Himalayans and the world of Ayurvedic medicines

Himalayans- King of mountains and the home of many natural remedies and medicinal plants:

Himalayans cover most of the northern India. It comprises the major division of Kunaon and Garhwal. These mountains have great contribution in the Indian civilization and been an essential part of Indian history. Many different cultures have flourished in its shelter and left their mark in the form of their customs, traditions and languages. Also in the world of spirituality, Himalayans holds its great value and importance.

Along with the beauty, peace and serenity, these mountains also contain a huge range of natural herbs and medicinal plants that has been long used traditionally to treat various diseases. Huge potential have been found in these plants in a medicinal point of view.

 Indian Himalayan region alone supports about 18,440 species of plants (Angiosperms: 8000 spp., Gymnosperm: 44 spp., Pteridophytes: 600 spp., Bryophytes: 1736 spp., Lichens: 1159 spp. and Fungi: 6900 spp. of which about 45% are having medicinal property. (Ref 1)

These medicinal plants have formed a part of Traditional knowledge system. United Nations University proposal defines Traditional Knowledge System: “Traditional knowledge or ‘local knowledge’ is a record of human achievement in comprehending the complexities of life and survival in often unfriendly environments. Traditional knowledge may be technical, social, organizational, or cultural was obtained as part of the great human experiment of survival and developments.” Traditional knowledge has specially helped the poor as a problem-solving strategy for local communities. (Ref 1)

Significance of Medicinal Plants:

Medicinal plants and products from the plants, also known as phytochemicals has formed an alternate path to treat diseases from the existing conventional path, i.e. the use of antibiotics in the modern medicinal sciences. Growing resistance of the microorganisms to the existing chemotherapy has led to realization of the natural products from the plants that serve as an alternate therapy that can also reduce cost of treatment and be less toxic. Lots of medicinal plants have been shown to have antibacterial, antifungal, anti-viral and anti-protozoal properties. Studies have shown that alcoholic extracts from different parts of the plant (leaves, twigs, green fruits, etc) possess antibacterial properties especially the leaf extract. A plant like Withania Somnifera has been suggested to activate the macrophage functions in infectious states and has been shown to increase survival of the mice suffering from fungal infection. Phyllanthus amarus has been found to inhibit the secretion of Hepatitis B surface Antigen from the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, thus proven to have anti-viral properties (Ref 2).

Also in-vitro studies have shown anti-viral activity in the mangrove plant extracts against the HIV infection.

Also, Neem (Azadirachta indica) has been utilized against malaria causing protozoan’s (Ref 2).

There has been a strong correlation found between the phytochemicals from a plant and their pharmacological activity.

Various phytochemicals are mentioned below:

Phenolics and polyphenols: They are substituted phenolic rings. For example, catechol and pyrogallol are hydroxylated phenols is toxic to mico-organisms. Quinones are aromatic rings with ketone substitutions and they have found to complex with nucleophilic amino acids in proteins leading to inactivation of protein and therefore is a good target of research for its anti-microbial activities as it can probably bind to surface exposed adhesins on the microbial cells (Ref 2).

Flavonoids are hydroxylated phenolic substances. They have a ability to complex with extracellular proteins and bacterial cell wall. Falvonoids such as Glycyrrhizin and chrysin have found its effectiveness against HIV in various studies. Galangin (3,5,7 trihydroxyflavone) is a derivative of perennial herb Helichrysum aureonitens possesses antibacterial, antifungal and anti-viral activity and particularly in case of HSV-1 and coxsackie B virus (Ref 2).

Tannin are polymeric phenolic substances and they display the property of astringency as they are able to precipitate gelatin from solution. They are found in almost every part of the plant. They are suggested as being toxic to filamentous fungi, yeast and bacteria. Studies have also showed that tannin is capable of inhibiting reverse transcriptase (Ref 2).

Coumarins are phenolic compounds and consist of fused benzene and alpha- pyrone rings. They have been found to stimulate macrophages that might cause an indirect negative effect on infections (Ref 2).

Terpenoids are secondary metabolites of plants that are responsible for the fragrance in plants. They are made of terpenes that have the general chemical structure of C10H16. In terpenoids terpenes also contains additional elements such as oxygen. They have found its utility against bacterial, fungal and viral infections (Ref 2).

Alkaloids are heterocyclic nitrogen compounds. Morphine was the first medically used alkaloid. Solamargine, a glycoalkaloid from the berries of solanum khasianum, and other alkaloids might have the potential to treat HIV infections and intestinal infections associated with AIDS (Ref 2).

Peptides that can inhibit microorganisms are usually positively charged and have disulphide bonds in them. Thionins are peptides usually found in barley and wheat and are toxic to gram- negative and gram- positive bacteria. Lectins  are proteins that can bind to sugar. A mannose specific lectin MAP30 from bitter melon, GAP 31 from Gelonium multiflorum and Jacalin are inhibitory to viral proliferation (HIV cytomegalovirus). The probable mechanism is by inhibition of interaction between the virus and the host cell components (Ref 2).

Plants and their products having such enormous potential in natural remedy needs more attention and more research done on them will be of great value to the mankind.

Importance of Ayurveda in this scientific world:

The use of these traditional medicines has been based on the experience of people using it from centuries. Most of the herbs have been mentioned in ancient scriptures and the Ayurvedic literatures for their therapeutic effects. However, there is a significant lack of scientific research done on them as to find their mechanism of action. Along with offering cure, this system has also led to problems as many natural herbs (of unknown purity) are being sold by herbal suppliers and therefore, self- medication with them can lead to complications. There has growing awareness of these concerns and some research has been done on few medicines and very encouraging results have been obtained. Studies have been conducted on treatment of various diseases with herbal medicines such as depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, hyper- tension, diabetes mellitus, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease which has definitely shed light on the basic chemistry and bioactivity related to the medicine.

However, there is still a greater need to expand more on more on the basic information obtained and do clinical trials on them so make their use safe and bring them in to clinical practices.

One of the Ayurvedic medicine that particularly was of interest to me was Shilajit and my increasing curiosity on this medicine led me to various facts that I discovered doing several research online on this herbal remedy. Here, I try to outline all that I could find and understand about this ancient drug.

Reference:
1. Himalayan Medicine System and its Materia Medica

By DP Agrawal

2. Sher, A., “Antimicrobial activity of natural products and from medicinal plants,” Department of Biochemistry, Gomal medical college D. I. Khan, Pakistan