Osbeckia

REVIEW OF LITERATURE The number of plant species in India is estimated to be over 45,000 representing about 7% of the world’s flora. Medicinal plants, as a group, comprise approximately 8000 species and account for about 50% of all the higher flowering plant species of India. India is one of the richest countries in the world as regards genetic resource of medicinal and aromatic plants. It constitutes 11% of total known world flora having medicinal property. Ayurveda has been in practice in India for more than 3500 years and the first recorded book on Ayurvedic medicine was Charaka Samhita dates back to 600 BC. The traditional healers have used this resource since time immemorial for the benefit of mankind (Shahin, 2007). Plant-derived

substances,

collectively

termed

“phytonutrients,”

or

“phytochemicals,” are becoming increasingly known for their antioxidant activity. (Briviba, 1994). The majority of the antioxidant activity is due to the flavones, isoflavones, flavonoids, anthocyanin, coumarin lignans, catechins and isocatechins (Aqil, 2006). Anticancer properties of many natural compounds isolated from different Indian plant extracts have been reported. Research is being carried out throughout the world to find a lead compound which can block the development of cancer in humans. Nature has always been a great contributor towards this goal. Plant-derived natural products such as flavonoids, terpenoids and steroids have received considerable attention due to their diverse pharmacological properties, which include cytotoxic and chemopreventive effects (Abdullaev, 2001). A natural product from medicinal plants plays a major role to cure many diseases associated with inflammation. The conventional drug available in the market to treat inflammation produces various side-effects. Due to these side-effects, there is need for the search of newer drugs with less or no side-effects. There are hundreds of phytoconstituents reported to have many pharmacological activities although most of these reports are of academic interest and very few find entry in clinical trials (Kumar et al., 2013).

Plants have ability to synthesize aromatic substance such as

phenolic, nitrogen compound vitamins terpenoids and some other endogenous

metabolites as defense mechanism against predation by microbes, insects’ herbivores (Bharathi et al., 2011). The development of drug resistance in human pathogen against commonly used antibiotics has necessitated the search for new antimicrobial substance from other source like plants. PLANT DESCRIPTION Osbeckia octandra (L.) D.C. belongs to the family Melastomataceae. This family comprises of several gen-era and numerous species. Among such, Osbeckia species have antioxidant (Su et al., 1987a,b; Su et al., 1988; Thabrew et al.,1998), hepatoprotective (Thabrew et al., 1997; Grayer et al., 2008), Antiinflammatory, anti-nociceptive (Rajan and Thangaraj, 2013),immunomodulatory (Nicholl et al., 2001), hypoglycemic and antihyperglycemic properties (Syiem and Khup, 2006) and antimicrobial activity (Suman and Anjeza, 2013). Osbeckia octandra is a plant used in traditional medicine to treat jaundice and other liver disorders. Heen bovitiya has been used as medicinal plant in Ayurveda (Jayaweera, 1982) Osbeckia octandra (Melastomataceae) is a rare endemic perennial plant with a high medicinal value which can also be used as an ornamental species as it bear beautiful violet colour flowers. Systematic position Kingdom

Plantae

Division

Magnoliophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Myrtales

Family

Melastomataceae

Genus

Osbeckia

Species

Octandra

Botanical Name: Osbeckia octandra (L.) D.C. Synonyms: Melastoma octandra Vernacular name: Sanskrit: Heen bovitiya, English: Eight stamen Osbeckia BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF GENUS OSBECKIA Herbs, shrublets, or shrubs, erect. Stems 3 or 4-sided, pubescent. Leaves opposite or sometimes 3-whorled, petiolate or sessile; leaf blade usually pubescent, secondary veins 1–3 on each side of midvein, tertiary veins numerous and parallel, margin entire. Inflorescences terminal, capitate or panicled. Flowers 4- or 5-merous, purple or white, usually bracteate. Hypanthium urceolate or flaskshaped, often setiform tuberculate, stellate appendaged, pectinate tuberculate or with polycylic setiform stellate trichomes on stalks. Calyx lobes linear, lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, margin ciliate. Petals obovate or broadly ovate, margin ciliate or not. Stamens twice as many as perianth segments, isomorphic, equal or subequal; filaments shorter or as long as anthers; anthers oblong or oblongovate, beak long or short; connective decurrent, base abaxially slightly inflated or shortly spurred and sometimes with 1 or 2 setose, adaxially lengthened tubercles. Ovary half inferior, 4- or 5-celled, ± adherent to hypanthium, apex with a setose ring. Style filiform. Capsule ribbed, middle often contracted, dehiscing at truncate apex by 4 or 5 pores. Seeds numerous, curved (cochleate), small, densely granulate. About 50 species are distributed in tropical W Africa, tropical and subtropical Asia and five species in China.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF OSBECKIA OCTANDRA

