Aarushi Pandey

This study is a quantitative assessment of the alkaloid and flavonoid content of the wild and cultivated varieties of a well-known and richly endowed medicinal plant, Rauvolfia Serpentina. Total alkaloids, specific indole alkaloids (reserpine, rescinnamine and ajmaline), and total flavonoids were determined by standardized field sampling, solvent extracts, UV-Vis spectrophotometry, and UHPLC of roots and leaves in 15 wild and 15 cultivated plants. Metabolite Profiles Thin-Layer chromatography (TLC) was used as qualitative confirmation of metabolite profiles. Findings demonstrated that all targeted compounds were more concentrated in wild plants and extract yields were greater in those plants than in cultivated ones. Soil analysis identified that there was a high positive relationship between organic matter and amount of metabolites and a negative relationship between soil pH, which shows that acidic and organic rich soils support the production of secondary metabolites. Two-way ANOVA indicated that the condition of growth and type of tissue had significant effects on the levels of phytochemicals, and the effect of the interaction between them was moderate, whereas PCA allowed the differentiation of wild and cultivated samples by high loadings of reserpine, rescinnamine, and total alkaloids. These discoveries establish the importance of wild R. serpentina population ecologically and agronomically and such reflection of improvement lends scientific support to sustainable harvesting, better cultivation processes through replication of wild traits and quality in herbal medicinal which is drug manufacturing process.

Natural products have been the growing source of new therapeutic agents and the fields of ethnopharmacology and pharmacognosy overlap greatly. Ethnopharmacology is the record of traditional knowledge and medicinal practices and leads researchers to plants and compounds that have possible bioactivity. This is complemented by pharmacognosy which involves isolation, characterization, and assessment of these bioactive compounds by conducting stringent preclinical studies, especially animal models. In this review, the authors have synthesized the most important results of studies conducted on animals, mentioning, in particular, the compounds of 6-hederin of Nigella sativa, and curcumin of Curcuma longa, which have anticancer, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity. The synthesis of the disciplines provides an improvement to drug discovery by incorporating cultural relevance and scientific validation and focuses on sustainability as well as effectiveness. Issues like standardization, ethical issues and regulatory barriers are critically addressed. Finally, the future opportunities are presented, including the standardized approaches, interdisciplinary approaches, and ethical frameworks, to get the best out of natural products as therapeutic agents. Such review highlights the significance of preparing a bridge between the traditional knowledge and contemporary pharmacological science to promote the creation of effective and sustainable therapeutics.