The Discovery & Development Of Novel Drugs From Plant Derived Products

Plant derived products have proven to be an excellent source for the discovery and development of novel drugs. Currently, there are more than 120 chemotherapeutic agents of plant origin (Franceworthe, 1988), many of which are still acquired directly from plants in which they are synthesized (Craig, 1999). Many herbal plants contains anti-oxidant compounds which protects cells against degenerative effects of reactive species (Ansari et al., 2013). It is commonly accepted that reactive oxygen species such as superoxide (O*2), Hydroxyl (OH*) and peroxyl (*OOH, ROO*) Radicals are produced under oxidative stress. Reactive oxygen species play important role in degenerative or pathological process, such as aging (Burns et al., 2001), cancer, coronary heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease (Diaz et al., 1997).

Natural antioxidants have attracted attention of users on account of adverse toxicological reports on some synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisone (BHA) and growing awareness among consumers (Ramalakshmi et al., 2007). Medicinal mushrooms and fungi are thought to possess approximately 130 medicinal functions such as anti-tumor, anti-oxidant, radical scavenging, anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal among others. Several of the mushroom species have been subjected to phase I, phase II and phase III clinical trials and have been used extensively and successfully in Asia to treat various cancers and other diseases (Wasser, 2014).

Oso (1975) reported that traditional doctors employ T.microcarpus found in mushroom as a medicinal preparation for the treatment of gonorrhea. Ganoderma is a genus of lignicolous polypore mushrooms that grow mostly on deciduous trees. G. lucidum is the most investigated and best known medicinal mushroom species, while G. applanatum has been inconsiderably reported to contain useful antitumor polysaccharide in liquid cultured mycelium (Lee et al., 2007). Their secondary metabolites are responsible for the biological effect such as anti-oxidant (Ferreira et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2015), antiviral, antibacterial, cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and immune stimulatory (Hu et al., 2002; Paterson,2006). G. applanatum had pronounced the greatest activity of anti-oxidant than G.

lucidum hence proved to be better source of natural anti-oxidant. Medicinal plants contains some organic compounds which produce definite physiological action on human body and these bioactive substances include tannins, alkaloids, carbohydrates, terpenoids, steroids and flavonoids. Phenolics have been known to possess a capacity to scavenge free radicals. The anti-oxidant activity of phenolics is due to their redox properties, which allows them to act as reducing agents, hydrogen donors. They are commonly in leaves, flowering tissues and woody parts such as stems and barks. Studies have shown that they play an important preventive role in the development of cancer, heart diseases and aging related diseases (Soni & Sosa, 2013).

Use of seaweeds as potential producers of pharmaceutical products have been reviewed. Recently, a great deal of interest have developed to isolate bioactive compounds from marine resources. Seaweeds have attracted special interest as good sources of anti-inflammatory agents. Earlier studies on anti-inflammatory study of sargassum spshowed increase in inhibition with increase in concentration. Marine algae extracts have been reported for strong antioxidant properties (Yuvaraj & Arul, 2014). Several species of seaweeds have caused an emerging avenue in biomedical field due to their great potential as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anti-tumor drugs.(Yilmaz et al., 2016) From the literature, different medicinal plants, marine algae and mushrooms contain different levels of antioxidants, phytochemicals and anti-inflammatory activities, but it does not compare antioxidants and phytochemicals or justify the suppression of anti-inflammation as reported in the literature.

There are no reports on the comparative evaluation of antioxidant activity of seaweeds belonging to different groups. Thus, it would be necessary to investigate the detailed study on anti-inflammatory potential of crude extracts that may lead to promising compounds. G. G was observed to be a potential candidate rich in phenolic and flavonoid, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of long term storage and solvent extraction of total phenolic and total flavonoid content. Medicinal plants, marine algae and mushrooms selected in this research have different contents of anticancer, phytochemicals, radical scavenging and anti-inflammations. G. applanatum have proved to have higher antioxidant activity and total phenolic content than G. lucidum (Raseta et al., 2016).

Seaweed have attracted special interest as good source of anti-inflammation agents, antioxidant and anticancer (Yuvaraj and Arul, 2014). Study also shows that triterpenoid, which is known for its anti-inflammatory effect, had previously been identified in P.africana bark extract (Kadu et al.,2012). Important phytochemicals such as saponins, steroids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds and tannin were found to be present in all the B.micrantha samples (Leaves, bark and roots) (Mburu et al., 2016). The FTIR analysis of U.dioica proved the presence of aromatic rings, alkenes, carboxylic acid, phenols, nitro compounds and esters (Huda et al., 2015). Coreleopsis have not been studied.