Phyto constituents with Anti-Asthmatic Potential

Tejashree Ankush Sande, Rita Dadarao Chakole

Rasiklal M Dhariwal Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Chinchwad, Pune, Maharashtra, India

ABSTRACT

Since antiquity, medicinal plants and their phytoconstituents have played an important role in managing various chronic diseases. Asthma is one of the heterogeneous, chronic inflammatory disorders of the respiratory system which is characterized by narrowing and inflammation of the lung’s airway, difficulty in breathing, coughing, chest pain, wheezing, etc. Asthma causes around 2, 50,000 annual deaths and it has been predicted that an additional 100 million people will suffer from asthma up to 2025 worldwide. The anti-asthmatic therapy currently available ruins its success because of the high cost of treatment and the undesirable effects of synthetic drugs. The pathophysiology of asthma involves various macromolecular causes such as histamine, bradykinin, IgE antibodies, TNF alpha of leukotriene cells and mast cells, etc. Therefore, for managing asthma "multi-talented compounds" are needed, rather than working alone medications, which can show different activities in a single package. According to the researches, it was concluded that phytoconstituents can play this role effectively because they show the multi-tasking property with good efficacy, potency, and minimal side effects. Hence the current review summarizes various ethnopharmacological components which have been successfully studied for their anti-asthmatic potential along with animal models used for screening of anti-asthmatic activity.

Keywords:

Asthma, Pathophysiology, Phytoconstituents, Anti- asthmatic activity, Animal models.