A Reconnaissance of Ethnic Psychedelic Plants of Western Himalaya and their Possible Identity to Soma
T. Pullaiah, K. V. Krishnamurthy, Bir Bahadur in Ethnobotany of India, 2017
Spess (2000) had suggested that soma may be a species of Nymphaea or Nelumbium. Although these appear to have alkaloids as well as gluco- sides that may act of psychoactive compounds that cause the effects of the soma drink. Susruta Samhita characterizes some varieties of soma as floating water plants on lakes such as Manasa in Kashmir. This as well as the fact that soma is said to govern female water spirits suggest the possibility of these water plants as being soma. The flowers of some species of Nymphaea have been shown to induce ecstasy similar to that caused by 3,4-methylene- dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (popularly called “Ecstasy”). Some species of water lilies are known as soma in some tribal languages of this region. Rig vedic hymn IX 69.5. Characterizes Nymphaea as Amrita (=ambrosia). However, Shah (2015) states that it would be difficult to accept the water lilies as soma.
Phytosomes: Preparations, Characterization, and Future Uses
Amit Baran Sharangi, K. V. Peter in Medicinal Plants, 2023
Sumathi and Senthamarai (2015) developed one phytosomal preparation with Nymphaea nouchal and Trichosanthes dioica (Td). Formulation was prepared by solvent evaporation technique by reacting phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) in tetrahydrofuran in dioxane: methanol (7:3) solvent system. Various formulations were prepared with molar ratios of 1:10, 1:8, 1:6, 1:4, 1:2 and 1:1 for Nymphaea nouchal (Nn) and Td, respectively. Various characterizations such as particle size, IR spectroscopy, DSC, drug content, diffusion, and stability studies were performed. The mean particle size was found to be 268 nm for the selected best formulation with Nymphaea nouchal and Td ratio of 1:8. The formulation had an entrapment efficiency of 89%, and it was found to be stable for a significant period of time when tested with specific storage conditions. As compared to standard (Levamisole) and crude drug mixture, the developed phytosomal preparation exhibited significant increase in diffusion rate. The developed formulation had favorable in vitro release characteristics which might be is promising for decreasing the effect of exogenous factors and increasing drug delivery.
Inhibiting Insulin Resistance and Accumulation of Triglycerides and Cholesterol in the Liver
Christophe Wiart in Medicinal Plants in Asia for Metabolic Syndrome, 2017
Synonyms: Nelumbium nuciferum Gaertn.; Nelumbo speciosa Willd.; Nymphaea nelumbo L.Common names: lian (Chinese); sacred lotusSubclass Ranunculidae, Superorder Proteanae, Order Nelumbonales, Family NelumbonaceaeMedicinal use: anxiety (China)
The analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of zukamu granules, a traditional Chinese medical formulation
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2019
Qiang Yin, Shuaihong Hou, Hailong Yin, Dandan Mu, Dajun Jiang, Fang Tian, Jing Jing Li, Fang Huang
Zukamu granule is a formula in Chinese medicine from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China, composed of the resurrection lily rhizome (Kaempferia galanga Linn. [Zingiberaceae]), pygmy water lily (Nymphaea tetragona Georgi [Nymphaeaceae]), pobumuguo (Cordia dichotoma Forst. [Boraginaceae]), mentha (Mentha haplocalyx Briq. [Labiatae]), jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill. [Rhamnaceae]), manzanilla (Matricaria recutita Linn. [Compositae]), liquorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch. [Leguminosae]), seed of hollyhock (Althaea rosea (L.) Cav. [Malvaceae]), Rheum officinale Baill. (Polygonaceae) and poppy capsule (Papaver somniferum L. [Papaveraceae]). The compound was manufactured by modern science and technology based on a secret ancient prescription from Uygur. In the past, the prescription was the first choice for local physicians to cure common colds. Although the efficacy of zukamu granules has been confirmed in clinical practice for the treatment of the common cold or upper respiratory infection in the Xinjiang area in China (Liu et al. 2014; Xing et al. 2015), the pharmacological and pharmacodynamic properties of zukamu, especially its mechanism of action, have not been adequately investigated.
Molecular mechanism and research progress on pharmacology of traditional Chinese medicine in liver injury
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2018
Hong Yang Zhang, Hong Ling Wang, Guo Yue Zhong, Ji Xiao Zhu
Chinese herb medicine Panax ginseng C. A. Mey (Araliaceae) (Almajwal and Elsadek 2014), Abrus mollis Hance (Leguminosae) (Chen et al. 2014), wild ginseng (Kim et al. 2015), and Nymphaea candida C. Presl (Nymphaeaceae) (Zhao et al. 2017) can attenuate d-GalN-induced liver injury, and was shown to possess hepatoprotective activity against d-GalN-induced liver injury, whereas its bioactive constituent nicotiflorin can decrease the high levels of serum enzymatic and cytokines. In addition, compounds such as limonin (Mahmoud et al. 2014), genistein (Ganai and Husain 2016), and schisandrin A (Lu et al. 2014) can increase the activation of autophagy flux, inhibit apoptosis and enhance immunity towards liver injury.
Collagen biosynthesis stimulation and anti-melanogenesis of bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) extracts
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2020
Romchat Chutoprapat, Waraporn Malilas, Rattikarl Rakkaew, Sarinporn Udompong, Korawinwich Boonpisuttinant
Melanogenesis is a complex process for melanin pigment production in malanosomes of melanocytes, which respond to ultraviolet B (UVB)-irradiation. Also, it plays a role in protection from skin damage from ultraviolet radiation. However, overproduction of melanins can cause skin problems such as freckles, melasma and melanoma skin cancer (Pillaiyar et al. 2017). All BG extracts at the concentration of 0.1 mg/mL did not show cytotoxicity on the murine melanomas (B16F10) cell line (Figure 2(B)). Therefore, this concentration was proper to investigate anti-melanogenesis of the BG extracts. Most BG extracts at 0.1 mg/mL demonstrated the anti-melanogenesis activity on B16F10 cells, especially the BG-HM extract, which gave the highest activity with the inhibition of 72.90 ± 0.08% and was superior to that of kojic acid (45.35 ± 0.28%) by about 1.6-fold (Figure 4). The phenolic and flavonoid content in the BG-HM might be responsible for anti-melanogenesis activity, which presents their phytochemicals content in medicinal plants on B16F10 cells (Campos et al. 2013; Kim et al. 2015). Likewise, hesperidin, a flavonoid and a popular antioxidant activity, suppressed melanin synthesis by stimulated Extracellular signal-regulated kinases (Erk1/2) phosphorylation and degraded microphthalmia‑associated transcription factor (MITF) (Lee et al. 2015). Moreover, Nymphaea nouchali flower extract (NNFE) has compounds of seven flavonoids and two spermidine alkaloids, which significantly reduced melanogenesis and inhibited mushroom tyrosinase activity as well as reduced melanin content in vitro and in vivo by downregulating MITF expression via suppression of cAMP (Alam et al. 2018). Previously found results, the phenolic and flavonoid compound present in plants, and plant extracts inhibited cellular melanin content and tyrosinase activity in α-MSH-stimulated B16F10 cells though suppressing MITF, tyrosinase, TRP1 and TRP-2 (Zhu et al. 2016; Chatatikun et al. 2019). Therefore, the presence of radical scavenging or antioxidant activities might be related to down-regulation of melanogenesis (Huang et al. 2015).
Related Knowledge Centers
- Abiogenesis
- Alkaloid
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