Geographical description The plant is native to Sri Lanka and India. The plant can be found mostly on close to water streams, woodlands, small and large forest in wet land of Sri Lanka (Thabrew et al., 1995). Also found in hybrids on home garden as an ornamental plant. Habitat: Shrub Stem:It is a much-branched shrub, grows up to 2 m tall. Branches are rather sparsely velvety with prostrate or spreading hairs. Leaves: Leaves are quite entire, elliptic, 1.5-6 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide, rounded to point at the base, with a pointed tip. Leaves are 3-nerved, generally hairless or sparsely velvety, carried on a 1-5 mm long stalk. Flower: Flowers are few, up to 19, borne in loose clusters. Sepals are triangular, 2-4 mm long, bristled at the tip. Petals are 1.5-1.9 cm long, pink to mauve or purple. Stamens are 8, as the species name octandra suggests, with large, narrowly ovate anthers, 6-8.5 mm long, twisted.

MEDICINAL PROPERTIES Aqueous extracts of Osbeckia octandra DC. And O. aspera Blume, have traditionally been used for treatment of viral hepatitis by Ayurvedic practitioners in Sri Lanka (Jayaweera, 1982). They also use the mature leaves of Osbeckia octandra for its Hepatoprotective properties and anti-diabetes prosperity. Salad is prepared with fresh leaves and taken along with meals. The decoction is prepared with 120 gm of fresh leaves and taken twice a day. (Ediriweera et al 2009). The other species of the genus Osbeckia has also been used in trational system of medicine to treat various ailments.

Ayruvedic medical practitioners in Sri Lanka use aqueous extracts of the mature leaves of Osbeckia aspera to treat liver disease. (Nicholl, 2001).In Taiwan, a decoction of aerial parts of Osbeckia chinensis is used as a drink to treat dysentery. The Filipinos swallow the juice of the root to alleviate cough and to remove blood from saliva (Christophe Wiart, 2006). Osbeckia parvifolia whole plant known as “Cherkulathi (Tamil)”widely distributed in the Southern Western Ghats. The whole plant is used for the treatment of swellings in folk medicine (Rajan and Thangaraj, 2013). PHYTOCONSTITUENTS: Reports have been made on the compositions of the other species of the same genus. Crude extract of Osbeckia aspera Blume of family Melastomataccae , used traditionally to treat liver disease, was fractionated by column and preparative paper chromatography, and the fractions were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using diode array and mass spectrometric detection. Phenolic acids (gallic, protocatechuic,

and

galactopyranoside, glucopyranoside,

ellagic

acid),

quercetin and

flavonol

glycosides

3-O-beta-glucopyranoside,

kaempferol

3-0-(6

[quercetin

3-O-beta-

kaempferol

3-O-beta-

''-O-p-coumaroyl-beta-glucopyranoside)

