Science of Ashwagandha: Preventive and Therapeutic Potentials

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xx

   PDF

2. Ashwagandha – Phytogenomics and Pharmacology

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Phytochemical Genomics of Ashwagandha

      • Neelam S. Sangwan, Sandhya Tripathi, Yashdeep Srivastava, Bhawana Mishra, Neha Pandey

      Pages 3-36

   3. Phytopharmacology of Ashwagandha as an Anti-Diabetic Herb

      • Vikas Kumar, Amitabha Dey, Shyam Sunder Chatterjee

      Pages 37-68

   4. 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

   5. Withania somnifera: From Traditional Use to Evidence Based Medicinal Prominence

      • Sheikh Rayees, Fayaz Malik

      Pages 81-103

   6. Withanolides: A Prospective Drug for Infectious and Tropical Diseases

      • Radheshyam Maurya

      Pages 105-120

   7. Withania somnifera Extract/Withaferin A as a Prospective Anti-pigmenting Agent

      • Genji Imokawa

      Pages 121-146

3. Ashwagandha for Cancer

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 147-147

      PDF

   2. 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

   3. 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

   4. 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

   5. Withania somnifera Has Potential to Treat Cancer

      • Babli Halder, Suman S. Thakur

      Pages 213-226

   6. 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

   7. Ashwagandha for Cancer Metastasis: Bioactives and Basics of Their Function

      • Sunil C. Kaul, Priyanshu Bhargava, Renu Wadhwa

      Pages 243-262

   8. Computational Methods to Understand the Anticancer Mechanism of Withanolides

      • Shashank P. Katiyar, Vidhi Malik, Anjani Kumari, Durai Sundar

      Pages 263-280

4. Ashwagandha for Brain

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 281-281

      PDF

   2. Ashwagandha for Brain Health: Experimental Evidence for Its Neuroregenerative Activities

      • Renu Wadhwa, Rajkumar S. Kalra, Anupama Chaudhary, Sunil C. Kaul

      Pages 283-304

   3. Cellular and Molecular Targets Underpinning Memory Enhancement by Ashwagandha

      • Arpita Konar, Mahendra K. Thakur

      Pages 305-318

   4. Using Human Neural Stem Cells as a Model to Understand the “Science of Ashwagandha”

      • Manju Tewari, Hriday S. Pandey, Pankaj Seth

      Pages 319-344

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.

• Ayurveda
• Ashwagandha
• Molecular mechanism
• Biotechnology
• Medicinal use

• DBT-AIST International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB), Biomedical Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan

  Sunil C. Kaul, Renu Wadhwa

Dr. Sunil Kaul was born and brought up in Kalimpong (Darjeeling). He obtained his MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Delhi, India. After his initial post-doctoral training, he was appointed as a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology (AIST) in Japan, and has been working there for last 28 years. He is now a Chief Senior Research Scientist.  His major research interest is to understand the molecular mechanism of stress, aging and cancer. He has been merging the traditional knowledge with modern technologies like gene silencing and imaging to understand the mechanism of action of Ayurvedic herb, Ashwagandha and others. He is a coordinator of the DBT (India)-AIST (Japan) International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine at AIST, Japan.  With more than 200 research publications in International peer revised journals and several invited talks Internationally, he has been in Editorial board of several scientific journals. He is a Fellow of Geriatrics Society of India (FGSI), Overseas Fellow of Biotech Research Society of India (FBRSI), Fellow of Indian Academy of Neuroscience (FIAN), and Foreign Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India (FNASc).

Policies and ethics