Ординатура / Хирургия / Библиотека им академика М.И. Перельмана / Книга_5397_Библиотеки_им_академика_М_И_Перельмана

Higher plants display a great deal of phytochemical diversity in response to varied environmental, physiological and agroclimatic stimuli and species within the same genus can produce a plethora of related or dissimilar biologically active chemicals. Plant-based bioactives are described as primary or secondary metabolites based on their role in plant metabolism. Primary metabolites, responsible for the structure of the plant body and their basic vital functions, include common sugars, amino acids, proteins, lipids, purines and pyrimidines of nucleic acids, which constitute the DNA and RNA, chlorophylls, etc. Secondary metabolites include all other plant chemi­cals such as alkaloids, terpenes, avonoids, lignans, plant steroids, curcumins, sapo­nins, phenolics and glucosides, which may be produced as by-products of primary metabolism. Both primary and secondary metabolites can signicantly impact human health and well-being. Traditional ways of using plant extracts may not be consistent with their phytochemical content, as some phytochemicals may be pres­ent in minute quantities and may remain undetected through normal testing methods followed by traditional practitioners, but in the realm of phytopharmaceuticals, the chemical constitution of the plant material is analysed through a range of highly sensitive chemical and analytical tests to detect, identify and quantify the even trace quantities of bioactive compounds or secondary metabolites, which are responsible for the plant’s medicinal properties. Sophisticated laboratories adopt high­throughput, rapid and precise screening methods to isolate phytochemicals for spe­cic targeted pharmacological activity. A thorough evaluation of the plant material/ crude drug quality, including factors such as moisture content, ash content and other quality parameters, is crucial to ensure consistency and effectiveness in medicinal preparations.

(Venkataranganna etal. 2008; Gopumadhavan etal. 2008).

Formulation studies involve creating herbal medicines in various forms, such as capsules, tablets, creams and tinctures, to enhance their bioavailability and ease of use. Plant biotechnology methods support efcient impregnation of plant extracts in novel drug delivery systems such as liposomes, phytosomes, green synthesised nanoparticles, polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs), nanocapsules and nanospheres, polymeric nanogels and nanosuspensions, carbon nanotubes (CNTS) and nano­bers, polymeric nanomicelles and polymeric nanoliposomes. For example, green extract nanoparticles may be dispersed in a semi-solid cream to deliver antioxidants of high efcacy. Among the recently developed technology-driven drug delivery carriers, polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) with high drug loading capacity, long half­life and high capacity to prevent drug deterioration are very effective. The PNPs offer easy surface penetration possibilities for ligands to pass through the blood­brain barrier (BBB) in Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Parkinson’s disease and other CNS-related maladies.