Handbook of lavender as a medicinal plant

Contents

ABBREVIATIONS

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Distribution:
1.3 Botanical Description:
1.4 Importance:
1.5 Conclusion
References

Chapter 2: Medicinal Plants
2.0 Medicinal Plants:
2.1 Traditional System of Medicine:
2.2 Over the counter (OTC) non-prescription items:
2.3 Phytopharmaceuticals:
2.4 Freeze –dried herbs:
2.5 Essential oils:
2.6 Medicinal and aromatic plants facing genetic erosion:
2.7 Importance of tissue culture:
Conclusion and future prospects
References

Chapter 3: Phytochemical analysis of Lavendula oficinalis Chaix
3.1 Washing and sterilization of glassware and other instruments:
3.2 Preparation and sterilization of the nutrient media:
3.3 Source of plant material and its sterilization:
3.4 Aseptic transfer conditions
3.5 Inoculation and incubation
3.6 Sub culturing
3.7 Hardening procedure/Acclimatization
3.8 Chemical analysis
3.9 Data Analysis
References

Chapter 4: In vitro clonal propagation of Lavendula officinalis Chaix through shoot tip culture
4.1 Effect of cytokinins:
4.1.1 Effect of auxins:
4.1.2 Effect of auxin cytokinin combinations:
4.1.3 Acclimatization:

Chapter 5: Phytochemical analysis of Lavendula officinalis Chaix
5.1 In vivo and in vitro production of terpenoid constituents of Lavendula officinalis Chaix:
5.2 Discussion and Conclusion
References

About The Contributors

ABBREVIATIONS

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Introduction

Lavendula officinalis Chaix syn. Lavendula angustifolia Mill. (Family Lamiaceae).

The genus lavender consists of 28-30 species. True lavender is commonly known as English lavender. Lavenders are mainly classified in four categories on the basis of origin, plant type and varieties (Cavanagh and Wilkinson, 2002).

a. Lavendula officinalis syn . Lavendula angustifolia, commonly known as English lavender and formerly known as Lavendula vera.
b. Lavendula latifolia commonly known as spike lavender .
c. Lavendula stoechas.
d. Lavendula intermedia, syn. Lavendula hybrida commonly known as Lavandin.

1.2 Distribution:

Lavendula officinalis (Fig.1) grows wild in Southern France while as Lavendula stoechas which grows in Spain is sometimes referred as French lavender and Lavendula spica thought to be a non-specific name is possibly a form of Lavendula angustifolia. All the species are native to Europe. The plant is now cultivated in France, UK, Bulgaria, Italy, Hungary, Australia, China, Russia and India (Lawrence, 1985) and (Ohloff, 1994).

1.3 Botanical Description:

Lavendula officinalis Chaix, is a perennial, bushy shrub, 50-80 cm. in height, have an economic plantation of 12-15 years. Gestation period is of two years for attaining economic production level. The plant forms annual straight non branching four edged floriferous stalks, terminating in an ear shaped floscule. The floscule consists of 5-12 nodes, situated consecutively in pairs along the flowering stalk. Plants produce flowers once in a year for 30-40 days during June-July. Each node has 7-20 monoecious florets. The calyx is tubular with longitudinal ribs, corolla is bilabial and falls after blossom. Leaves are green, situated in opposite pairs and covered with trichome. In winters only old leaves fall off, so the plants remain green (Anonymous, 1962)

1.4 Importance:

Lavendula officinalis Chaix is one of the most important plantof nowadays. The plant was introduced in Kashmir in 1983 and its cultivation and processing for essential oil was quite successful (Tajjudin et al., 1983). Lavender is the spa therapist’s dream oil, the jack of all trades, the oil with the answer to most of our needs. True lavender oil distilled from the flowering spikes is the oil of high aroma value and has a commanding position inperfumery, flavour and cosmetic industries. The oil is traditionally used as antibacterial, antifungal, carminative, sedative, antidepressive and effective for burns and insect bites. Pure oil has substantial use in aromatherapy (Cavanagh and Wilkinson, 2002). Other products like lavender concrete, lavender absolute, lavender water and dried lavender flowers have an ever growing demand. Lavender marc left after the distillation of oil is used in ‘Agarbaties’ and as organic manure (Shawl and Kumar, 2003).The chemical interaction between plants and their environment is intervened mainly by the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, which excise their biological roles, as a plastic adaptive response to their environment. (Bruno leite et al. 2016)

Treatment of Depression:

Tincture of Lavendula officinalis in combination with imipramine was found more effective in the treatment of mild to moderate depression than imipramine alone (Akhondzadeh et al., 2003).

Treatment of colitis:

Similarly, 1, 8-cineole predominant in the shoots, attenuates the colonic damage in rats on acute trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) – colitis (Santos et al, 2004).

Use of linalool:

Linalool, the natural occurring enantiomer in lavender oil, possess anti- inflammatory, antihyperalgesic and antinociceptive effects in different animal models (Peana et al., 2005).

