ABSTRACT
Plants have been used in ethnomedicine and traditional medicine from time immemorial to treat various diseases. The remarkable advances in conventional medicine replaced to a considerable extent the use of crude plant drugs with drugs with a pure chemical entity. Although safe and effective treatments are available in conventional medicine for most diseases, satisfactory treatments are not available in
9.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 157 9.2 Phyllanthaceae .............................................................................................. 158 9.3 Hepatoprotection and Phyllanthaceae .......................................................... 159
9.3.1 Phyllanthus amarus Schum & Thonn. (Syn: Phyllanthus niruri Sensu Hook F.) .................................................................................. 159
9.3.2 Phyllanthus debilis Klein Ex Willd. ................................................. 161 9.3.3 Phyllanthus emblica L ...................................................................... 161 9.3.4 Phyllanthus kozhikodianus Sivarajan & Manilal ............................. 162 9.3.5 Phyllanthus maderaspatensis L ....................................................... 162 9.3.6 Phyllanthus niruri L ......................................................................... 163 9.3.7 Phyllanthus reticulatus Poir ............................................................. 164 9.3.8 Phyllanthus urinaria L ..................................................................... 164
9.4 Mechanism of Antihepatotoxic Activities of Phyllanthus Species .............. 165 9.4.1 Antioxidative Stress and Hepatoprotection ...................................... 165 9.4.2 Anti-in•ammatory Activity of Hepatoprotective Phyllanthus
Species .............................................................................................. 166 9.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 166 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................. 167 References .............................................................................................................. 167
conventional medicine to treat severe liver damage; certain viral diseases, including viral hepatitis; arthritis; and others. However, the use of plant preparations as medicines continues for treatment of liver and other diseases by the mainstream population in developed countries. In addition, in the most recent decade, plants and plant products have played an important role in the management of various liver disorders (Subramoniam and Pushpangadan, 1999). Although plant parts and preparations belonging to different families are used as hepatoprotective medicines, many members of the family Phyllanthaceae (particularly the genus Phyllanthus) have unique medicinal properties, including antihepatotoxicity and antihepatitis viral activities (Calixto et al., 1998).
