Author: Rathi C.RPublisher: Prem Jose
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 57
Book Description
Mirabilis jalapa is one of the medicinally important shrubs used in traditional medicine, belongs to the family Nyctaginaceae and commonly called as 4’O clock plant. M. jalapa plant extract contains biologically active substances that exhibit microbicidal or microstatic effects against various diseases causing microbes. The plant has high medicinal properties such that the indigenous people of Mexico use it to cure many infirmities including dysentery, diarrhoea, muscular pain and abdominal colic. It is used for the treatment of various infections. Parts of the plant are used to combat dyspepsia and other digestive disorders. The extract of yellow, red color flower variety and green leaf of M. jalapa can be used as natural food color instead of artificial color. The main advantage of using these plant extracts are they have high antimicrobial and have high antioxidant activity. It has the capacity to resist the bacteria like Bacillus, Salmonella, Klebsiella, E coli, Staphylococcus with the help of Silver nanoparticles. The plant has also proved to possess antibacterial, antiviral, and antioxidant activity. Nanoparticles are defined as particulate dispersions or solid particles with a size in the range of 10-1000nm. The drug is dissolved, entrapped, encapsulated or attached to a nanoparticle matrix. Depending upon the method of preparation, nanoparticles, nanospheres or nanocapsules can be obtained. Nanocapsules are systems in which the drug is confined to a cavity surrounded by a unique polymer membrane, while nanospheres are matrix systems in which the drug is physically and uniformly dispersed. Antioxidants are used as food additives to help guard against food deterioration. Exposure to oxygen and sunlight are the two main factors in the oxidation of food, so food is preserved by keeping in the dark and sealing it in containers or even coating it in wax, as with cucumbers. However, as oxygen is also important for plant respiration, storing plant materials in anaerobic conditions produces unpleasant flavours and unappealing colors. Consequently, packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables contains an ~8% oxygen atmosphere.
