Natural products and their derivatives are known to be useful for treating numerous diseases since ancient times. Because of their high therapeutic potentials, the use of different medicinal plants is possible to treat varied inflammation‐mediated chronic diseases. Among natural products, phytosteroids have emerged as promising compounds mostly because they have diverse pharmacological activities. Currently, available medications exert numerous systemic toxicities, including hypertension, immune suppression, osteoporosis, and metabolic abnormalities. Thus, further research on phytosteroids to subside these complications is of significant importance. In this study, the information on phytosteroids, their types, and actions against inflammation, and allergic complications was collected by a systematic survey of literature on several scientific search engines. The literature review suggested that phytosteroids exhibit antiinflammatory action via different modes through transrepression or selective COX‐2 enzymes. Also, in silico ADMET analysis was carried out on available phytosteroids to uncover their pharmacokinetic properties. Our analysis has shown that eight compounds: withaferin A, stigmasterol, β‐sitosterol, guggulsterone, diosgenin, sarsasapogenin, physalin A, and dioscin, −isolated from medicinal plants show similar pharmacokinetic properties as compared to dexamethasone, commercially available glucocorticoid. These phytosteroids could be useful for the treatment of inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, asthma, and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, systematic research is required to explore potent phytosteroids with lesser side effects, which might substitute the current medications.

Alkaloids are a type of natural compound possessing different pharmacological activities. Natural products, including alkaloids, which originate from plants, have emerged as potential protective agents against neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) and chronic inflammations. A wide array of prescription drugs are used against these conditions, however, not free of limitations of potency, side effects, and intolerability. In the context of personalized medicine, further research on alkaloids to unravel novel therapeutic approaches in reducing complications is critical. In this review, a systematic survey was executed to collect the literature on alkaloids and their health complications, from which we found that majority of alkaloids exhibit anti-inflammatory action via nuclear factor-κB and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and neuroprotective interaction through acetylcholinesterase (AChE), COX, and β-site amyloid precursor protein activity. In silico ADMET and ProTox-II-related descriptors were calculated to predict the pharmacological properties of 280 alkaloids isolated from traditional medicinal plants towards drug development. Out of which, eight alkaloids such as tetrahydropalmatine, berberine, tetrandrine, aloperine, sinomenine, oxymatrine, harmine, and galantamine are found to be optimal within the categorical range when compared to nicotine. These alkaloids could be exploited as starting materials for novel drug synthesis or, to a lesser extent, manage inflammation and neurodegenerative-related complications.

Diabetes is a metabolic disorder of high blood sugar levels which leads to various chronic health-related complications. The digestive enzymes α-amylase and α-glucosidase play a major role in the hydrolysis of starch to glucose; hence, inhibiting these enzymes is considered an important strategy for the treatment of diabetes. Medicinal plants such as Bergenia ciliata, Mimosa pudica, and Phyllanthus emblica are commonly used in traditional remedies due to their numerous health benefits. This study aimed to determine the phytochemicals as well as TPC and TFC contents in these plant extracts along with their antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase and α-amylase. The ethyl acetate extracts of selected plants have shown higher TPC and TFC contents. The aqueous extract of B. ciliata (IC50: 16.99 ± 2.56 μg/mL) and ethyl acetate extract of P. emblica (IC50: 11.98 ± 0.36 μg/mL) and M. pudica (IC50: 21.39 ± 3.76 μg/mL) showed effective antioxidant activities. Furthermore, ethyl acetate extract of B. ciliata showed significant inhibitory activity against α-amylase and α-glucosidase with IC50 values of 38.50 ± 1.32 μg/mL and 3.41 ± 0.04 μg/mL, respectively. Thus, secondary metabolites of these medicinal plants can be repurposed as effective inhibitors of digestive enzymes.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, has been a global concern. While there have been some vaccines and drugs, the rapid emergence of variants due to mutations has threatened public health. As the de novo drug development process is expensive and time-consuming, repurposing existing antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 is an alternative and promising approach to mitigate the current situation. Several studies have indicated that some natural products exhibit inhibitory activities against SARS-CoV-2. This study is aimed at analyzing the potential of natural alkaloids, using various computational tools, as drug candidates against SARS-CoV-2. The molecular docking analysis predicted that naturally occurring alkaloids can bind with RNA-dependent RNA-polymerase (RdRP). The QSAR analysis was conducted by using the way2drug/PASS online web resource, and the pharmacokinetics and toxicity properties of these alkaloids were predicted using pkCSM, SwissADME, and ProTox-II webserver. Among the different alkaloids studied, neferine and berbamine were repurposed as potential drug candidates based on their binding affinity and interactions with RdRP. Further, molecular dynamics simulation of 90 ns revealed the conformational stability of the neferine-RdRP complex.

The discovery of antidiabetic natural products is a flourishing field of opportunity in the sector of drug discovery. Various medicinal plants with diverse chemical constituents have been extensively studied for drug development. Bergenia ciliata and Mimosa pudica have been traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes and consist of valuable phytochemicals. In this study, we have analyzed total phenolic and flavonoid content along with the antioxidant and α-amylase inhibitory activity. The crude extract of B. ciliata contains higher levels of TPC whereas higher TFC was observed in M. pudica. The strong antioxidant activity was shown by B. ciliata with an IC50 value of 125.86 ± 4.16 μg/mL. The ethyl acetate extract of B. ciliata and M. pudica showed higher α-amylase inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 13.97 ± 0.10 and 11.97 ± 0.36 μg/mL, respectively. The biological potential of the reported phytochemicals was also assessed by using bioinformatic tools. Furthermore, the active phytochemicals from these plants were docked with human pancreatic α-amylase to study their inhibitory activities to this enzyme. The docking analysis revealed that catechin has lower binding energy (−8.6 kcal/mol) as compared to the commercial drug acarbose (−7.3 kcal/mol) indicating higher affinity towards the enzyme. This study additionally sheds more light on medicinal plants’ antidiabetic activity. So, this study will aid in the investigation of the biological properties of these plants as well as the identification of potential compounds with antidiabetic properties.