(tiliroside)] and flavonols aglycones (quercetin and kaempferol) were identified by comparison of their retention times, UV and MS spectra with those of authentic standards. Five compounds from a methanol extract were identified by NMR spectroscopy

as

the

flavonol

glycosides,

quercetin

3-O-(3

''-O-acetyl-beta-

galactopyranoside) and kaempferol 3-O-[2 '',6 ''-di-O-(E, E)-p-coumaroyl-betaglucopyranoside], and the norsesquiterpenoids 6,9-dihydroxy-4,7-megastig- madien-3one, 9-hydroxy-4,7-megastigmadien-3-one and 9-hydroxy-4-megastigmen-3-one (Grayer et al, 2008). Five constituents, 2-furoic acid, succinic acid, ursolic acid, quercetin and daucosterol were isolated and identified from Osbeckia chinensis (Zeng X, 1991).Twelve compounds

were isolated and identified from the MeOH extract of the roots O. opipara, they are lasiodiplodin (1) , de-O-methyllasiodiplodin (2), 2, 3- dihydro-2-hydroxy-2, 4-dimethyl5-trans-propenylfuran-3-one (3), integracin (4), 5alpha, 8alpha-epidioxy-(22E, 24R)ergosta-6, 22-dien-3beta-ol (5), 3, 3', 4'-tri-O-methylellagic acid (6), 5-hydroxymethyl furaldehyde (7), vomifolio (8) , betulintic acid (9), 2alpha-hydroxyursolic acid (10), (24R)-stigmast-4-ene-3-one (11), and eugenitin (12) (Wang, 2009). Numerous therapeutic compounds were isolated and identified from the MeOH extract of the roots O. opipara by repeated column chromatography over silica gel，RP18 and Sephadex LH-20，and preparative thin layer chromatography were used to isolate the compounds.Their structures were determined by spectroscopic methods by direct comparing spectral data with those reported references. The compounds identified are lasiodiplodin, de-O- methyllasiodiplodin, 2，3- dihydro-2-hydroxy-2,4-dimethyl-5-transpropenylfuran-3-on integracin，5α8α-epidioxy-（22E，24R）-ergosta-6，22-dien-3βol，3，3'，4'-tri-O-methylellagic

acid，5-hydroxymethyl

furaldehyde，vomifolio，betulintic acid，2α-hydroxyursolic acid，（24R）-stigmast4-ene-3-one，and eugenitin (Hongsheng et al, 2009). TLC has been used for the isolation and determination of Phytochemicals such as alkaloids, Phenols, flavonoids, acids, alcohols, glycols, amides, alkaloids, vitamins, aminoacids, antibiotics and so on where the 30-60minute runs give a great advantage in comparison to the12-24 hours required for paper chromatography. Purinealkaloids have been separated by TLC on silicic acid, silica gel and aluminium oxide (Kumar, 2013). ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY Plants of the Osbeckia family have been shown to possess hepatoprotective properties, which could be due to the presence of antioxidant compounds. The plant extract was shown to inhibit significantly in a dose-dependent manner, the activities of the DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical, xanthine oxidase and demonstrate

a scavenging effect on hydroxyl radical mediated damage to deoxyribose . The plant extract possessed some prooxidant activity from the effect on bleomycin-induced DNA damage, but this was less than that shown by comparable concentrations of (+)-catechin or silymarin. (Thabrew et al., 1987). The search for methods to determine free radical scavenging is important. The main methods comprise superoxide radicals scavenging (O2 ·-); hydrogen peroxide scavenging (H2O2); hypochlorous acid scavenging (HOCl); hydroxyl radical scavenging (HO.); peroxyl radical scavenging (ROO.), among them are the methods that use azocompounds to generate peroxyl radicals, such as the ``TRAP'' method (Total RadicalTrapping Antioxidant Parameter) and the ``ORAC'' method (Oxygen-Radical Absorbance Capacity); the scavenging of radical cation 2,2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6sulphonate) or the ABTS or the ``TEAC'' method (Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity);

the

scavenging

of

stable

radical

2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl

or

DPPH method and the scavenging of radical cation N,N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine or DMPD method (Sánchez-Moreno, 2002). The study on the antioxidant activity of forty-six methanol plant extracts, from the botanical families Asteraceae, Euphorbiaceae, Melastomataceae, Rubiaceae and Solanaceae, collected at the Regional Natural Park Ucumarí (RNPU, Risaralda, Colombia), were established by using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicalscavenging assay. The plant extracts that showed the greatest antioxidant activity were Phyllanthus sp. (54.0%, Euphorbiaceae), followed by the two species belonging to the Melastomataceae family Tibouchina grossa (47.0%) and Miconia lehmannii Cogn. (45.3%) and continuing with Lycianthes radiata (Sendt.) Bitter. (41.5%, Solanaceae) (Mosquera, 2009). The methanolic extract of M. albicans (Melastomataceae) showed a high level of total phenolic contents; the results with antioxidant assays showed that the methanolic extract, the n-butanolic fraction and the isolated flavonoids from M. albicans had a

