Résumé
Nature has gifted widest range of plant diversity to India for the welfare of mankind. Plants have been utilized for various purposes by the human beings since the time immemorial. Plants have been the basic source for therapeutic preparation in the indigenous system of medicine, the Ayurveda. With the recent changes in the life style of human being, over exploitation of natural resources has put a large number of plant species to the verge of extinction. Euphorbia fusiformis Buch. -Ham. ex D. Don (Euphorbiaceae), botanical source for the classical drug Adhoguda is one among plant species threatened with the extinction (endangered). It is a plant having potential pharmacological properties and actions. Traditionally, tribal communities have been using this plant in ethnomedicine to treat headache, arthritis, gout, paralysis, diarrhoea, abdominal diseases, abdominal tumour, liver disorders, urinary stones, chronic wounds, cracks, skin disease, eczema and poor lactation, scorpion and snake bites and plant latex as an antidote. E. fusiformis is reported to possess variety of pharmacological activities like antioxidant, antifungal, diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, hepatoprotective, antinociceptive and galactagogue. Also, the plant has been evaluated for its use in female infertility. Present paper is an attempt to review therapeutic potential of this underexplored drug E. fusiformis.
Résumé
The stem juice powder of Tinospora cordifolia Miers. [Menispermaceae, TIP] was studied for the possible activity of anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive to rationalize the folkloric use of the plant juice as rasayana. TIP at the dose of 50-200 mg/kg caused a significant and dose dependent inhibition of swelling caused by the X carrageenin [1%] and histamine [10-3 g/ ml, 0.1 ml] induced paw edema in rats. The effect was comparable to the standard cycloxygenase inhibitor Ibuprofen 100 mg/kg and percent protection was 18.43% and 18.12% respectively. Administration of TJP [50-200 mg/kg] on analgesy-meter induced mechanical pain exhibited a moderate and dose dependent increase in the pain threshold. However TJP significantly prevented the pain reaction in acetic acid [0.6%] induced writhing in mice and the degree of percent inhibition was 16.98%-35.47%, which is equivalent to 36.67% produced by ibuprofen. These data indicate that the stem juice powder of Tinospora cordifolia rationalizes the traditional system of medicine