Medicinal Plant Research 2015, Vol.5, No. 4, 1-4
1
A Letter
Open
Access
Aerva Lanata
(L.) Juss. ex Schult.: a Potentially Useful Medicinal Plant
Ramana K.V.
1,
, Vikram K.G.
2
1. Department of Microbiology, Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar, Telangana, India
2. Department of Biotechnology, Vaagdevi Degree and PG College, Warangal, Telangana, India
Corresponding
authors
email:
Medicinal Plant Research,
2015,
Vol.5,
No.4
doi: 10.5376/mpr.2015.05.0004
Received:
07
Jun.,
2015
Accepted:
15
Jul.,
2015
Published:
24 Aug.,
2015
Copyright
© 2015
Ramana K.V.and Vikram K.G.,
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Ramana K.V.and Vikram K.G., 2015,
Aerva Lanata
(L.) Juss. ex Schult.: a Potentially Useful Medicinal Plant,
Medicinal Plant Research,
5(4)
1
-
4 (doi:
Abstract
Emergence of multi-drug resistance among various microorganisms has limited the choice of antimicrobial agents and has
been responsible for severe morbidity and mortality. Bacteria, fungi, parasites and viruses cause many infections in both human and
animals which are now difficult to treat owing to their resistance to most of the available antimicrobial drugs. Significant time taken
for the synthesis and availability of an approved allopathic drug in the market should be considered as a cause for serious concern in
health care settings. Research is rigorously on for finding alternatives to allopathic antimicrobial agents, which include preparation of
synthetic antibiotics, evaluating the nanoparticles for their utility in treating infections and analysing the activities of various plant
extracts for their medicinal values. This review discusses the potential medicinal properties of
Aerva lanata
.
Keywords
Aerva lanata
; Medicinal properties of
Aerva lanata
; Antimicrobial activity of
Aerva lanata
plant extracts
1 Introduction
Emergence of multi-drug resistance among various
microbial pathogens has been a cause of serious
concern to the medical world limiting the choice of
antibiotics. Considering the fact that it may take
decades to synthesize a viable antimicrobial drug,
today we are searching for alternatives to antimicrobial
agents (Kandi V, 2015). Emergence and spread of
microbes resistant to multiple antibiotics (super-bugs)
due to various resistance mechanisms should be
considered as a cause of deep concern. Methicillin-
resistant
Staphylococcus
aureus
(MRSA), Vancomycin-
resistant
Enterococci
,
Staphylococcus spp
and
Streptococcus spp
, bacteria possessing New Delhi
metallo-betalactamase (NDM) genes coding for
resistance, carbapenem resistance in many bacteria
colonizing intestinal tract and those existing in the
environment (
Pseudomonas
spp
and
Acinetobacter
spp
) are some of the bacteria which cause infections
that are hard to treat (Kalaskar and Venkataramana,
2012; Ramana et al., 2008; Ramana et al., 2009;
Ramana et al., 2013; Ramana et al., 2013a; Sharada et
al., 2014). .
Aerva lanata
is a medicinal plant belonging
to the family Amaranthaceae, which grows all along
the plains of India.
Aerva
lanata
is a perennial
herbaceous weed growing up to 2 meters (30 cm to 2
m) tall which is present trough the warmer geographical
plains of India including the states of Telangana,
Andhrapradesh, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. Other
countries where this plant grows include srilanka,
Arabian regions, Egypt, African regions, Java and
Philippines (Baladrin and Kloeke, 1988; Kareru et al.,
2008).
2 The Phyto-chemical characteristics of
Aerva lanata
The
Aerva lanata
stem branches from the bottom and
leaves are oppositely whorled, woolly, sessile,
sublunate, linear, abaxially, white lanose, adaxially
glabrous, bracts and bracteoles lanceolate and
tomentose throughout and appear smaller at the
flowering branches Figure 1. Flowers are very small,
sessile, bisexual, appear green to dull white in colour
and appear clustered in spikes. The roots of
Aerva
lanata
produce camphor like aroma and are believed
to possess medicinal values. The plant extracts of
Aerva lanata
plant produces many phytochemicals
Figure 1 The whole plant and the flowering branches of
Aerva lanata