significant scavenging capacity against AAPH and DPPH. Quercetin, quercetin-3-Oglucoside, rutin, 3-(E)-p-coumaroyl-α-amyrin was isolated from the n-butanolic fraction and α-amyrin, epi-betulinic acid, ursolic acid, epi-ursolic acid from the chloroformic extract. The study demonstrated that M. albicans is a promising species in the search for biologically active compounds (Pieroni, 2011). Applications of antioxidants are increasing due to their multiple roles in minimising harmful effects of oxidative stress. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH ) radical scavenging assay is routinely practiced for the assessment of antiradical properties of different compounds. A detailed literature survey revealed use of different materials and methods for DPPH assay by different investigators resulted in variation in the values of reference standards and measured parameters of new antioxidants. (Mishra, 2012). Non enzymatic glycation is the major cause of spontaneous damage to proteins leading to various complications due to formation of non-reversible Advanced Glycation End Products (AGEs) and oxidative stress. Investigation of the antiglycation effect, antioxidant activity and phenolic content of Osbeckia octandra leaf decoction showed that the water extracts of three samples of Osbeckia octandra leaves from three different areas had significant anti-glycation activity, ABTS antioxidant activity and DPPH activity.(Perera et al., 2013). The effect of maceration, Soxhlet and fractionation extraction from whole plant of another species of Osbeckia, O. parvifolia was studied for free radical scavenging. Quantitative analysis showed that whole plant has high contents of total phenolic, tannin and flavonoid. Antioxidant assessment results registered higher anti-radical property for both macerated and Soxhlet methanol extracts compared to other solvent extracts. Successively extracted methanol extract from Soxhlet apparatus protected protein denaturation and erythrocyte membrane lysis comparable to standard Diclofenac sodium. Whole plant served as a potential source of antioxidant from natural (Rajan and Thangaraj, 2013).

The presence of total phenolics and flavonoids and possess in vitro antioxidant activity has been confirmed in the leaves of Melastoma malabathricum L. The methanol extract of leaf of Melastoma malabathricum L. showed potent hydroxyl, superoxide, ABTs radical cation scavenging activities. Ethanol extract of leaf showed strong DPPH radical scavenging activity. The maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50) in all models viz., DPPH, hydroxyl, superoxide and ABTs radical cation scavenging activity of leaf of M. malabathricum were found to be 27.16, 26.12, 30.65 and 25.53μg/mL respectively at 1μg/mL concentration (Mohan,2013). HEPATOPROTECTIVE ACTIVITY Aqueous extracts of the aerial parts of Melothria maderasptana and the leaves of Osbeckia octandra have been compared with (+)-3-cyanidanol with regard to their abilities to alleviate carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)-induced liver dysfunction in albino rats by comparing the abilities of these drugs to protect the liver against CCl4-mediated alterations in the liver histopathology and serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (GOT), alkaline amino-transferase (GPT), and alkaline phosphatase. In both pretreatment and post-treatment (administration of drugs before or after CCl4 treatment) experiments, the most marked rate of recovery of the liver was exhibited by the group of rats treated with Melothria maderaspatana extract. Although the protection offered by (+)-3cyanidanol

and Osbeckia octandra appears

to

be

comparable

in

post-

treatment, Osbeckia was significantly more effective in pre-treatment. From the overall results obtained it appears that the aqueous extracts of Melothria maderaspatana and Osbeckia octandraare either as potent or in some instances (in pretreatment experiments) more potent than (+)-3-cyanidanol (Jayathilaka et al., 1989). Investigation of

