-IK.2011.3.4

According to the world health organization almost 80% of Asian and African population utilizes traditional medicines for primary health care (WHO, 2008). As the herbal medicines have natural origin, people consider them non toxic and use them more frequently. Usually the local practitioners and peoples have good knowledge about the medicinal importance of plants growing in their area, which can promote the use and production of plants (Majeed et al., 2011). But there should be more studies on the medicinal uses of plants, to improve the relation between human health and plants. Combretum genus is one of the healthy benefiting plant groups due to its positive activities against disease causing agents. The Combretum genus falls in family Combretaceae, has nearly 250 species, which are mostly found in tropic of Asia and Africa (Sheng-Liang and Sylvia, 2010). One of its members, Combretum paniculatum has strong antiviral activity against Human Immunodeficiency Virus HIV-1 and HIV-2 (Asres et al., 2001). The acetone-mediated extraction from its leaves possess strongest antiviral activity against HIV-1 than other tested subjects. Furthermore, the antimicrobial activities of other members of this genus are also reported (Asres et al., 2006; Fyhrquist et al., 2002). Thus the members of this genus should be explored according to their health benefiting properties.

Adejuwon et al. (2011) investigated the antimicrobial efficacy of a member of this genus, C. pincianum Hook. The research team analysed the antimicrobial activity of its leaves extract at a concentration of 25 mg mL^-1 against fourteen bacterial isolates in agar media. They observe the inhibited growth of Bacillus anthracis, B. cerus, Clostridium sporogenes, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, P. fluorescens, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Streptococcus faecalis. Thus its extracts possess antibacterial activity against 8 out of 14 tested bacteria, which inhibit the bacterial growth in the zone between 10 and 20 mm. Moreover, its extracts have antibacterial activity against these bacteria at different concentration, e.g., it inhibits E. coli and P. Aeruginosa at 0.32 mg mL^-1 while S. faecalis and S. epidermidis at 25 mg mL^-1 concentration. Its extracts have comparable antibacterial activity with Streptomycin, a synthetic antibacterial compound. They further proposed that the antibacterial activity of C. pincianum is supported by its phytochemicals, as it has tannins, saponins and alkaloids. As tannins have the ability to interfere the enzyme activity due to their protein binding properties (Evans, 2002; Prescott et al., 2005), so it may also able to inhibit the bacterial growth. Likewise the saponins and alkaloids also have antibacterial activities against many bacteria (Kumar et al., 2010; Mandal et al., 2005). Thus the application of C. pincianum extracts can inhibit many bacteria in concentration dependant manner. But it did not inhibit the growth of all tested bacteria, which might be due to the low concentration of herbal extract.

Thus it can be said that the Combretum genus has many valuable plants, which can help the humanity suffering from microbial diseases. The scientific investigation of C. pincianum antibacterial activity by Adejuwon et al. (2011) provides a basic support to promote its use in antibacterial drug formation. As its extracts can inhibit the bacterial growth at different concentration depending upon the bacterium tested. Its extracts have tannins, saponins and alkaloids, which might be responsible for its antibacterial properties. But there is need of further investigation on the phytochemical distribution of this plant, to have better understanding of its antimicrobial activity. This may also help in the cheaper availability of antibacterial drugs.

REFERENCES
Adejuwon, A.O., M.A. Bisi-Johnson, T.M. Obuotor and O.A. Agboola, 2011. Bioactive compounds and antimicrobial efficacy of the extracts of Combretum pincianum Hook. J. Med. Plants Res., 5: 3561-3563

Asres, K., A. Mazumder and F. Bucar, 2006. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of extracts of Combretum molle. Ethiopian Med. J., 44: 269-277

Asres, K., F. Bucar, T. Kartnig, M. Witvrouw, C. Pannecouque and E. De Clercq, 2001. Antiviral activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2) ethnobotanically selected Ethiopian medicinal plants. J. Phytother. Res., 15: 62-69

Evans, W.C., 2002. Pharmacognosy. 15th Edn., W.B. Saunders, Philadelphia, PA., USA., pp: 332-334.

Fyhrquist, P., L. Mwasumbi, C.A. Haeggstrom, H. Vuorela, R. Hiltunen and P. Vuorela, 2002. Ethnobotanical and antimicrobial investigation on some species of Terminalia and Combretum (Combretaceae) growing in Tanzania. J. Ethnopharmacol., 79: 169-177

Kumar, P., R.P. Bhatt, L. Singh, S.H. Chandra and R. Prasad, 2010. Identification of phytochemical content and antibacterial activity of Juniperus Communis leaves. Int. J. Biotechnol. Biochem., 6: 87-91.

Majeed, A., M. Kanwal, S. Shaukat, R. Javed and R. Ilayas, 2011. Exploration of ethnomedicinal values of imperative plants of District Gujrat, Pakistan. Middle-East J. Sci. Res., 7: 397-400

Mandal, P., S.P.S. Babu and N.C. Mandal, 2005. Antimicrobial activity of saponins from Acacia auriculiformis. Fitoterapia, 76: 462-465

Prescott, L.M., J.P. Harley and D.A. Klein, 2005. Microbiology. 6th Edn., McGraw-Hill Co., New York, London.

Sheng-Liang, L. and M.P. Sylvia, 2010. Combretum in Flora of China. Science Press, Beijing, China, pp: 309-316.

WHO, 2008. Traditional medicine. WHO Fact Sheet No. 134.

How to Cite:
Uzma Kanwal and Asia Karim , 2011. Combretum pincianum Hook has Multiple Antibacterial Activities. Insight Ethnopharmacology, 1: 1-2
DOI: 10.5567/ETHNOPHARMA-IK.2011.1.2