| Popis: |
A strong, healthy immune system is the basis of good health. Immunity is the balanced state of having adequate biological defense to fight against infection, disease, or unwanted biological invasion while having tolerance to avoid allergy and autoimmune diseases. Immune responses occur due to effective interaction between innate (natural and nonspecific) and acquired (adaptive and specific) components of the immune system. The interaction of phagocyte and microorganism in the immunological system is a protective pathway but when unreasonably or improperly organized can damage the body and contribute to the development of several long-term inflammatory conditions like allergies, autoimmune disease, rheumatic arthritis, carcinoma, and many more. Over the past years, remarkable changes have occurred in the immune system due to exposure to chemicals, drugs, or environmental pollutants. Numerous factors perform a major part in alterations of the immunological system such as age, sex, stress, genetic variability, alcohol/drug abuse, lifestyle, malnutrition, and environmental pollution. In clinical practice, immunomodulators can be classified into three main categories such as immunostimulants, immunosuppressants, and immunoadjuvants. Majority of the immunomodulators and immunosuppressive agents used in medicinal practice are toxic and have detrimental adverse effects on the host body. Hence, there is a rising need for the usage of herbal drugs that leads to modulation of immunological system which will prevent the infections rather than to treat the immunological disorders. Phytoconstituents such as alkaloids, glycosides, flavonoids, lactones, tannins, saponins, phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, and diterpenoids of herbal origin have been confirmed for their immunostimulating characteristics. Therefore, the exploration of herbs derived potent and safe immunomodulator drugs is gaining more attention. Hence, the current book chapter will focus attention on summary of extensively scrutinized phyto-immunomodulator plants such as Boerhaavia diffusa, Withania somnifera, Allium sativum, Azadirachta indica, Acacia catechu, Curcuma longa, Ficus benghalensis, Tinospora cordifolia, Murraya koenigii and Ocimum sanctum. These plant-derived immunomodulators drugs have displayed their action by acting on cellular and humoral immune system in variety of animal models, and we need to explore their role in clinical trials also. |
