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Medicinal Plant Product-Based Fabrication Nanoparticles (Au and Ag) and Their Anticancer Effects
Published in Spyridon E. Kintzios, Maria G. Barberaki, Evangelia A. Flampouri, Plants That Fight Cancer, 2019
Natural products obtained from various medicinal plants are the most important source of drugs (Nautiyal et al. 2002, Mishra et al. 2011). There are several products from our day-to-day consumption of herbs, fruits, vegetables, tea beverages, etc., whose active ingredients have shown potential health benefits. For instance, Zecca et al. (2004) have reported that the plant-derived polyphenols are strongly involved in preventing neurodegenerative disorders, diabetes, and malignant conditions. In addition, several plant metabolites have revealed cytotoxic efficiency against many forms of cancerous cells. These medicinal plants, namely Acalypha indica, Andrographis echioides, Catharanthus roseus, Carica papaya, Cassia tora, Clerodendrum phlomidis, Dimocarpus longan, Melia azedarch, M. dubia, Musa paradisiaca, Origanum vulgare, Piper longum, Podophyllum hexandrum, Psidium guajava, Rosa indica, Sida cordifolia, and Syzygium aromaticum, among others, are used for the synthesis and characterization of Au- and Ag-NPs; their anticancer activities have also been reported. Studies have shown that during Au- and Ag-NPs synthesis, the shape, size, and stability of the particles is controlled and/or influenced by several factors such as temperature, pH, incubation time, and plant extract concentrations and that of the metal salt.
Alternative and Complementary Medicine in Treating Fungal Dermatophytic Infections
Published in Anne George, K. S. Joshy, Mathew Sebastian, Oluwatobi Samuel Oluwafemi, Sabu Thomas, Holistic Approaches to Infectious Diseases, 2017
Acalypha indica L. belongs to Euphorbiaceae family, is an annual, erect herb, up to 1 m high. Leaves are 2.5–7.5 cm long, ovate or rhomboid-ovate, crenate-serrate. Flowers in numerous lax, erect, elongated axillary spikes, the male minute, clustered near the summit of the spike, the females scattered, surrounded by a large. Traditionally the leaves mixed with common salt is applied to scabies and other skin diseases (Indian Herbal Remedies, Khare CP). The leaves extracted with water and ethanol showed activity against T.rubrum (water: MIC-9.3 μg/mL, MFC-9.3 μg/mL; ethanol: MIC-9.3 μg/mL, MFC-9.3 μg/mL), T.mentagrophytes (water:MIC-9.3 μg/ mL, MFC-9.3 μg/mL; ethanol: MIC-9.3 μg/mL, MFC-9.3 μg/mL) with respective MIC and MFC values (Vaijayanthimala et al., 2004). The study by Radhika et al. (2013) also revealed the significant activity exhibited by the ethanol and ethyl acetate extract against T.rubrum, T.mentagrophytes, M.gypseum and T.tonsurans showing MIC and MFC at 250 μg/mL for all the organisms rather than the hexanic extract which exhibited at higher 1000 μg/mL concentration.
Herbal Therapies
Published in Anil K. Sharma, Raj K. Keservani, Surya Prakash Gautam, Herbal Product Development, 2020
H. Shahrul, M. L. Tan, A. H. Auni, S. R. Nur, S. M. N. Nurul
One of the herbs used in dermatology is the Acalypha indica (Figure 4.3). It is a weed plant used by elder generations in many countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. It is a traditional medicine for treating parasites, scabies and other skin disorders (Ramalashmi et al., 2018). Even though the plant is known for its therapeutic purposes, some locals consume this plant as vegetable or as fried snack. The ethno-medicinal purposes of A. indica plant toward skin can be either from the leaves or the whole plant. It can be consumed directly or in a combination with other ingredients as a treatment. The preparation of the plants whether fresh or dry is an important aspect for determining its therapeutic efficacy (Zahidin et al., 2017). The leaves are the most abundant part and easy to be separated. It can be either eaten raw or in the form of decoction. In addition, the leaves are also used to treat gum and teeth disease, insect bites, pimples and wound healing (Zahidin et al., 2017). Application of A. indica topically can reduce soreness of the insect bites as this herb has the potential to reduce pain from inflammation and act as a potential analgesic drug (Sudhakar et al., 2016). The saponin constituent found in the plant is believed to contribute the anti-inflammatory properties of A. indica. Furthermore, the leaves contain anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and antioxidant properties which are useful in protecting the skin from external hazards and accelerate healing properties (Selvamani and Balamurugan, 2015). Alkaloid content in A. indica has anti-bacterial activity (Pradeep et al., 2014). This could be due to the presence of tannin, flavonoids, polyphenol, saponin and protein in the herbs. The antioxidant and antibacterial properties of the plant are exhibited through the inhibition of bacterial growth (Batubara et al., 2016). In some practices, the whole plant is consumed in treating mouth ulcers. The mixture of its leaves with oil or other herbs such as black cumin and Cardiospermum halicacabum can be applied to treat skin ailments (Zahidin et al., 2017). The fresh A. indica possesses natural phytochemicals including fatty acid, volatile compound and essential oil that are beneficial for numerous therapeutic activities. During the drying process, the fresh A. indica leaves produce a strong smell. This is due to the volatile compounds present in this plant. They may play a role in the healing process. Loss of 80% weight after the drying process shows the high moisture and volatile compound composition in this plant. However, the remaining phytochemical in the dried plant is still beneficial and provides therapeutic properties for dermatological disorders (Zahidin et al., 2017). The aqueous extract of A. indica caused cell death in dermal cancer cells. The extract induces apoptosis and cell death by interacting with the cell membrane proteins and inducing cellular leakage and finally leading to cell death (Banala et al., 2017).
