Therapeutic use and pharmacological safety of herbal medicines
Date
2019Author
Bekele, Bisrat Sissay
Pheiffer, Wihan
Grobler, Anne F.
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In general, N80% of the world's population relies on traditional
medicine for their primary healthcare [1]. The use of complementary
herbal medicine provides an alternative option to modern allopathic
treatment for treating or preventing numerous diseases including
cancer. According to the literature [2], a combination of two or more
active biological compounds obtained from medicinal plants has a
more profound therapeutic action than a single agent treatment.
However, there is a paucity of information regarding the translation
of phytochemicals to a potential phytopharmaceuticals. In addition,
poor biological uptake coupled with inadequate safety and efficacy
data hamper the clinical utility of most herbal medicines. This
underscores the need for a thorough pragmatic study on the
pharmacological efficacy and safety of herbal medicines including
assessing the cardiovascular, neurological, hematological, respiratory, liver and kidney toxicities. Table 1 shows some examples of
biologically active compounds derived from different medicinal
plants and their toxicity. In the current study, the effective dose
combination of three plant bioactive compounds, will be assessed in
an in vitro assay against the human alveolar adenocarcinoma (A549)
cell line. The biological uptake of the phytochemical combination will
be enhanced using a novel Pheroid® drug delivery system. The in
vivo anticancer activity of combined phytochemical Pheroid®
formulation [3], as well as their impact on the peripheral blood
parameters, and on liver and kidney functions will be evaluated for
possible toxicity. See Table 1 for therapeutic activity and toxicity of
herbal medicines [1].
It is anticipated that Pheroid® formulated phytochemical combinations will exhibit profound cytotoxic activity against the A549 lung
cancer cells with minimal impact on the homeostasis of the body.
Although herbal medicines are widely used as promising therapeutic
agents, it is imperative to determine their efficacy, and assess
potential adverse reactions for safe and rational use
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10394/33311https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1056871919303260
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2019.106608