Fungi static and fungicidal activity:

The main components linalool and linalyl acetate of Lavendula officinalis also show fungi static and fungicidal activity against Candida albicans. At lower concentration, it inhibits germ tube formation and hyphal elongation, indicating that it is effective against Candida albicans dimorphism and may thus reduce fungal progression and the spread of infection in host tissues(Auria et al., 2005).

Treatment of Malaria:

Combination of limonene, 1.22 mM with other antimicrobial drugs, like fosmidomycin, could be in new strategy for the treatment of malaria (Rodrigues Goulart et al., 2004).

Application in Aromatherapy: Beside gastro protection, lavender oil reveals an interesting analgesic activity mainly relevant after inhalation, at doses devoid of sedative side effect, suggesting the interest for protection application of this oil in in aromatherapy (Barocelli et al., 2004).

In view of its continued popularity and commercial value it was confirmed “Herb of the year 1999” in USA (Anonymous, 1999).

The quality of lavender oil extracted at Bonera, Pulwama, and Srinagar Kashmir is quite competitive to the best quality oil produced in European countries. As a matter of fact the oil produced in IIIM at Pulwama is being exported on regular basis (Shawl and Kumar, 2003 and Shawl et al., 2005).

1.5 Conclusion

Lavender officinalis Chaix is vegetatively propagated, but the poor rooting ability of stem cuttings, as well as the lack of selected clones, restrain its industrial exploitation (Gras and Calvo, 1996). Accordingly, an alternative procedure is required for propagating Lavendula plants efficiently. Tissue culture is one of the useful methods which can be employed for clonal propagation.

References

Akhondzadeh, S., Kashani, l., Fotouchi, A., Jarvandi, S., et al., (2003). Progress in neurophyscopharmacology and biological psychiatry, 27 (1): 123-127.

Anonymous, (1962). The Wealth of India. Raw Materials, Vol. 6, A Dictionary of Indian Raw Materials, Industrials, Product, CSIR, New Delhi India 45.

Anonymous, (1999). Lavender to be promoted in’99 countryside small stock J 83:102.

Auria D’, F. D., Tecca, m., Strippoli, V., Salvatore, G., Battinelli, l., Mazzanti, G., (2005). Antifungal activity of Lavendula angustifolia essential oil against Candida albicans yeast and myceliaformed Mycol. 43 (5): 391-396.

Barocelli, E., Calcina, F., Chiavarini, M., Impicciatore, M., Bruni, R., Bianchi, A., Ballabeni, V., (2004). Antinoceptive and gastro protective effects of inhaled and orally administered Lavendula hybrida Reverchon “Grosso” essential oil. Life Science; 76(2): 212-223.

Bruno Leite Sampaio, Ru Angelie Edrada- Ebel and Fernando Batista Da Costa (2016). Effect of the environment on the secondary metabolite profile of Tithonia oliversifolia: a model for environmental metabolics and plants. Scientific Reports 7 July.

Cavanagh, H. M. A. and Wilkinson, J. M., (2002). Biological Activities of Lavender Essential Oil. School of Biomedical Sciences, Charles Strut University, Wagga, NSW 2678, Australia. Phytotherapy Research 16: 301-308.

Gras, M. and Calvos, (1996). Micro propagation of Lavendula latifolia through nodal bud culture of mature plants. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 45: 259-261.

Lawrence, B.M., (1985). A Review of the World Production of essential oils. Perfumer Flavourist 10:1-20

Ohloff. G., (1994). Scent and Fragrance. Springer Verlag-Berlin Heidelberg 143-146.

Peana. A. T., Marzocco, S. Popolo A., Pinto. A., (2005). Linalool inhibits in vitro No formation:Portable involvement in the antioociceptive activity of the monoterpene compound, Life Science

Rodrigues Goulart H., Kimura, E. A., Peres, V. J., Couto. A. S., Aquino Duartle, F. A., Katzin, A. M., (2004). Terpenes arrest parasite development and inhibit biosynthesis of isoprenoids in Plasmodium falciparum. Antimicro Agents Chemotherapy 48(7): 2502-2509

Santos, F. A., Silva, R. M., Campus, A. R., Araujo, R.P. de, Lima Junior, R. C. P. and Rao, V. S. N., (2004). 1, 8 cineole (eucalyptol) a monoterpene oxide attenuates the colonic damage in rats on acute TNBS- colitis. Food and chemical Toxicology 42(4):579-584.

Shawl, A. S. and Kumar T., (2003). Organic lavender-Versatile Industrial Crop. National Seminar on Organic Productsand their Future Prospects, October, 21-22 SKUAST (K) Journal of Research, Srinagar J and K, India.

Shawl, A. S/. Kumar T., Shabir, S., Chishti, N., and Kaloo, Z. A., (2005). Cultivation of Rose scented geranium (Pelargonium spp.) SKUAST (K)

Tajjudin, Shawl, A. S., Nigam M. C., Hussain, A., (1983) Production of lavender oil in Kashmir valley. Indian Perfumer, 22: 319-321.

