A REVIEW ON ANTIASTHMATIC ACTIVITY OF TRADITIONAL MEDICINAL PLANTS

Plants have played an important role as various medicinal agents since ages. Medicinal herbs have been used in one form or another, under indigenous systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. The knowledge of Indian medicinal plants and their uses in the Ayurvedic and Unani system of medicine have led to many scientific investigations and researches throughout the world. Asthma is a common disease that is rising in prevalence worldwide with the highest prevalence in industrialized countries. Asthma affects about 155 million people worldwidse and it has been estimated that is further 100 million will be affected by 2025. It has affected 14-15 million people in the United States, including estimated 4.8 million childhoods. It accounts for about 11 million hospital visits annually and the sixth most frequent reason for visits in ambulatory setting. It the past decades research has been focused on scientific evaluation of traditional drugs of pant origin for the treatment of various diseases. Since the time immemorial, various herbs are used as antiasthmatic with efficient therapeutic response. India has about 45,000 plant species and among them several thousand are claimed to possess medicinal properties.