Exploration of Dill Seeds (Anethum Graveolens): An Ayurpharmacomic Approach

Since time immemorial, traditional medicine, largely Ayurveda, has established the usability and proficiency of many natural herbs and their formulations in curing ailments. However, the Asian continent or to be specific, India, could be considered as the “Land of Spices”. The saga of food-spice-medicine recipes has been passed down to several generations with a motto to “Make Food as Medicine”. One such exotic and the extensively used herb is Anethum Graveolens (Dill). This herb has the potential for various bioactivities. The whole plant, used as vrushya (a natural aphrodisiac), vataghna (balance vata) quenching excess free radicals, against vrana (non-healing wounds), shoola (abdominal colic pain), cure disorders and ulcers in eyes, plays a vital role in enema during panchakarma (bastikarma), functions as a galactagogue, inhibits uterine fibroids, increases milk secretion during lactation and above all enhances the taste of the food. With this background, a major lacuna is with an understanding of the functionality and mechanism of action at a molecular level. Hence, this chapter highlights the therapeutic potential of Dill seeds and their probable targets with modern knowledge and implications using ayurpharmacomic approach (understanding classical herbal formulation and exploring their pharmacological attributes with advanced -omic studies as tools). Further, virtual screening was performed to evaluate the structure-activity relationship (SAR) between lead phytobioactives and their pathological biomarkers/targets. These studies will enable a better understanding of potential pathways in developing newer therapeutic targets for future drug design and development, which would facilitate prime phytobioactive candidates to be subjected to clinical trials and drug approval.

Keywords: Clinical studies, Dill seeds, Formulations, Phytobioactives, Pharmacology, Structure-activity relationship (SAR), Traditional medicine, Therapeutics.