Valeriana jatamansi Jones ex Roxb. Against Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Network Pharmacological Analysis, and In Vivo Evaluation

Zhi zhu xiang (ZZX) is the root and rhizome of Valeriana jatamansi Jones ex Roxb. Recent studies have shown that ZZX can exert antianxiety, antidepressant, and sedative effects. Because post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is similar to depression and anxiety in terms of its etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical manifestations, it is possible that ZZX may also be useful for the prevention and treatment of PTSD. In this study, a mouse model of PTSD was established and used to study the pharmacological action of a 95% ethanol extract of ZZX on PTSD via a series of classic behavioral tests. We found that a 95% ethanol extract of ZZX was indeed effective for relieving the symptoms of PTSD in mice. Moreover, network pharmacology analysis was used to predict the potential active ingredients, targets, and possible pathways of ZZX in the treatment of PTSD. The neurotransmitter system, the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and the endocannabinoid (eCB) system were identified to be the most likely pathways for anti-PTSD action in ZZX. Due to the lack of a falsification mechanism in network pharmacology, in vivo tests were carried out in mice, and the expression levels of neurotransmitters, hormones, and genes of key targets were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and real-time PCR to further verify this inference. Analysis showed that the levels of norepinephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and glutamic acid were increased in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and amygdala of PTSD mice, while the levels of dopamine and γ-aminobutyric acid were decreased in these brain regions; furthermore, ZZX could restore the expression of these factors, at least to a certain extent. The levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone, corticosterone, and corticotropin-releasing hormone were increased in these different brain regions and the serum of PTSD mice; these effects could be reversed by ZZX to a certain extent. The expression levels of cannabinoid receptor 1 and diacylglycerol lipase α mRNA were decreased in PTSD mice, while the levels of fatty acid amide hydrolase and monoacylglycerol lipase mRNA were increased; these effects were restored by ZZX to a certain extent. In conclusion, our findings suggest that ZZX may provide new therapeutic pathways for treating PTSD by the regulation of neurotransmitters, the HPA, and expression levels of eCB-related genes in the brain.

Effect of elevated CO2 and elevated temperature on growth and biomass accumulation in Valeriana jatamansi Jones. under different nutrient status in the western Himalaya

Valeriana jatamansi is an important medicinal and aromatic plant used as sedative in modern and traditional medicines butthere is dearth of literature regarding how elevated CO2 and temperature affect on this plant. Therefore,an experiment was conducted to study the effect of elevated CO2 (550±50 µmol mol-1) and elevated temperature (2.5±0.5°C above ambient) and vermicompost on growth, phenology and biomass accumulation in V. jatamansi under Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) and Free Air TemperatureIncrement (FATI) facilities at Palampur, India, during 2013-2015. Growth parameters and biomass accumulation into different parts were observed at 4, 12 and 16 months after exposure (MAE). Plant height, total dry biomass and leaf area plant -1 increased in elevated CO2 treatment applied with vermicompost as compared to the other treatments. Elevated CO2 significantly enhanced leaf area (3.5-23.5%), leaf biomass (12.7-33.2%), stem (15.3-15.6%), root (3.2-72.5%), rhizome (2.1-42.2%) and total biomass (7.7-52.7%), whereas elevated temperature increased aboveground biomass (15.0-45.3%), belowground biomass (11.6-55.5%) and total biomass (12.4-7.9%), respectively, as compared to ambient. Phenological stages were advanced by 1.2-3.9 days under FACE and FATI as compared to ambient. The results indicate that aboveground, belowground and total biomass increased under elevated CO2 and elevated temperature as compared to ambient.

Clonal Propagation of Valeriana jatamansi Retains the Essential Oil Profile of Mother Plants: An Approach Toward Generating Homogenous Grade of Essential Oil for Industrial Use

Valeriana jatamansi Jones (Syn. V. wallichii DC.) is an aromatic, medicinal herb used as a tranquilizer and in treating sleep disorders. Rhizome is mainly used to extract essential oil (EO) and valepotriates. High quality and economic yield of rhizomes are available in the third year of growth. Therefore, the cultivation of V. jatamansi is not picking up, and over-exploitation of this plant from wild habitats to meet the increasing demand of the pharmaceutical industry is the cause of threat to the genetic diversity of the species. Further, collections from the wild are heterogeneous, resulting in variable produce. The development of clonal lines can ensure uniform quality and yield of rhizome biomass. An effective clonal propagation method was standardized using different hormonal concentrations of naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) on apical shoot cuttings from the selected clone CSIR-IHBT-VJ-05 for different time durations and raised over various planting media. NAA treatment of 50 ppm concentration for 30 min was found optimum for root induction in apical shoots of V. jatamansi. Variations for EO composition within the clone were non-significant, while samples of the control population were variable. The best quality EO (patchouli alcohol ∼62%) was available during the third year of plant growth. A propagation technique for large-scale quality plant material (QPM) production has been standardized to reduce the stress over natural resources and promote V. jatamansi for use in the aromatic and pharmaceutical industry.

