Medicinal Plants in Targeting Asthma

Abstract

Asthma is the inflammation of the respiratory tract, and is becoming increasingly prevalent around the globe, more so in industrialized areas than non-industrialized regions. The disease has been estimated to affect around 300 million people all over the world, as of yet, but this number has been predicted to swell by a further 100 million by 2025. The prevalence of the disease has been rising, throughout the world, especially in children, since the 1970s.

The disease causes a narrowing of the air passageway, which happens parallel to dramatic fluctuations in the levels of mast cells, lymphocytes, eosinophils, and several inflammatory cellular products like the cytokines. Asthma patients also show elevated levels of the IgE antibody that is known to bind with receptors of mast cells and assorted inflammatory cells to trigger an inflammatory response of the body. These responses include the release of biochemical such as histamines, prostaglandins, and leukotrienes, which trigger bronchoconstriction or the narrowing of the bronchi.

In the present, conventional medicinal procedures and products have proven inadequate in combatting the disease, forcing people to seek other alternatives. This pursuit has presented plants, the reservoirs of several biologically active compounds, many of which are used in plant-based medicine, as the possible counter for the spread of this disease. The Indian subcontinent, including modern-day Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh, houses 45,000 plant species that have potential medicinal properties, as perfectly reflected in the ancient Ayurveda philosophy.

Plant species commonly employed in combatting asthma have proven to have antihistaminic, antiasthmatic, and antiallergic properties. Ayurvedic antiasthmatic medicines must be able to counter the effects of the cellular inflammatory biochemical, one such inhibitory chemical is quercetin, a common flavonoid that inhibits the release of histamine.