Preliminary Screening of Bioactive Natural Products Essay Example for Free

Preliminary Screening of Bioactive Natural Products Essay The plants which are used to cure diseases are called medicinal plants. This property of plants is due to the presence of certain chemicals namely Phytochemicals which include alkaloids, Glycosides, flavanoids, volatile oils, vitamins, resins, gums etc. These chemicals terminate the growth of micro organisms by obstructing one or many metabolic activities of microbes. World Health Organisation has estimated that perhaps 80 % of the Earth’s inhabitants rely upon traditional medicine for their primary health care needs and a major part of this therapy involves the use of plant extracts or their active principles. Plants form the major resource in the preparation of drugs in many ancient systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani, Homoeopathy, Naturopathy, Siddha and Allopathy. Our present work mainly aims at the screening of Bioactive compounds present in wood and fruit of Terminalia pallida Brandis Terminalia pallida is a semi evergreen tree belongs to the family Combretaceae and its telugu name is called Tella-Karaka. Wood and fruit are highly medicated due to the prescence of bioactive compounds. These parts are widely used by the tribals of various districts of Andhra Pradesh to cure diarrhoea, peptic ulcers and diabetes. Fresh plant parts were collected, shade dried and ground in to coarse powder. Extraction of Bioactive compounds can be done with different type of solvents for further phytochemical analysis. Results obtained in the present study reveals the presence of Flavanoids, Indoles, Leucoanthocyanins, steroids, Phenols, Saponins, Tanins in the wood of Terminalia Pallida. Fruits consist of all the above bioactive compounds along with alkaloids. These bioactive compounds are responsible for antidiarrhoeatic, anti-ulcer and anti-diabetic properties of the plant. The present communication attempts to assess the status of phytochemical properties in wood and fruits of Terminalia Palllida , Brandis to develop the awareness among the local people. It is also useful to the advanced research in the Pharmacertical field.