ADAPTOGENIC AGENTS: A REVIEW

Adaptogens are the plant-derived biologically active substances that appear to induce a state of non-specific increase of resistance of the organism to diverse assaults that threaten internal homeostasis and improve physical endurance.1Supplementation with various macro and micronutrients and herbal preparations has been evaluated for their adaptogenic activity during exposure to a stressful environment.2 Stress research in laboratory animals has assumed an important role in understanding the biological and behavioral consequences of external or internal stressors, which threaten to perturb homeostatis and may induce a number of clinical diseases when the body fails to counteract the stress situations. A variety of stress situations have been employed to investigate the consequences of stress and to evaluate antistress agents. The pharmacological assessment of adaptogens typically includes evaluation of their stimulating, tonic and stress protective effects in different screening models in which animals are challenged to acute and chronic stress conditions. Stress mediators and biochemical markers involved in mechanism ofadaptogens may be evaluated using experimental procedures.3