Chapter 2: Medicinal Plants

2.0 Medicinal Plants:

Medicinal plants have been used by mankind as a source of drugs to combat diseases for thousands of years. WHO estimates that 4 billion people use herbal drugs in one form or the other (Farnsworth and Soejarto, 1985). International trade in medicinal plants is 62 billion US$ per year, increasing at the rate of 7 to 15% and is projected to be US$5 trillion by the year 2050 (Qazi, 2001). In spite of tremendous work on synthetic drugs even 25% prescription in US contains one or more constituents derived from plant species.

The different ways in which the medicinal plants are utilised are as follows:

2.1 Traditional System of Medicine:

It is boundless and comprises practices based on beliefs and local traditions. As its name implies, it is the part of tradition of each nation and practices passed from generation to generation. Cultural factors have to play a significant role in its acceptance and is not easily transferable from one culture to another (Anonymous, 2002).

2.2 Over the counter (OTC) non-prescription items:

The current trends of medicinal plant based drug industry is to produce standard extracts of plants as raw material. However, the direct utilization of plant material is not only a feature of indigenous system of medicine in the developing countries but also in the developed countries like USA, UK, Germany etc. (Table 1). Some of these raw materials (OTC products) are used in preparation of decoctions, tinctures, galenicals and total extracts of plants which from a part of many pharmacopoeias of the world.

The roles of secondary metabolite have not yet been found in growth, photosynthesis, reproduction or other “primary” functions. They can be categorised on the basis of chemical structure for example having rings (containing a sugar); composition (containing nitrogen or not); their solubility in various solvents, or the pathway by which they are synthesised (e.g., phenylpropanoid which produces tannins). A simple classification includes three main groups, the Terpenes (made from Mevalonic acid, composed almost entirely of carbon and hydrogen), Phenolic (made from simple sugars, containing benzene rings, hydrogen and oxygen), and nitrogen containing compounds (extremely diverse, may also contain sulphur) (Bid lack 2000).

Table 1: OTC (over the counter) drugs

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Source: (Shawl and Qazi, 2004)

2.3 Phytopharmaceuticals:

A variety of medicinal plants have been subjected to detailed chemical examination leading to the isolation of pure bioactive molecules pharmacologically evaluated. As a result new drugs have been discovered along with new applications. These bioactive molecules are employed as therapeutic agents, starting material for the synthesis of drugs, models for the synthesis of pharmacologically active compounds and new reagents for molecular biology research. At present there are 125 clinically useful drugs of known constitution which have been isolated from about 100 species of higher plants. It has been estimated that about 5000 plant species have been studied in detail as possible sources of new drugs (Handa, 1992; Walton and Brown, 1999). Polyphenols and flavonoids are the common antioxidant natural products found in medicinal plants. Herbal medicines have been used since ancient times as they contain pharmacological and biological active ingredients (Hajimehdipoor et. al., 2014).

Bio prospection of plant species is experimented in many laboratories for the detection of new therapeutic molecules which may be helpful for some health problems- such as drug resistant infectious diseases, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, neurological and psychiatric disorders. Production of plant based drugs in bulk is one of the important criterion for pharmaceutical industry in India as well (Shawl and Qazi, 2004). Some of the important plant based drugs used in modern medicine are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Important plant based drugs used in modern medicine

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(Handa, 1992, Walton and Brown, 1999)

2.4 Freeze –dried herbs:

Another important sector is freeze- dried herbs. The herbs are freeze dried to retain colour, shape, nutritional value and level of active constituents. India exports freeze dried herb worth Rs. 20 crores. Several herbs used for culinary purposes are produced and exported in large quantities from India (Flex Foods Pct. Ltd., CIMAP records).

2.5 Essential oils:

Similar is the status with aromatic plants where essential oils and oleoresins derived from them are preferred over synthetic chemicals. Essential oils are odoriferous volatile constituents of aromatic plants obtained by hydro/ steam distillation or super critical carbon dioxide extraction. In view of the resurgence in the use of natural flavours, essential oils have become major sector of trade in both developed and under developing nations. India stands at third position with a share of 16-17 percent (Varshney et al., 2001). Because of the back to nature movement, environmentalist battle cry of green and safe earth, eco-friendly medicinal and aromatic plants have an ever growing world demand (Laird, 1999). Thus the cultivation of aromatic plants and processing for essential oils there off, forms an important segment in the international agribusiness –with an estimated annual growth rate of 10-15%.The important uses of essentials oils are in perfumery, flavour, cosmetic industry, pharmaceuticals, textiles, leather, confectionary and now have substantial use in aromatherapy.

The therapeutic potential of essential oil bearing plants have been realised. Like herbal remedies, essential oils and their constituents cover wide field of activities. These include antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. The field of fragrance and smell is so fascinating that Nobel Prize (2004) in physiology and Medicine was awarded to unlock the secrets of smell. Thanks to Prof. Richard Alex of Columbia University, and Linda B. Buck, who unlocked the secrets of olfactory system at molecular level. These odour bearing substances pass through nasal passage are detected by special neurons called olfactory cells present in the upper part of nasal epithelium which contains five (5) million neurons (Nath, 2004).

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