| Ancient-Modern Concordance in Ayurvedic Plants: Some Examples Sukh Dev University of Delhi, B.R.A. Centre for Biomedical Research, Delhi, India Abstract
Ayurveda is the ancient (before 2500 b.c.) Indian system of health care and longevity. It involves a holistic view of man, his health, and illness. Ayurvedic treatment of a disease consists of salubrious use of drugs, diets, and certain practices. Medicinal preparations are invariably complex mixtures, based mostly on plant products. Around 1,250 plants are currently used in various Ayurvedic preparations. Many Indian medicinal plants have come under scientific scrutiny since the middle of the nineteenth century, although in a sporadic fashion. The first significant contribution from Ayurvedic materia medica came with the isolation of the hypertensive alkaloid from the sarpagandha plant (Rouwolfia serpentina) , valued in Ayurveda for the treatment of hypertension, insomnia, and insanity. This was the first important ancient-modern concordance in Ayurvedic plants. With the gradual coming of age of chemistry and biology, disciplines central to the study of biologic activities of natural products, many Ayurvedic plants have been reinvestigated. Our work on Commiphora wightti gum-resin, valued in Ayurveda for correcting lipid disorders, has been described in some detail ; based on these investigations, a modern antihyperlipoproteinemic drug is on the market in India and some other countries. There has also been concordance for a few other Ayurvedic crude drugs such as Asparagus racemosus, Cedrus deodara, and Psoralea corylifolia. Key words:  -aminobutyric acid, antihyperlipoproteinemic drug, Asparagus racemosus, Ayurveda, bakuchiol, Cedrus deodara, Commiphora wightti, GABA, guggulsterones, himachalol, Psoralea corylifolia, reserpine, Rouwolfia serpentina. Environ Health Perspect 107:783-789 (1999) . [Online 25 August 1999] http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/docs/1999/107p783-789dev/ abstract.html Address correspondence to S. Dev, University of Delhi, B.R.A. Centre for Biomedical Research, Delhi 110 007, India. Telephone: 91 (011) 7256245. Fax: 91 (011) 7257730. E-mail: ssda@ndf.vsnl.net.in The research presented in this paper is the result of investigations carried out by several students, whose names appear in the appropriate references ; I thank all of them for their dedication and work. I also thank U.R. Nayak ; R. Srivastava ; B. Bhatt ; N. Nand, S. Nityanand, and their colleagues (Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India) ; I. Kawada (Takasago Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan) ; K. Jeevaratnam (Defence Research Development Establishment, Gwalior, India) ; and R. Misra and J. Cott (National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD) . Received 27 October 1998 ; accepted 5 May 1999.
The full version of this article is available for free in HTML format. |
