Herbal medicinal products

Context: Fagonia cretica is a medicinal herb reported to have flavanoids of potential therapeutic value and Citrus paradisi is a fruit, whose juice is of great therapeutic value due to its anti-hyperglycemic effects.

Aims: To determine anti-hyperglycemic and renal protective effect of methanolic extract of Fagonia cretica and Citrus paradisi juice (grapefruit juice) in alloxan induced diabetic rabbits.

Methods: Diabetes was induced in rabbits by alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, i.p.). The therapies including Fagonia cretica methanolic extract (500 mg/kg), Citrus paradisi juice (7 mL/kg) and sitagliptin (10 mg/kg) were administered (p.o.) to diabetic groups for 14 days. The biochemical parameters, glucose, creatinine, urea, bilirubin, albumin, total protein, globulins and albumin/globulin ratio were estimated.

Results: Fagonia cretica extract and grapefruit juice therapy significantly (p<0.05) reduced glucose levels in diabetic rats. Fagonia cretica extract was more effective anti-hyperglycemic agent than Citrus paradisi juice and sitagliptin. Significant (p<0.05) improvement in kidney function was observed in treated groups, the plant extract showing significant improvement as compared to the other two treatments. The histopathological results verified improvement in structural damage of kidney, liver and pancreas with these treatments.

Conclusions: Fagonica cretica and Citrus paradisi juice therapy markedly improved hyperglycemia and kidney functions in alloxan-induced diabetic rabbits.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis, which represents a substantial economic burden for society and significantly affects patients' quality of life. Current conventional treatments of OA may be insufficiently effective and unsafe. In an attempt to overcome these limitations, many patients use herbal medicinal products (HMPs) and dietary supplements. A considerable number of herbal drugs and preparations (e.g., willow bark, Salicis cortex; devil's claw root, Harpagophyti radix; blackcurrant leaf, Ribis nigri folium; nettle leaf/herb, Urticae folium/herba; meadowsweet/meadowsweet flower, Filipendulae ulmariae herba/flos; rosemary leaf/oil, Rosmarini folium/aetheroleum; and juniper oil, Juniperi aetheroleum) are traditionally employed to relieve minor articular pain. Active constituents (e.g., sesquiterpene lactones, triterpenic acids, diarylheptanoids, iridoid glycosides, phenolic glycosides, procyanidins, and alkaloids) are not often fully known. Experimental studies suggest that herbal extracts/compounds are able to suppress inflammation, inhibit catabolic processes, and stimulate anabolic processes relevant to OA. Therapeutic benefit of most HMPs is expected solely from the experience of their long-standing traditional use. Efficacy and safety of several HMPs were assessed in clinical trials. The growing body of preclinical and clinical evidence provides rationale for the use of herbal products in the treatment of OA. However, at present, they cannot be recommended to patients with confidence.

Background: The present review article provides an overview of the published literature concerning microbial quality of medicinal plants and products and their decon-tamination methods. It is important to analyze different aspects regarding the cultivation, growing, harvesting, storage, manufacturing, and decontamination of medicinal plant products. Herbal medicinal plants bear a massive microbial load leading to contamination and mycotoxin, which needs to be considered, and properly controlled using suitable sterilization and decontamination methods. Methods: The main focus of this review is on the definition, advantages, disadvantages and applications of decontamination methods, particularly to show that one must consider the characteristics of the initial sample to be decontaminated. Results: The effects of various methods (ozone, plasma, irradiation) on medicinal herbs and products treated for microbiological decontamination are dependent on factors related to microbial load (i.e., nature and amount of initial contamination), herb/product matrix (i.e., complexity of chemical composition, physical state-solid or liquid) and treatment conditions (i.e., time, irradiation dose, absence or presence of oxygen). In addition, it is important to accept some loss of the chemical compounds , while decreasing microbial load to acceptable limits according to official herbal pharmacopoeias and literature, thus ensuring a final product with quality, safety and therapeutic efficacy. Conclusion: The conclusion, which comes from this contribution, is that herbal medicine has more contaminants than a chemically well-defined drug, thus, good manufacturing practices should be followed.

The Italian herbal products market is the most prosperous in Europe. The proof is represented by the use of these products in several marketing categories, ranging from medicine to nutrition and cosmetics. Market and legislation in Italy are at the same time cause and consequence of this peculiar situation. In fact, the legislation on botanical food supplements in Italy is very permissive and at the same time the market shows an overall satisfaction of users and strong feedback in terms of consumption, which brings a widening use of medicinal plants, formerly the prerogative of pharmaceuticals, to other fields such as nutrition. This review summarizes the market and normative panorama of herbal products in Italy, highlighting the blurred boundaries of health indications, marketing authorizations and quality controls between herbal medicines and non pharmaceutical products, such as food supplements, cosmetics and other herbal-based &ldquo;parapharmaceuticals&rdquo;.

Natural compounds from herbal plants have been extensively used for the application of various natural care products, including ointment. The essential oil of Cymbopogon nardus has been widely used in multiple applications such as mosquito repellent, perfumery and soap making. Besides, a small dose of this plant’s volatile oil could be applied to comfort the stomach and aid digestion. Therefore, this study aims to formulate herbal ointments with varying Cymbopogon nardus oil concentration and investigate different oil concentration effects on the ointment properties. In this study, five ointment formulations of ratio virgin coconut oil to herb, 1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 1:8 and 1:10, were evaluated. At the same time, five infused oil ratios to beeswax (5:95, 10:90, 15:85, 20:80 and 25:75) were used. Preparation of Cymbopogon nardus oil involved the soaking of the prepared plant in virgin coconut oil. The infused oil then was mixed with the beeswax before it was heated and left to be semi-solid...

The present study aimed to assess the quality and risks involved in the consumption of psychoactive herbal products (PHs) that are available through informal commerce in the city of Diadema, SP, Brazil. Methods of ethnography were used to conduct the fieldwork during which four dealers were selected to record the collection, handling, packaging, types of PHs marketed, and their therapeutic purposes. In addition, lots of the PHs selected were purchased from the dealers and analyzed using microbiology and pharmacognosy techniques. 217 PHs were recorded and categorized into two main groups:stimulants(67%) anddepressants(27%) of the central nervous system; sixteen of them were selected, and their 52 lots were acquired. The deficiencies observed in handling and packaging these lots by dealers were confirmed by microbiological analysis; 80.8% of them presented risk according to the indicators defined by the Brazilian Pharmacopoeia. The pharmacognostic analysis confirmed the authenticity o...