This two-volume book, Biomolecules and Pharmacology of Medicinal Plants, will be a valuable desk reference book on bioactives and pharmacology of medicinal plants.
Listing the medicinal plants by species, each of these 77 chapters detail the plants' bioactive phytocompounds and their chemical structures along with their pharmacological activities and properties. These include the plants' antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and nephroprotective properties.
Bioactive compounds typically occur in small amounts, and they have more subtle effects than nutrients. Bioactive compounds influence cellular activities that modify the risk of disease and cure and alleviate disease symptoms. These compounds can act as antioxidants, enzyme inhibitors and inducers, inhibitors of receptor activities, and inducers and inhibitors of gene expression among other actions. A wide array of biological activities and potential health benefits of medicinal plants have been reported, which include antiviral, antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic properties as well as protective effects on the liver, kidney, heart, and nervous system.
The volumes will be a must-have reference for pharmacy institutes and pharmacy professors, phytochemists and research scholars, botanists working with medicinal plants, and postgraduate students of pharmacy and medicine round the world. The comprehensive information presented here provides an invaluable source to aid in the development of new drugs.
About the Author: T. Pullaiah, PhD, is a former Professor at the Department of Botany at Sri Krishnadevaraya University in Andhra Pradesh, India, where he has taught for more than 35 years. He has held several positions at the university, including Dean, Faculty of Biosciences, Head of the Department of Botany, Head of the Department of Biotechnology, and Member of Academic Senate. He was President of the Indian Botanical Society (2014), President of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (2013), and Fellow of Andhra Pradesh Akademi of Sciences. He was awarded the Panchanan Maheshwari Gold Medal, the Dr. G. Panigrahi Memorial Lecture Award of the Indian Botanical Society and the Prof. Y.D. Tyagi Gold Medal of the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy, and a best teacher award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Under his guidance, 54 students obtained their doctoral degrees. He has authored over 50 books, edited 20 books, and published over 330 research papers, including reviews and book chapters. His books include Advances in Cell and Molecular Diagnostics (Elsevier), Ethnobotany of India (5 volumes, Apple Academic Press), Red Sanders: Silviculture and Conservation (Springer), Monograph on Brachystelma and Ceropegia in India (CRC Press), Flora of Andhra Pradesh (5 volumes), Flora of Eastern Ghats (7 volumes), Flora of Telangana (3 volumes), Encyclopedia of World Medicinal Plants (7 volumes, 2nd edition), and Encyclopedia of Herbal Antioxidants (3 volumes). He was also a member of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Professor Pullaiah received his PhD from Andhra University, India, attended Moscow State University, Russia, and worked as postdoctoral fellow during 1976 - 1978.
