Research Article Open Access Biochemistry & Analytical Biochemistry Wadood et al., Biochem Anal Biochem 2013, 2:4 http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-1009.1000144 Volume 2 • Issue 4 • 1000144 Biochem Anal Biochem ISSN: 2161-1009 Biochem, an open access journal Keywords: Medicinal plants; Phytochemicals; Anti-fungal; Anti- bacterial; Anti-inlammation activities Introduction he medicinal plants are useful for healing as well as for curing of human diseases because of the presence of phytochemical constituents [1]. Phytochemicals are naturally occurring in the medicinal plants, leaves, vegetables and roots that have defense mechanism and protect from various diseases. Phytochemicals are primary and secondary compounds. Chlorophyll, proteins and common sugars are included in primary constituents and secondary compounds have terpenoid, alkaloids and phenolic compounds [2]. Terpenoids exhibit various important pharmacological activities i.e., anti-inlammatory, anti- cancer, anti-malarial, inhibition of cholesterol synthesis, anti-viral and anti-bacterial activities [3]. Terpenoids are very important in attracting useful mites and consume the herbivorous insects [4]. Alkaloids are used as anaesthetic agents and are found in medicinal plants [5]. he Momordica charantia belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and it has common names such as bitter melon, karela and bitter gourd. More than thousand herbal products of Momordica charantia are used for treatment of diabetic patients and also helpful in lowering of glucose level in the blood [6]. he bioactive constituents are present in Momordica charantia that is charantosides, momordin and goyaglycosides. It also includes terpenoids constituents such as momordicinin, momordenol, momordicin-28, momordicilin and momordol [7-11]. Morus nigra is the botanical name of the mulberry and it belongs to the family Moraceae. Mulberries have shown various biological properties such as anti-inlammatory activities [12]. Guava is the common name of the Psidium guajava and it belongs to the family Myrtaceae. Its phytochemical study shows that its extracts have more than twenty compounds [13,14]. Prunus persica belongs to the Rosaceae family. It is used as medicinal plants in African countries and this medicinal plant has shown strong anti-fungal activities [15]. Pomegranate is the common name of the Punica granatum (PG) and belongs to the family Lythraceae. It has much medical signiicance and used as medicines for centuries [16]. he recent studies have investigated that pomegranates are used for the treatment of a number of diseases e.g., diabetes, dysentery, diarrhea, cough, asthma, bleeding disorders, bronchitis, fever, AIDS, inlammation, ulcers, malaria, prostate cancer, hypertension, atherosclerosis, hyper lipidemia, male infertility, infant brain ischemia and obesity. Fagonia cretica (Zygophyllaceae) is one of the plants which are locally used in Pakistan as a cure of snake bite [17]. Acacia nilotica, it is the member of the Leguminosae family. he subfamily of the Acacia nilotica is Mimosoideae [18]. Lufa cylindrica is the botanical name of the sponge gourds and belongs to Cucurbitaceae family. he fruits of this plant have lat seeds and black in colour which is enclosed by group of ibers [19]. Medicinal and nutritional properties are the characteristics of Lufa cylindrical and seeds of this plant are used for curing of asthma, fever and sinusitis [20]. Morus alba is included in the Moraceae family. heir leaves and fruits are used for curing prematurely grey hair. Its root bark is used by humans for more than 4 thousand years [21,22]. Ficus palmate is included in the family of Moraceae and is used as dry vegetable. It is herbaceous perennial plant. Its leaves have hypotensive actions [23]. he main objective of our research work was to analyze the presence *Corresponding author: Abdul Wadood, Department of Biochemistry, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan-23200, Pakistan, Tel: +92937542195; E-mail: awadood@awkum.edu.pk Received October 25, 2013; Accepted December 03, 2013; Published December 05, 2013 Citation: Wadood A, Ghufran M, Jamal SB, Naeem M, Khan A, et al. (2013) Phytochemical Analysis of Medicinal Plants Occurring in Local Area of Mardan. Biochem Anal Biochem 2: 144. doi: 10.4172/2161-1009.1000144 Copyright: © 2013 Wadood A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abstract Medicinal plants have bioactive compounds which are used for curing of various human diseases and also play an important role in healing. Phytochemicals have two categories i.e., primary and secondary constituents. Primary constituents have chlorophyll, proteins sugar and amino acids. Secondary constituents contain terpenoids and alkaloids. Medicinal plants have antifungal, antibacterial and anti-inlammation activities. The present study involves ten different medicinal plants Acacia nilotica, Psidium gujauva, Luffa cylindrical, Morus alba, Morus nigra, Momordica charantia, Fagonia cretica, Punica granatum, Ficus palmate and Prunus persica locally available in Mardan region of Pakistan. The leaves of the selected medicinal plants were washed, air dried and then powdered. The aqueous extract of leaf samples were used for the phytochemical analysis to ind out the phytochemical constituents in the plants. The main objective of the research work was to check the presence or absence of the phytochemical constituents in all the selected medicinal plants. The results of the phytochemical analysis of these medicinal plants showed that the terpenoids, phlobatannins, reducing sugar, lavonoids and alkaloids were found to be present in afore mentioned medicinal plants. The phytochemical analysis of the plants is very important commercially and has great interest in pharmaceutical companies for the production of the new drugs for curing of various diseases. It is expected that the important phytochemical properties recognized by our study in the indigenous medicinal plants of Mardan will be very useful in the curing of various diseases of this region. Phytochemical Analysis of Medicinal Plants Occurring in Local Area of Mardan Abdul Wadood 1 *, Mehreen Ghufran 1 , Syed Babar Jamal 1 , Muhammad Naeem 1 , Ajmal Khan 2 , Rukhsana Ghaffar 3 and Asnad 1 1 Department of Biochemistry, Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, Mardan-23200, Pakistan 2 Hussain Ebrahim Jamal, Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Pakistan 3 Department of Pharmacy, University of Malakand, Pakistan