the effects of an aqueous extract of Osbeckia octandra

againstinjury induced by D-galactosamine and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBH) in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes showed thatthe plant extract significantly reduced the inhibition of protein synthesis in hepatocytes and decreased the release of cellular lactate

dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST)enzyme activities into the medium. With TBH, the plant extract decreased lipid peroxidationand decrease in the release of LDH and AST, into the incubation medium. Significant protection was also obtainedwhen the Osbeckia extract was added to the incubation medium up to 30 min after pre-exposure of the hepatocytesto either galactosamine or, to a lesser extent, TBH. The results support the use of Osbeckia as a hepatoprotectiveagent. (Thabrew et al., 1995) The effects of Osbeckia octandra leaf extract on paracetamol-induced liver injury were investigated both in vivo in mice and in rat hepatocytes in vitro. Oral administration of Osbeckia extract at the same time as paracetamol to mice, resulted in a significant protection against liver damage, as assessed by improvements in the blood Normotest, total liver glutathione, plasma aspartate aminotransferase level, and liver histopathology at 24 h after paracetamol administration (Thabrew et al., 1995). In experiments to assess the direct effects of Osbeckia octandra extract, significant protection was found in freshly isolated rat hepatocytes against damage induced by 185 microM 2,6-dimethyl N-acetyl p-quinoneimine (2,6-diMeNAPQI, an analogue of NAPQI, the toxic metabolite of paracetamol) in vitro. When Osbeckia extract was added to the incubation medium at the same time as 2,6-diMeNAPQI significant changes in cell viability ,cell reduced glutathione (GSH) level , and reduced release of lactate were demonstrated after 1 h incubation as compared with 2,6-diMeNAPQI alone. Significant protection was still obtained against 2, 6-diMeNAPQI in vitro when addition of Osbeckia extract was delayed by 20 min. (Thabrew et al., 1995). A crude water extract, 50% acetone extract and fractions from Osbeckia aspera Blume , a 100% methanol extract, and three of the phenolic acids in the fractions were tested for in vitro hepatoprotective activity against bromobenzene and 2,6-dimethyl-Nacetyl p-quinoneimine toxicity to HepG2 liver-derived cells. The crude water extract showed protective activity against both liver toxins, whereas the fractions and compounds

were more protective against 2,6-dimethyl-N-acetyl p-quinoneimine than bromobenzene. Of the three phenolic acids present in the extracts that were tested, gallic and protocatechuic acids were more active at protecting the liver cells from the two toxic compounds than ellagic acid (Grayer et al, 2008). IMMUNOREGULATORY ACTIVITY The effects of aqueous extracts of Osbeckia octandra whole plant, Melothria maderaspatana whole plant and Phyllanthus debelis leaves on the human immune system were investigated. The extracts showed strong anticomplement effects on both the classical and alternate pathways of the human complement system in vitro. The effects were dose-dependent and most pronounced in the classical complement pathway assay. The extracts also exhibited a direct dose-dependent inhibition of luminol-induced chemiluminescence of human polymorphonuclear leukocytes upon stimulation with zymosan (Thabrew et al., 1991). HYPOGLYCAEMIC ACTIVITY The aqueous extracts of Osbeckia octandra and two other plant species truly possess oral hypoglycaemic activity. Experiments shows that the plant extracts significantly lowered the fasting blood glucose level and markedly improved glucose tolerance in Sprague-Dawley rats. A maximum hypoglycaemic activity was observed at +3 hr with O. octandra and B. vulgaris. The hypoglycaemic activity of O. octandra was comparable with that of tolbutamide. The magnitude of the hypoglycaemic effects varied with the dosage used and the time of storage (Fernando, 1990) Roots of Osbeckia chinensis. L. (Melastomaceae), used by the local community from North Eastern Region India as medicine. The plant was evaluated for hypoglycemic and anti-hyperglycemic activity. Traditionally, a decoction of the roots is used as folk remedy for a variety of ailments, including diabetes mellitus. The effect of aqueousmethanol (1:4) root extracts of O. chinensis. In reducing blood glucose level at different doses varied with the dosage used in both normal and alloxan-induced diabetic mice. The

