Science of Ashwagandha : preventive and therapeutic potentials

Rapidly increasing aging population and environmental stressors are the two main global concerns of increasing incidence of a variety of pathologies in the modern society. The complex etiologies and pathologies cause major challenges to disease treatment. On the other hand, several herbs are known for their health-caring and disease-curing activities. Ashwagandha, a popular herb in Indian traditional home medicine, Ayurveda, has gathered increasing recognition in recent years when the chemically synthesized drugs for single target therapies showed limited success and adverse toxic effects. Ashwagandha is known as a powerful adaptogen and trusted to enhance function of the brain, reproductive system, cell-mediated immunity and increase the body's defense against disease, and possess anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anti-arthritic activities. In this book, for the first time, we provide a complete portrait on scientific understanding of the effects of Ashwagandha and its active principles for a variety of preventive and therapeutic activities. Front Matter ....Pages i-xx Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Phytochemical Genomics of Ashwagandha (Neelam S. Sangwan, Sandhya Tripathi, Yashdeep Srivastava, Bhawana Mishra, Neha Pandey)....Pages 3-36 Phytopharmacology of Ashwagandha as an Anti-Diabetic Herb (Vikas Kumar, Amitabha Dey, Shyam Sunder Chatterjee)....Pages 37-68 Allium cepa Root Chromosomal Aberration Assay: An Application in Assessing Anti-genotoxic Potential of Ashwagandha (Rajneet Kour Soodan, Ashita Sharma, Mandeep Kaur, Jatinder Kaur Katnoria, Avinash Kaur Nagpal)....Pages 69-79 Withania somnifera: From Traditional Use to Evidence Based Medicinal Prominence (Sheikh Rayees, Fayaz Malik)....Pages 81-103 Withanolides: A Prospective Drug for Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Radheshyam Maurya)....Pages 105-120 Withania somnifera Extract/Withaferin A as a Prospective Anti-pigmenting Agent (Genji Imokawa)....Pages 121-146 Front Matter ....Pages 147-147 Ashwagandha Bioactives for Cancer Treatment: Experimental Evidence and Their Mechanism(s) of Action (Renu Wadhwa, Sukant Garg, Ashish Kaul, Sunil C. Kaul)....Pages 149-174 Scientific Evidence for Anticancer Effects of Withania somnifera and Its Primary Bioactive Component Withaferin A (Anuradha Sehrawat, Suman K. Samanta, Su-Hyeong Kim, Eun-Ryeong Hahm, Shivendra V. Singh)....Pages 175-196 Withaferin-A as a Potential Candidate for Cancer Therapy: Experimental Evidence of Its Effects on Telomerase Plus and Minus Cancer Cells (Zeenia Kaul, Yue Yu, Sunil C. Kaul, Renu Wadhwa)....Pages 197-212 Withania somnifera Has Potential to Treat Cancer (Babli Halder, Suman S. Thakur)....Pages 213-226 The Effects of Withaferin A on Normal and Malignant Immune Cells (Sara S. Alhakeem, Mary K. McKenna, Karine Z. Oben, Beth W. Gachuki, Sunil K. Noothi, Natarajan Muthusamy et al.)....Pages 227-242 Ashwagandha for Cancer Metastasis: Bioactives and Basics of Their Function (Sunil C. Kaul, Priyanshu Bhargava, Renu Wadhwa)....Pages 243-262 Computational Methods to Understand the Anticancer Mechanism of Withanolides (Shashank P. Katiyar, Vidhi Malik, Anjani Kumari, Durai Sundar)....Pages 263-280 Front Matter ....Pages 281-281 Ashwagandha for Brain Health: Experimental Evidence for Its Neuroregenerative Activities (Renu Wadhwa, Rajkumar S. Kalra, Anupama Chaudhary, Sunil C. Kaul)....Pages 283-304 Cellular and Molecular Targets Underpinning Memory Enhancement by Ashwagandha (Arpita Konar, Mahendra K. Thakur)....Pages 305-318 Using Human Neural Stem Cells as a Model to Understand the “Science of Ashwagandha” (Manju Tewari, Hriday S. Pandey, Pankaj Seth)....Pages 319-344 The Potential Utility of Ashwagandha for Improving Cognitive Dysfunction in Persons with Bipolar or Other Neurocognitive Disorders (K. N. Roy Chengappa, Jessica M. Gannon, Luna Acharya, Abhishek Rai)....Pages 345-371 Neuroprotective Potential of Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) in Neurological Conditions (Rajat Sandhir, Abhilasha Sood)....Pages 373-387 Potential Therapeutic Use of Withania somnifera for Treatment of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Kallol Dutta, Vivek Swarup, Jean-Pierre Julien)....Pages 389-415 Neuromodulatory Role of Withania somnifera (Gurcharan Kaur, Taranjeet Kaur, Muskan Gupta, Shaffi Manchanda)....Pages 417-436 Therapeutic Effects of Ashwagandha in Brain Aging and Clock Dysfunction (Anita Jagota, K. Kowshik)....Pages 437-456 Front Matter ....Pages 457-457 Biotechnological Approaches in Propagation and Improvement of Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal (Kulwinder Kaur, Pritika Singh, Rupam Guleri, Baldev Singh, Kuldeep Kaur, Varinder Singh et al.)....Pages 459-478 Plant Tissue Culture Based Strategies for Production of Withanolides (Deepika Soni, Preeti Rana, Sukriti Goyal, Aditi Singh, Salma Jamal, Abhinav Grover)....Pages 479-493 Establishment of Hydroponic Cultivation of Ashwagandha for Active Ingredient Enriched Leaves (Sunil C. Kaul, Sukant Garg, Kazuya Tamura, Teruo Wada, Zeenia Kaul, Renu Wadhwa)....Pages 495-508