The psycllium husk and seeds of Plantago ovatum Forsk. The seed oil from the economic plant, Helianthus annus L. is prescribed for patients suffering from hypercholesterolemia. The current trend of research on development of drugs from natural products used in traditional medicine has been highlighted in previous volumes. This compound is considered to be an invaluable tool for proper understanding of cyclic AMP-dependent physiological processes. It has been reported that forskolin reduces preload and afterload of the heart due to myocardial contractivity arising from its positive inotropic action without affecting myocardial oxygen consumption.
Antioxidants play a vital role in preventing degeneration by scavenging free radicals.
This property is exhibited by many plant products such as vitamins A, C and E and polyphenols like flavonoids, tannins and tannic acids. In volume 5, the same features have been followed as in earlier publications. Efforts have been made to cover modern nomenclature of the plant species and the chemical literature upto 1995 as far as practicable.