Anticancer activity of green synthesised gold nanoparticles from Marsdenia tenacissima inhibits A549 cell proliferation through the apoptotic pathway
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2019
Butong Sun, Nanjun Hu, Leng Han, Yanan Pi, Yu Gao, Kang Chen
Plants have enormous prospective for AuNPs synthesis for broad-spectrum applications with preferred morphology of the particles. The small sizes of gold nanoparticles rapidly synthesized using Acalypha indica extract have been equipped as a novel source of bio-reductants [15]. Previously, AuNPs from Nepenthes Khasiana extract has the average size of the particles to be 50–100 nm [16]. Moreover, 15–25 nm size of the gold nanomaterials was produced from Cassia auriculata extract [17]. In this current study, we employed the synthesis and characterization of Au nanoparticles from Marsdenia tenacissima extract. Marsdenia tenacissima (Roxb.) is mainly grown in China and the medicinal usage of this plant was first recorded in “Dian Nan Ben Cao”, a medical literature written by Mao Lan in Ming Dynasty. Marsdenia tenacissima is used in Chinese traditional medicine to treat pneumonia and tracheitis. In addition, this plant has records of significant anti-proliferative activity [18].
Eco-friendly green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their potential applications as antioxidant and anticancer agents
Published in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 2019
Muhammad Jamil Ahmed, Ghulam Murtaza, Faisal Rashid, Jamshed Iqbal
Particle size calculated by the Scherer formula and SEM analysis revealed that green synthesized JDLAgNPs and JDRAgNPs were in nano-regime. In addition, various researchers proposed that smaller size and spherical green synthesized AgNPs exhibited good biological properties [1,19,38–40]. EDX results also show good agreement with the previous study that peak obtained at 3 keV confirmed the presence of silver in green synthesized AgNPs [39] and peaks around it represent various valency states of silver in AgNPs [40]. The peaks at 0.25, 0.5 C were due to O or C elements usually observed in the samples deposited on carbon-coated copper grids and other small peaks might be due to plant bioactive compounds that capped on metal surface [41]. The high percentage of silver in JDLAgNPs (70.91%) and JDRAgNPs (96.61%) was obtained in the present study as compared to previous reported study which showed 68.13% of silver in AgNPs was synthesized using leaf extract of Hibiscus cannabinus [36]. The result of TEM micrographs showed spherical shape nanoparticles with average size of 28 nm and 40 nm synthesized from J. dolomiaea leaf and root extract, respectively. Several studies have reported the formation of wide range of AgNPs in terms of shape and size using various plant aqueous extracts, Artemisia absinthium [40] and Acalypha indica [42].
Recent advances in metal nanoparticles in cancer therapy
Published in Journal of Drug Targeting, 2018
Ankush Sharma, Amit K. Goyal, Goutam Rath
The copper oxide NPs are synthesised from different plant extracts like Ficus religioss and Acalypha indica. This is called as green synthesis of NPs which is found to be reliable, simple, non-toxic and environment friendly method. These NPs have shown cytotoxic effect by causing apoptosis and increase in the generation of ROS in human lung cancer cells. Copper oxide NPs are also used in vitro to treat melanoma and metastasis lung tumours of mouse by using B16-F10 cells. Copper oxide NPs have shown their cytotoxic and antitumor effect into these cells also. With increase in the specificity, they increase the survival rate of tumour bearing model of mice. To check the clearance rate of CONPs from the body, 2 mg/kg dose of CONPs was given to mouse and after seven days major organs are collected and observed. The results demonstrated the rapid clearance of CONPs from the organ without any toxicity [141]. Furthermore, in the in vitro study, the author observed the targeting of CONPs to the mitochondria of HeLa cells and release cytochrome C followed by activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Table 1 summarizes the application of different nanoparticles in cancer therapy.