Bioactive Phytochemicals

Plant kingdom represents a vast emporium of untapped medicinal potential and play a vital role for the development of new drugs. The medicinal value of drug plants is due to the presence of some chemical compounds in the plant tissue that produce a definite physiological action on human body. Early societies learned through trial and error that many plants contained substances with significant curative properties and over the years the natural products became used in more refined ways leading ultimately to the use of pure single component "active ingredient" as drugs. However, the demands of modern medicine requires the evaluation of these plant bioactives using scientific methodologies and assays in order to gauge their potential in the management of the disease. Therefore, extracts and biomolecules with promising activity are unscrupulously screened for efficacy in order to determine if these products have a potential for commercial development. The present book "Bioactive Phytochemicals: Perspectives for Modern Medicine Vol. 1" presents the vast body of research on the subject and includes fifteen research and review communications written by eminent scientists and researchers from India, Brazil, China, Japan, Maxico, Singapore and South Africa and includes topics like - Bioactive pregnanes and cardenolides from Nerium olander; Chemical characteristics and health promoting potentials of flavonoids in the management of diabetes; Limonene: A systematic overview for its chemistry and bioactivity; Phytochemicals against liver disease I: Recent progress in the treatment of AFLD and NAFLD by natural drug products and their active chemical entities, in China and other countries; Phytochemicals against liver disease II: Recent progress in the treatment of liver fibrosis by natural drug products and their active chemical entities, in China and other countries; Anti-allergic leads from Indian medicinal plant; Essential oils from Brazilian Amazonia; Phytochemical and pharmacological profile of plants belonging to Strychnos genus; Phytochemicals as natural antimicrobials; Biomedical potentials of filamentous marine cyanobacterial natural products; Natural bioactive compound from marine plants with anticancer potential; The lauraceae alkaloids; Phytochemical and pharmacological profile of Lepidium sativum Linn.; Chemistry and pharmacology of selected Asian and American medicinal species of Justicia; Biological activities of Anoectochilus formosanus Hayat and its active component. We hope that this volume shall generate further database and interest for the benefit of academicians, researchers and scientists working on bioactive phytochemicals who shall find the compendium very useful and indispensable in their relevant research pursuits.