O.A. Halima's scientific contributions

Medicinal practioners have prescribed Ayurveda and drugs from herbal origin as a system of medicine in India over centuries. Many of the modern drug mainly based on synthetic chemical compounds, however have been found to have harmful side effects on the human system. This has triggered off extensive research and development in the field of herbal medicine. In fact, there is a growing demand for herbal medicines in most of the developed and developing countries of the world today. Liver is a vital organ that plays a major role in the metabolism and excretion of xenobiotics from the body. Liver disease is the major challenge faced by the world and is the leading cause of death in western countries. Exposure too many chemicals such as carbon tetrachloride, thioacetamide, alcohols and drugs can result in injury to liver, therby impairing its normal function and resulting in biochemical abnormalities. Herbal drugs are the potential source of therapeutic aid for treating liver disease and a number of scientific investigations revealed the importances and contributions of these natural products. Numerous medicinal plants and their formulations are used for liver disorders in ethnomedical practice as well as traditional system of medicine in India. More over them are economical with fewer side effects and can be used independent of any age groups. They are rich in chemical compounds like flavonoids that impart antioxidant property and in turn possess hepatoprotective activity. Though a wide variety of herbal drugs with hepatoprotective activity is known, many of them are not proven clinically. The hepatoprotective activity of some herbal drugs clinically proven using hepatotoxicity models are explained in this review. This review is aimed at enumerating some of the natural products that possess hepatoprotective activity.

Medicinal plants form a major source of raw materials for drugs for the prevention and treatment of ailments. Mirabilis jalapa linn is used as antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory agent, laxative in folk medicine. Antioxidants play an important role in protecting against damage by reactive oxygen species.The present study was designed to evaluate the plant potential as an antioxidant lead by using various in vitro models like Hydrogen peroxide scavenging method and reducing power assay method and also to determine its antibacterial potential. Preliminary phytochemical screening revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols like phenolic compounds and tannins. The total flavanoid content of the extract was found to be 4.41 ± 0.02 mg /gram. The plant exhibited significant antioxidant properties and could serve as a free radical inhibitor or scavenger. The antibacterial activity of the extracts was determined by the agar well diffusion method. The greatest zone of inhibition was displayed by methanolic extract against pseudomonas at 3mg/ml. With a wide spectrum of inhibition against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, the methanolic extract of Mirabilis jalapa are worthy of further investigation as a natural wide spectrum antibacterial agent. These results indicates the potential of Mirabilis jalapa as a source of antioxidant and antibacterial compound.