Novel Approaches in Herbal Formulations

Herbal medications have restorative potential, which can be given through different advantageous medication conveyance frameworks. Utilizing the bioactive and plant extricates, the assortment of novel natural details like polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, phytosomes, nanoemulsions, microsphere, transfersomes, and ethosomes are accounted for. The chapter features the novel methodologies of natural detailing and condenses their strategy for planning and use of novel home-grown definition to accomplish better helpful reaction.

Medicinal Plants and Their Bioactive Compounds for the Management and Treatment of Gout

Gout is a complex form of arthritis which is characterized by sudden, severe attacks of pain, swelling, redness, and tenderness in the joints. Gout is a type of inflammatory arthritis that is triggered by the crystallization of uric acid within the joints and is often associated with hyperuricemia. Natural products offer many options to reduce the progress and symptoms of diseases, including gout. Natural compound structure including lignans, flavonoids, tannins, polyphenols, triterpenes, sterols, and alkaloids have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and XO activities. In this chapter, the authors present medicinal plants and isolated compounds which are used to prevent and reduce the pathogenesis of gout.

Effect of NDDS on Polyherbal Formulation

In India, in ancient times, people used plant materials to make drug polyherbal formulations. Herbal drugs have enormous therapeutic potential which can be explored through various beneficial drug delivery systems and novel drug delivery systems. Great advancement has been made in the uses of plant therapeutics on the development of novel herbal formulations like polymeric nanoparticles, nanocapsules, liposomes, phytosomes, nanoemulsions, microsphere, transferosomes, and ethosomes. These formulations have reported having various advantages over the traditional formulations such as improved solubility and bioavailability, reduced toxicity, controlled drug delivery, protections of plant actives from degradation. Also, having the drug targeting properties with improved selectivity, drug delivery, and effectiveness with dose reduction not only increases the safety but also patient compliance.

Therapeutic Efficacy of Herbal Formulations Through Novel Drug Delivery Systems

The herbal-based drugs have been getting wide attention over the last few decades. The herbal drugs have been used from the ancient times, but the dose accuracy, efficacy, and treatment was just based on symptomatic observatory. Modern research is focused on pure bioactive compound instead of crude. The researchers are trying to apply the current advanced nanotechnology-based knowledge on the herbal medicines to improve efficacy and reduces the unwanted pharmacological actions' adverse effects of the therapeutic molecules. The many novel drug delivery systems available used for the herbal bioactive molecules include polymeric micelle, injectable hydrogel, nano gel, nano emulsions, microsphere, polymeric nanoparticles, nano capsules, liposomes, phytosomes, transferosomes, dendrimer, and ethosomes. This chapter highlights the existing research and development of current standing of the of various novel formulations especially for the herbal bioactive molecules and summarizes their active ingredients, commercial formulations, route of drug administration, and pharmacological activity.

Phytosomes as a Novel Approach for Herbal Phytoconstituents

Phytosomes are a new approach for delivery of drugs. Phytosomes mean herbal drugs loaded in vesicles, which are available in the nano form. The phytosome offers an envelope like coating around the active moieties of drug, and due to this, the main constituent of herbal extract remains safe from degradation by bacteria and digestive secretion. It is a patented technology which is advantageous in delivering the herbal drugs. Phytosomes have better pharmacological and pharmacokinetic parameters. It is used for development of delivery system with improved bioavailability of phytoconstituents present in herbal extracts. Phytosomes are prepared by the use of phospholipids by forming the complex between phospholipids and phytoconstituent. Phytosomes have a vast scope in pharma-industries and good research space for industry, scholars, students. Phospholipids are use as carriers for water soluble and lipid soluble nutrients and natural digestive aids.