Induction and Submerged Cultivation of Valeriana Jatamansi Adventitious Root Cultures for Production of Valerenic Acid and its Derivatives

In vitro adventitious roots were induced from Valeriana jatamansi to assess their quality as an alternative ingredient for extraction of secondary metabolites to meet the demand of phytopharmaceutical industries. A significantly (p ≤ 0.05) high root induction (90 %) was achieved on Schenk and Hildebrandt medium fortified with 9.84 µM indole-3-butyric acid. A maximum root biomass (144.09 ± 11.36 g/L) with high relative growth rate (2.01 ± 0.04) and growth index (13.41) was achieved in submerged cultivation. The total valerenic acid derivatives (1525.14 µg/g DW) and acetoxy valerenic acid (534.91µg/g DW) were significantly high in induced adventitious roots, with notable quantity of hydroxyl valerenic acid (919.57 µg/g DW) that otherwise not quantifiable in parent plant parts. In addition, 0.059% essential oil yield consisting of 24.00% patchouli alcohol was also obtained from induced adventitious roots. The phenolic acid derivatives were also significantly higher in adventitious roots (451.58 µg/g DW) as compared to rhizome (187.79 µg/g DW) and leaves (263.68 µg/g DW) of the parent plant. Notably, a substantial increase in phytochemicals was evident at subsequent culture stages with significantly reduced in vitro cultivation cycle (2 months) as compared to field grown plants (24 months). Conclusively, a comparable metabolic profile of in vitro induced V. jatamansi adventitious roots and considerably shorter growth cycle clearly determines its potential as a feasible source of phytoconstituents.

Ethnobotany of the Himalayas: Safeguarding Medical Practices and Traditional Uses of Kashmir Regions

The present study was carried out to enlist the medicinal plants used by the local inhabitants of developing countries such as India, and the district of Kupwara of the Kashmir Himalaya has been targeted. Our research is one of the first study focusing on the statistical evaluation of the cross-cultural analysis between three different communities i.e., Dard, Kashmiri and Gujjar, of the study area. Sampling was carried out in eight villages in 2017 to 2020, and data were collected from 102 informants based on walking transects, to collect plant specimens, and semi-structured interviews. The medical usages of all collected taxa were grouped into 15 disease categories and 81 biomedical ailments. In this study, we documented around 107 plant taxa belonging to 52 families from the local inhabitants of the Kashmir Himalaya, which regulate the livelihood of the people and support cultural ecosystem services. Asteraceae, Rosaceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Ranunculaceae, Poaceae, Solanaceae, Polygonaceae, Plantaginaceae and Brassicaceae are the top most dominant families. Herbaceous groups of plants were more common than trees and shrubs, and 71.96% of herb taxa were employed as medicine. Liliaceae, Caprifoliaceae and Portulacaceae (FUV = 0.24 each) have the highest family use value (FUV). The most prominent family was Asteraceae (seven genera, nine taxa), followed by Rosaceae and Lamiaceae (six genera, six taxa each). Persicaria Mill., Rheum L., Aconitum L. and Artemisia L. were prominent genera. Valeriana jatamansi Jones ex Roxb. (47UR), Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (45UR), Arisaema jacquemontii Blume (37UR), Asparagus racemosus Willd. (36UR) and Rumex acetosa L. (35UR) were the most important plant taxa with reference to use-reports. The ethnomedicinal applications of Aesculus indica Wall. ex Cambess., Solanum pseudocapsicum L., Ranunculus hirtellus Royle and Cormus domestica (L.) Spach plant taxa are reported here for the first time from the Himalayan Kashmiri people. We recommend further research on ethnopharmacological application of these newly recorded ethnobotanical plants. The medical usage of the plant was limited to different parts of the plant. In terms of the usage percentage, whole plant (26.17%), leaves (24.30%) and roots (19.63%) were found to have the highest utilization. The powder form (40.19%) was the most frequently employed method of drug/medicine preparation, followed by the utilization of extracted juice and/or other extracts (22.43%). The ICF values range from 0.85 to 1.00. Their use to remedy parasitic problems (PAR) and insect bites (IB) (ICF = 1.0 each) had the maximum consensus mentioned by the informants, although the number of taxa employed under this category was very limited. The different plant taxa used for the treatment of the gastrointestinal problems (GAS) was the most prominent disease category (262 URs, 16.19%, 25 taxa, ICF = 0.90). About 65% of the plant taxa studied is indigenous to the Asia or Himalayan regions, and around 35% is found to be exotic in nature. A strong positive correlation was found between age, gender, educational qualification and medicinal plant knowledge. No significant association was between people of different communities interviewed in terms of medical knowledge of the plants, p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ2 = 2.120. No significant difference was found between the number of species documented concerning gender as p = 0.347 (>0.05) and χ2 =0.885. This study provides the comprehensive status of ethnomedicinal knowledge among three different communities of the study area. This study provided an impetus in discovering the baseline primary data for molecules which would help in drug discovery and management of various diseases, apart from conserving the genepool of plants in the investigated area.