Studies On In Vitfio Production Of Secondary Metabolites From Medicinal Plants

In the light of the very huge demand for natural ephedrine and pseudoephidrine, a search for an angiosperm plant containing the alkaloid ephedrine was made and could locate Sida spp. of malvaceae family. Sida is a large genus of, herbs and shrubs distributed throughout the tropics. About a dozen species occur in India. The medicinally important species known are S.rhombrfolia S.cordata and S.spinosa (Anon, 1972). Among the various species, S.rh0mbIfolia is the most widely used one in the traditional system of medicine. An attempt was made in the present study to develop an ideal bioprocess for the in vitro production of ephedrine from the cell culture system of Sida rhombrfolia Linn. ssp. retusa. The callus and suspension culture were initiated and attempts were made to enhance the yield positively by employing various strategies like mutagenesis, immobilization and addition of precursors, elicitors and penneabilizing agents.

Protease inhibitor from Moringa oleifera with potential for use as therapeutic drug and as seafood preservative

Protease inhibitors are well known to have several applications in medicine and biotechnology. Several plant sources are known to return potential protease inhibitors. In this study plants belonging to different families of Leguminosae, Malvaceae, Rutaceae, Graminae and Moringaceae were screened for the protease inhibitor. Among them Moringa oleifera, belonging to the family Moringaceae, recorded high level of protease inhibitor activity after ammonium sulfate fractionation. M. oleifera, which grows throughout most of the tropics and having several industrial and medicinal uses, was selected as a source of protease inhibitor since so far no reports were made on isolation of the protease inhibitor. Among the different parts of M. oleifera tested, the crude extract isolated from the mature leaves and seeds showed the highest level of inhibition against trypsin. Among the various extraction media evaluated, the crude extract prepared in phosphate buffer showed maximum recovery of the protease inhibitor. The protease inhibitor recorded high inhibitory activity toward the serine proteases thrombin, elastase, chymotrypsin and the cysteine