Saussurea costus (Kust) and Senna alexandrina (Senna)
Azamal Husen in Herbs, Shrubs, and Trees of Potential Medicinal Benefits, 2022
S. costus is a perennial plant which grows to 1–2 meters in height (Figure 14.1). The plant is upright, strong, with hairs on its surface. Roots are 40–60 cm long, dark brown, and possess specific odor that is described by some as like “wet dog” (Hajra et al., 1995). Leaves of the plant are membranous, glabrate, auricled, and irregularly toothed. Upper leaves are small and often sub-sessile, but the basal leaves are very big up to 0.50–1.25 m long and have a winged petiole. Upper layer of the basal leaves is rough, but the lower layer is smooth with auriculate base.
Monographs of essential oils that have caused contact allergy / allergic contact dermatitis
Anton C. de Groot in Monographs in Contact Allergy, 2021
Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipsch. is a perennial herb with a stout simple stem 1–2 meters high. The costus is endemic In India (where it is called kuth in Hindi) in the sub-alpine regions of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttaranchal, in altitudes of 2500–4000 meter. The major producers of cultivated Saussurea costus are India, China and Vietnam. The costus is a well-known medicinal plant used in the indigenous systems of medicine in India, Korea, Tibet, China, and Japan (2).
“Sourcery”
Stephan Kloos, Calum Blaikie in Asian Medical Industries, 2022
Costus (Tib. ruta) has been cultivated as a cash crop for almost a hundred years. It was first described botanically, as a new species with a binomial name, by Dr Hugh Falconer (1808–1865, Falconer 1841: 456–457), who was the superintendent of the East India Company’s botanical garden at Saharunpur (Uttar Pradesh) at the time. As was also noted by Falconer, costus is endemic to a geographically restricted part of the Western Himalayas, growing wild in small patches on 2600–4000 m high moist slopes in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Northwest Pakistan. NMPB scientists prioritised Saussurea costus as 1 of the 32 “important medicinal plants in short supply” (Kala et al. 2006).20 It is currently cultivated in small fields by families from Lahaul Valley and Uttarakhand who obtained export permits, as well as in Ladakhi herbal plots (cf. Blaikie 2009). Described by Kuniyal et al. (2005) as “the oldest cash crop in the cold desert environment,” kuth – the most common Hindi name for costus – cultivation was found to be in a bottleneck due to factors such as the lengthy reproductive cycle (up to three years), small land holdings, and fluctuating and low market prices that led to farmers shifting to the more profitable cultivation of peas, potatoes, and hops. Based on their Review of the Status of Saussurea Costus, TRAFFIC India (2011: 15) concluded the following (see Kuniyal et al. 2015 for a similar conclusion):[t]here is little evidence to suggest that the uplisting of the species into Appendix I [of CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora] 25 years ago has done much to conserve the species in the wild in India. […] On the contrary, the high and often complex level of regulations has only deterred potential cultivators with the result that commercial cultivation has also not picked up. […] In the case of cultivation, there is great uncertainty whether permits will be granted or not. There is also some confusion regarding the government agency responsible for issuing the permits. This is compounded by a lack of transparency regarding the rules and regulations and an unclear process of decision-making. This has led to a situation where Indian cultivators, those who venture into S. costus cultivation, do not find buyers while the market is flooded with Chinese imports from cultivated sources.
The nephroprotective potential of diosgenin against ischemia-reperfusion acute renal damage via suppression of oxidative stress and downregulating inflammatory mediators
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2021
Prachi Mishra, Deepa Mandlik, S Arulmozhi, Kakasaheb Mahadik
Scientists Fujii and Matsukawa in 1935 have discovered DG from the plant Dioscorea Tokoro Makino belonging to the family Dioscoreaceae DG, a steroidal sapogenin (Figure 1) mainly present in fenugreek, yams and Costus species in high amounts. They are obtained from numerous plant species such as Smilax menispermoidea, Costus speciosus, Trigonella foenum and many other Dioscorea species [21,22]. DG is used as a major precursor bioactive molecule for the synthesis of steroidal drugs in the pharmaceutical industry [23]. In this regard, primarily over the past 20 years, extensive animal and mechanistic experimentation have been done to know the benefits and importance of DG as a leading phytoconstituents in several disease conditions like antioxidant, hypolipidemic, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, anticancer, anti-proliferative, allergic diseases, skin aging, neurodegenerative and menopause [24–27]. Kanchan et al. (2016) have reported the renoprotective role of DG in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats via restoration of antioxidant biomarkers in kidney tissue after the administration of DG [28]. Therefore, nutraceutical, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries have attracted significant devotion toward DG.
Green approach for synthesis of gold nanoparticles from Nigella arvensis leaf extract and evaluation of their antibacterial, antioxidant, cytotoxicity and catalytic activities
Published in Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 2018
Azam Chahardoli, Naser Karimi, Fatemeh Sadeghi, Ali Fattahi
The DPPH assay method by free radical scavenging ability of compounds is a quick and straightforward spectrophotometric method for evaluation of antioxidant effects. In this study, the DPPH scavenging activity of NA-GNPs and N. arvensis extract was measured at different concentrations of 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 μg/ml (Figure 6). As seen in Figure 6, the DPPH scavenging activity of the extracts and NA-GNPs increased with increasing the concentrations. The extracts and NA-GNPs exhibited a maximum DPPH scavenging activity of 32% and 12% at the highest concentration (500 μg/ml), respectively. Our result was in agreement with the study of Nakkala et al. which showed that antioxidant activity of plants extract of Costus pictus and Piper longum was more than biosynthesized AuNPs [29,30]. Also, Kuppusamy et al. (2015) obtained similar results by using green synthesized AuNPs from Commelina nudiflora [31].
Protective potential of Angelica sinensis polysaccharide extract against ethylene glycol-induced calcium oxalate urolithiasis
Published in Renal Failure, 2018
Shengbao Wang, Xiaoran Li, Junsheng Bao, Siyu Chen
Several pharmacological and clinical studies of traditional medicinal plants used to treat urolithiasis have publicized their therapeutic potential in various in vitro and in vivo models. Furthermore, plants provide an inexpensive source of medicine for the majority of the world's population. Such medicines present minimal or no side effects and are considered safe; in addition, studies have indicated that various herbal plants such as Flos carthami [5], Ipomoea eriocarpa [6], Costus spiralis [7], Cissampelos pareira [8] and Herniaria hirsute [9], have been successfully proven as prophylactic and curative medicines for urolithiasis. All these reports suggest that herbal medicines may be a useful strategy for preventing renal stones.
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