Natural Products

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.

The animal-based pharmacognosy has become a central science in the 21 st century, which represents a summarization of the conventional old knowledge of medicines and modern drug discovery. Using such models as rodents, zebrafish, and Caenorhabditis, the pharmacological activities of plant-derived active ingredients have been confirmed, indicating the use of active ingredients against inflammations, neuroprotective properties, antioxidant, antidiabetic characteristics, and wound-healing properties. High-end technological methodologies, such as assay of toxicity, behavioral analysis and disease-related models, have promoted both efficacy and safety analyses, whereas the current technological tools, such as LC-MS/MS, network pharmacology, and computational modeling, have increased accuracy, repeatability, and elucidation of the mechanism. Though interspecies variation, absence of standardization of extraction procedures and ethical issues remain a challenge in the field of animal-based pharmacognosy, it has been a revolutionary step in merging ethnomedicine and modern-day biomedical research. New paradigms, like high-throughput screening and omics methods, as well as alternative platforms, e.g., organ-on-chip systems are transforming the field, thereby providing more ethical, accurate, and translationally relevant practices. Combining or integrating the traditional wisdom and modern innovative approach, animal-based pharmacognosy can support sustainable drug discovery pipelines and offer immense opportunity in meeting the global health challenges.

Multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens are emerging and becoming a dire concern, and researchers are dependent on innovative solutions to the problem to reestablish antibiotic susceptibility. This paper examined synergisitc influences of plant-derived agents chosen to comprise of a conventional antibiotic against MDR pathogens. Phytochemicals had moderate anti-microbial activity against the same bacteria when administered separately, and their combination with antibiotics resulted in marked elevation of antimicrobial activity, decreased minimum inhibitory effect (MIC) and postponed resistance development. Bactericidal activity was demonstrated to be sustained over time by time-kill assays and cytotoxicity testing showed positive safety ratios at synergistic concentrations. These results were also justified statistically. Generally, these findings indicate the therapeutic potential value of phytochemical-antibiotic combination in curbing the menace of antimicrobial resistance as a cost effective and a sustainable method of managing this global emergency.