Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Research
Volume:4 Issue: 4, Dec 2018

The genus Artemisia belongs to family Asteraceae and commonly used for ailments of multiple lethal diseases. Twenty-nine species of the genus have been identified from Pakistan which are widely used as pharmaceutical, agricultural, cosmetics, sanitary, perfumes and food industries. In this review we studied the medicinal uses, taxonomy, essential oils as well as phytochemistry were compiled. Data was collected from the original research articles, texts books and review papers including globally accepted search engines i.e. PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Google Scholar and Web of Science. Species found of Artemisia in Pakistan with their medicinal properties and phytochemicals were recorded. The present review highlights the geographical distribution, morphological features and medicinal importance of different Artemisia species.  Species of the genus are used in different traditional treatments by the local communities of Pakistan and worldwide. The essential oils and some other important derivatives such as artemisinin are commonly used to cure malaria, cancer, stomach, kidney, liver, and spleen other bacterial, fungal, helminthic diseases and much more. These species also possess some important extract such as lignans, polyphenols and flavonoids that help in activation of certain pathways. Majority of work on the taxonomic validation of the species are showing confusion in its morphology, for the correct identification of the species in the present review special focus has been made on its morphological characteristics, along with their traditional uses, pharmacology and phytochemical constituents. This review will provide baseline information for further research on the genus and as well as at species level on different aspects. The aim of this study is to provide comprehensive overview of Genus Artemisia specifically the species of the genus from Pakistan.

The global burden for infectious disease remains high in the developing and underdeveloped countries like Sub-Sahara Africa, South–East Asia and Latin America. Among them, the three major contributors of mortality and morbidity are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria which along with neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are collectively known as “infectious diseases of poverty” (IDoP). There is the strong pressing need for developing new drug molecules for eradication of these diseases. We did a cross-sectional study as per the STROBE guidelines to compare the disease burden and new drug approved for IDoP in India. The findings of this study show that new drugs approvals in India has restricted to the non-communicable diseases only.  This mismatch becomes even more apparent for communicable diseases included under IDOP which had only 2.7% share among the total new drug approved during year 2000 to 2017 and only half of them were true innovator drugs. This shows the urgent need to allocate research resources in sync with the existing burden of disease in India and to promote research and development for diseases which affect poor people of country and are neglected by the world.

The physicochemical properties of excipients play vital roles in the process of tablet manufacture. A comparative evaluation of the binding and disintegrant properties of xerogels of cassava and cocoyam starches with microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) in paracetamol tablet formulations was investigated. Cassava and cocoyam starches were extracted from their tubers following standard procedures. Xerogels of both starches were prepared and used to prepare batches of paracetamol granules for direct compression into tablets at concentrations of 3.8, 7.6 and 11.4 %w/w and with 7.6 %w/w MCC for comparison. Granules were analysed for their flow properties and drug-excipient compatibility and the tablets were evaluated for their tablets properties. The paracetamol granules prepared with the xerogel powders were comparable in flow properties with those made with MCC. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analyses revealed no interaction between the xerogel powders and paracetamol. Increase in concentrations of the xerogel powders led to an increase in hardness, wetting time, water sorption, disintegration time, drug release and a decrease in friability of the tablets. Tablets formulated with the starch xerogel powders met compendial requirements at 7.6 %w/w concentration. The study confirms the potentials of xerogels of cassava and cocoyam starches as dry granulation binders/disintegrants. Tablets made with the xerogel powders are superior to those made with MCC in terms of disintegration time but MCC produces harder and less friable tablets, as a superior binder.

Benznidazole and nifurtimox are two drugs that are used to treat trypanosomiasis. Ursolic acid (UA) reportedly acts against trypomastigotes and intracellular amastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi. Accordingly, it is expected to have therapeutic benefits in the treatment of trypanosomiasis. Therapeutic application of a compound requires the investigation of its pharmacokinetic properties in order to obtain relevant information to design the in vivo assays and dose regimen. Regarding this, the current study aimed to evaluate the pharmacokinetic profile of UA administered to rats at different doses and routes (i.e., 1 mg/kg intravenously and 20 and 50 mg/kg orally). According to the results, the oral bioavailability was significantly different between the two groups that orally received the UA doses of 20 mg/kg (2.8%) and 50 mg/kg (1.55 %). The result suggests the interference of the poor aqueous solubility of UA on its absorption process. The pharmacokinetic parameters related to the distribution and elimination were similar. Accordingly, it can be concluded that at this dose range, there is no saturation in this process rendering a linear the kinetics. The pharmacokinetic properties of UA were observed in this study indicated that the improvement of water solubility in this medicine through pharmacotechnical resources would be a great utility for its oral bioavailability and development of a product with the potential therapeutic application. The oral administration of this new pharmaceutical formulation should be investigated in future studies.