investigation showed that the plant has hypoglycemic and anti-hyperglycemic activity (Syiem and Khup, 2006). A review on the various medicinal plants used by traditional and Ayurvedic physicians obtained from ayurivedic textbooks and old manuscripts noted that the patients are recommended to consume antidibectic herbs as food or drinks: as chime ( Osbeckia octandra ) , currries ( Lassia spinos ), salads ( Centella asiatica), spices ( Trigonella foenumgraecu), fresh fruites ( Phyllanthus emblica ) , etc. ( Ediriweera and Ratnasooriya , 2009). ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY The increasing clinical and microbiologic resistance of Candida spp. isolates to several antifungal agents is becoming a serious problem. It is now reasonable to propose the use of antifungal susceptibility testing in Candida spp. isolates from patients who have failed conventional therapy, before the selection of an empirical therapy. One hundred and fifty eight isolates of Candida spp. were evaluated simultaneously by broth microdilution (NCCLS standard) and well diffusion testing (WD), a diffusion method similar to disc diffusion. According to the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test performed, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between both methodologies for all antifungal agents tested (fluconazole, itraconazole, posaconazole, caspofungin and amphotericin B, with C. tropicalis, C. krusei, C. dubliniensis, C. guillermondii, C. parapsilosis, C. albicans and C. glabrata). A significant difference was observed when comparing well diffusion with NCCLS for fluconazole WD 80% (p=0.008) in C. glabrata, as well as WD 80% (p=0.002) and WD 50% (p=0.002) in C. albicans. The well diffusion test is simple, easy to reproduce, inexpensive, easy both to read and interpret, and has a good correlation to the reference NCCLS microdilution test and may represent an alternative method for antifungal drug susceptibility testing of Candida spp., (Magaldi, 2004). Methanol and chloroform extracts of the leaves of Species of genus miconia belonging to Melastomataceae family were investigated for antimicrobial activity using the disc-

diffusion method. The results obtained showed that the methanol extracts of the leaves ofM. rubiginosa and M. stenostachyaand the chloroform extract of the leaves of M. cabucu presented antimicrobial activity against the tested microorganisms (Rodrigues et al., 2008). Antifungal activity was investigated in different extracts of 45 medicinal plants collected from different regions of Tamil Nadu. Osbeckia chinensis is one among the 13 plants belonging to families which showed broad spectrum antifungal activity. Of the various solvent used for extraction, the methanol extract of leaves was found to be significant (Duraipandiyan and Ignacimuthu, 2011). In- vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities of methanolic extract of osbeckia wynaadensisby disc diffusion method using five bacterial strains (S. pneumonia, B.cereus, A. hydrophila , V. cholera and MRSA) and five fungal strains (Candida albicans, Aspergillus niger, Streptomysis Greusis, M. purpureus and Aspergillus fumigate) respectively showed significant zone of inhibition in minimum inhibitory concentration . Invitro cytotoxic activity of Osbeckia wynaadensis was also investigated against the human cervical adenocarcinoma cell line (HeLa) and murine embryonic fibroblasts cell line (NIH 3T3) by MTT assay. It was concluded that Osbeckia wynaadensis exhibited significant antibacterial, antifungal & in-vitro cytotoxic activity (Sujina and Subban, 2012). Marcetia taxifolia of the family Melastomataceae was found more effective (active against 10 microorganisms studied), and only its methanol extract inhibited Gramnegative bacteria (P. aeruginosa and S. choleraesius). SPE and HPLC-DAD analysis showed that M. canescens and M. macrophylla contain glycosylated flavonoids, while the majority of extracts from M. taxifolia were aglycone flavonoids (Leite et al, 2012). The triterpenes ursolic acid and oleanolic acid were identified and isolated from the methylene chloride extract Tibouchina candolleana(melastomataceae).The ursolic acid

