The liver is an important organ that aids in the anabolism and elimination of xenobiotics from the body. Liver malfunction is a serious public health problem which affects not only doctors and nurses, but also the pharmaceutical industry and a governing authority of drugs. Excessive alcohol use, toxic chemicals (particular antibiotics, chemotherapeutic drugs, carbon tetrachloride (CCL4), thioacetamide (TAA), and microorganisms all induce liver cell harm. In this scenario, the current synthetic medications to treat liver problems promote more liver damage.
As a result, herbal drugs have grown in popularity and are widely used. For a long time, plants have been utilized to treat hepatic illness. There are a variety of herbal preparations on the market. The goal of this review is to compile information on promising phytochemicals from medicinal plants that have been investigated in hepatotoxicity models utilising cutting-edge scientific methods.
Herbal medicines have a vital role in the prevention and treatment of cancer. A great deal of pharmaceutical research done in technologically advanced countries like USA, Germany, France, Japan and China has considerably improved quality of the herbal medicines used in the treatment of cancer. With advanced knowledge of molecular science and refinement in isolation & structure elucidation techniques, we are in a much better position to identify various anticancer herbs and develop the remedy that might cure cancer. The therapeutic effect of anticancer herbs is executed by inhibiting cancer-activating enzymes, stimulating DNA repair mechanism, promoting production of protective enzymes, inducing antioxidant action and by enhancing activity of the immune cells. Some herbs protect the body from cancer by enhancing detoxification functions of the body. Certain biological response modifiers derived from herbs are known to inhibit growth of cancer by modulating the activity of specific hormones and enzymes. Some herbs reduce toxic side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Scientists all over the world are concentrating on the herbal medicines to boost immune cells of the body against cancer. By understanding the complex synergistic interaction of various constituents of anticancer herbs, the herbal formulations can be designed to attack the cancerous cells without harming normal cells of the body.
A steam distilled volatile oil from the fresh leaves of Citrus sinensis Linn. analysed by capillary-GC and GCMS yielded eight components, of which seven were monoterpenic (99.6%) and one ester (0.4%). Cis-sabinene hydrate (35.1%) was the predominant monoterpene, followed by l - limonene (30.1%), citral (27.9%), lavendulol (2.5%), perillaldehyde (2.0%), α-pinene (1.4%) and perillyl alcohol (0.6%). The ester obtained was tert.-butyl benzoate (0.4%). Whereas volatile oil from its fresh fruit peels yielded five components of which three were monoterpenes (76.5%) and remaining two were non-terpenic compounds. α-pinene (60.80%) was the predominant monoterpene, followed by verbenone (15.40%) and α-thujene (0.30%).The non-terpenic compounds obtained was N-pentylcyclopentane (11.80%) and cyclopentenyl ethyne (11.70%). The maximum antibacterial activity was shown with 1%v/v of volatile oil collected from Greater Noida, U.P on Staphylococcus aureus (16.4 mm) followed by Escherichia coli (14.2 mm), and maximum anti-fungal activity was shown on Candida albicans (13.1 mm) followed by Aspergillus niger (12.5 mm).
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