Pharmacology and Ethnopharmacology

Biography

Biography: Arunabha Ray

Abstract

Herbal drugs are rapidly emerging as viable therapeutic alternatives/adjuncts in various pathophysiological states, and, such medicinal plant derived agents form the basis of therapy in traditional systems of medicine. In recent years several novel strategies have been proposed in the area of herbal drug research and development and interactions between traditional and modern systems of medicine are being promoted. Reverse pharmacology is a concept that attempts to validate herbal drug action and is viewed as an alternative mode of drug development by using a trans-disciplinary and multi-targeted approach. Bronchial asthma is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the airways characterized by airflow obstruction, airway inflammation, persistent airway hyper-responsiveness and airway remodeling. Pharmacotherapy, which is the cornerstone of management, is associated with efficacy and safety issues, and there is search for viable alternatives from botanical sources. UNIM-352 is a polyherbal agent with reported clinical benefits in bronchial asthma and we adopted a reverse pharmacology approach to elucidate its mechanism of action in preclinical experimental models. In ovalbumin immunized rats, UNIM-352 modulated markers of airway inflammation (TNF-α, NF-κB, HDAC, TGF-β and IgE) in both blood and BAL fluid, which were comparable with prednisolone. Further, UNIM-352 treated groups markedly reduced the number of eosinophil and neutrophil cells in both body fluids. UNIM-352 treatment also showed reductions degree of epithelial hyperplasia, goblet cell function and collagen formation in lung tissue– suggestive of an anti-remodeling role. The results suggest anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory and anti-remodeling mechanisms of UNIM-352 may contribute to its observed beneficial effects of this herbal agent in bronchial asthma, and highlights the importance of reverse pharmacology in herbal drug research.