showed effective against selected endodontic bacteria. As for the semi-synthetic ursolic acid derivatives, only the methyl ester derivative potentiated the activity against Bacteroides fragilis (Santos et al, 2012). Osbeckia stellateBuch.-Ham. ex D. Don., of Melastomataceae have shown potentially superior antimicrobial and antioxidant efficacy. Differential antimicrobial or antioxidant activity of extracts against different bacteria might be due to presence of different active phyto-chemicals. Among those antimicrobial compounds, phenolic compounds, terpenoids, and steroids are very important compounds in antimicrobial or antioxidant effects (Suman and Anjeza, 2013). ANTIINFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY Sonerila tennevelliensis Fischer and Melastoma malabathricum (Melastomataceae) whole plants was extracted with ethanol and evaluated for antiinflammatory activity in rats. Ethanol extract exhibits potent antiinflammatory activity at 500mg/kg at 3hr administration. Observed pharmacological activity in this study provides scientific validation of ethnomedical uses of these plant in treating acute inflammation.(Mohan, 2013 and Balamurugan, 2012). Osbeckia stellataBuch.-Ham. ex D.Don is traditionally prescribed to treat various inflammatory diseases. A study to explore the anti-inflammatory effects of 99% methanol extracts of O. stellata showed that dose-dependently diminished the release of NO and PGE(2), and suppressed the expression of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 in LPS-treated RAW264.7 cells. Os-ME clearly inhibited the translocation of c-Rel, a subunit of nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), and c-Fos, a subunit of activator protein-1 (AP-1), and their regulatory upstream enzymes including Src, Syk, and IRAK1. Interestingly, orally administered Os-ME ameliorated acute inflammatory symptoms and suppressed the activation of Src, Syk, and IRAK1 induced by HCl/EtOH treatment in mouse stomach. Os-ME can be considered as an orally available anti-inflammatory herbal remedy with Src/Syk/NF-κB and IRAK1/AP-1 inhibitory properties (Yang et al, 2012).

Protein denaturation and membrane stabilization assays were employed to assess the anti-inflammatory activity of different extracts of O. parvifolia.Successively extracted methanol extract from Soxhlet apparatus protected protein denaturation and erythrocyte membrane lysis comparable to standard Diclofenac sodium (Rajan and Thangaraj, 2013). The numbers of plant derived drugs have been screened for their antiinflammatory and anti-arthritic activity. Drug development in the recent times often relies on use of natural and synthetic drugs, which are promising candidates as therapeutic agents for prevention of diseases and disorders. Development of inflammatory events basically related to various chemicals, such as glucocorticoids (GCs) and mometasone furoate (MF); endogenous factors such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-�); enzymes and proteins such as copper and zinc-superoxide dismutase (SOD), proinflammatory peptide substance (PPS), RGD peptides, interleukin-4 (IL-4), IL-10, interferon- � (IFN�), COX, LOX, cytokines such as interleukin-1 (IL-1); reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2; as well as pro-inflammatory cells such as T and NK cells are well known to have an important role. Based on these correlations, numerous assays were used for inflammatory mechanism research. HRBC is one among the variour optimized Methods for In Vitro and In Vivo Anti-Inflammatory assay followed widely(Nile, 2013). Dissotis thollonii Cogn. belonging to the Malastomataceae family is used in the West Region of Cameroon for the treatment of inflammation, kidney diseases, pregnancy control and sinusitis The biological and phytochemical characterization of the root extracts of D. thollonii validated the use of this plant for the treatment of inflammation and sinusitis, thus providing evidence that this plant extracts, as well as some of the compounds isolated from the plant , might be potential sources of antioxidant and antiinflammatory drugs (Nono,2014).

ANTI-CANCEROUS ACTIVITY: Natural products remain an important source of new drugs, new drug leads and new chemical entities. The plant based drug discovery resulted mainly in the development of anticancer agents including plants (vincristine, vinblastine, etoposide, paclitaxel, camptothecin, topotecan and irinotecan), marine organisms (citarabine, aplidine and dolastatin 10) and micro-organisms (dactinomycin, bleomycin and doxorubicin) (Cragg et al., 1997). Tumour cells isolated from bone marrow, malignant effusions or solid biopsies were subjected to drug exposure for 48–96 h. Cell survival measured by re-incubation in MTT for 4 h showed a significant correlation of in vitro results with in vivo outcome for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and for ovarian cancer (both p