Nutraceuticals

Therapeutic compounds can be derived from various natural sources like plants, animals, marine organisms, and micro-organisms. Although the marine biota accounts for around 50% of the total world biodiversity, their potential as a rich source of bioactive products and their applications in both pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries have only recently been identified through several scientific studies. Marine biotechnology is an upcoming area that involves about the study of marine microorganisms and animals including algae, sponges, and coral as a novel source of bioactive substances that can be used in the treatment of various human diseases like cancer, anaemia, diarrhea, obesity, diabetes, atopic dermatitis, Crohn's disease, etc. Very limited scientific data is available on the bioactive potential of marine microorganisms. This chapter deals with the exploitation of microbes from marine sources as potential sources for various nutraceuticals and their possibilities for applications in a variety of diseases and as functional food supplement.

Herbal Medicine and Its Bioactive Compounds for Treatment of Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) which is one of the most serious public health problems in the world. Some common approved drugs bring about dose-dependent adverse effects or drug resistance. Therefore, safe and useful new HBV therapeutics are essential. Medicinal plants have particular benefits to treat HBV-infected patients. Traditional medicines have many bioactive compounds that are effective as antiviral candidates including esculetin, helioxanthin, oxymatrine, epigallocatechin-3-gallate, wogonin, alkaloids, polysaccharides, etc. In this chapter, the authors summarize the pathogenesis and protein targets for the treatment of hepatitis B disease. They also indicate several medicinal plants and isolated compounds which are used for preventing and reduce symptoms of this disease.

Enhancing the Therapeutic Efficacy of Flavonoids as Anticancer Drugs Through Novel Drug Delivery Systems

Flavonoids are a group of heterocyclic compounds that are well-known for their anti-cancer activity. Fruits and vegetables are the main dietary sources of flavonoids. Several mechanisms have been proposed for the effect of flavonoids to combat cancer. But before considering the flavonoids as chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer, a number of problems still need to be addressed before their therapeutic uses. Solubility may play a major role in the therapeutic efficacy of flavonoids. Bioavailability of flavonoids are also affected by several other factors. Nanotechnology is the most efficient tool to solve the problems of solubility, stability, and oral bioavailability. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery has several benefits compared to the traditional drug delivery systems. Different types of nano delivery systems are used for producing nanomedicines such as lipid-based nanomedicines, polymer-based nanomedicines, and inorganic nanoparticles. Different types of flavonoids encapsulated nanoparticles have been developed to improve their effectiveness against different types of cancer.

Nanoparticles for the Enhancement of the Therapeutic Efficacy of Herbal Formulations

Nano dosage forms the drug delivery method of herbal formulation used for improving the efficacy and overwhelming the problems related to plant medicines. Therefore, incorporation of the nano-sized carrier in conventional plant-derived medicine is essential to cure more chronic and lifestyle diseases. Several nano dosage forms like polymeric nanoparticles, liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, nano-emulsion, proliposomes, etc. has great advantages for herbal medicine including bioavailability, enhancement of solubility, improvement of pharmacological activity, protection from toxicity, stability enhancement, sustained delivery, improving the distribution of macrophages, protection from chemical, and physical degradation. The chapter focused on the advantages of nano herbal formulations over traditional herbal formulations.

An Innovative Approach as Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery System for Phytoconstituents

In recent years, herbal drugs have flourished as the method of rehabilitation of choice in numerous parts of the world and most of populations consider them as alternative conventional medicaments. However, most of the herbal drugs show poor solubility and bioavailability, which ultimately leads to diminished efficacy and frequency of administration. Consequently, self-emulsifying drug delivery system has been highlighted for poor water-soluble herbal medicaments. Self-emulsifying drug delivery system is an isotropic mixture of phytoconstituents, oil, surfactant, and cosurfactant, and subsequent to oral administration spontaneously endures self-emulsification and forms without emulsion as soon as it comes in contact gastric fluid. Most of the researchers and industrialists are attracted towards this novel and emerging technology as it offers various advantages. The chapter focuses on the mechanism of self-emulsifying, benefits of herbal SEDDS, factors affecting herbal SEDDS with formulation and characterisation of it.