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Inflammation is a dynamic process that is elicited in response to mechanical injuries, burns, microbial infections, and other noxious stimuli that may threaten the well-being of the host. This process involves changes in blood flow, increased vascular permeability, destruction of tissues via the activation and migration of leucocytes with synthesis of reactive oxygen derivatives (oxidative burst), and the synthesis of local inflammatory mediators, such as prostaglandins (PGs), leukotrienes, and platelet-activating factors induced by phospholipase A_2, cyclooxygenases (COXs), and lipoxygenases. Arachidonic acid is a key biological intermediate that is converted in to a large number of eicosanoids with potent biological activities. The two major pathways of arachidonic acid metabolism are the COX pathway, which results in the formation of both PGs and thromboxanes, and the 5-lipoxygenase pathway, which is responsible for the formation of leukotrienes and 5S-hydroxy-6E, 8Z, 11Z, 14Z-eicosatetraenoic acid (5-HETE). Classic examples of herbs traditionally used to treat inflammation in Western medicine are Matricaria chamomilla L. and Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae), Salix alba (Salicaceae), and Glycyrrhiza glabra (Fabaceae).

The use of plants to influence brain function has long been essential to medical practice, and one could say that the intake of new plant species by early hominids resulting from a change in the climate might have triggered the Mind’s Big Bang 50,000 years ago which allowed us to prevail over the Neanderthals, who co-existed with us for tens of thousands of years.

Each year in the United States more than 1 million people are diagnosed with cancer, and about 500,000 people die from the disease. For the most part, the reason that cancer is a fatal disease is that cancer cells can invade through, and metastasize to, distant organs in the body. The hallmarks of malignant neoplastic tissue are unregulated cell proliferation, invasiveness, and metastasis to distant sites in the body. Surgery and radiotherapy can eradicate localized tumors but may fail because the cancer may have metastasized to other areas of the body; chemotherapy, if used properly, may control or eliminate metastasis. The array of drugs used for the treatment of cancer includes antimetabolites (methotrexate [Trexall®]), fluoouracil (Efudex®), mercaptopurine (Puri-Nethol®), cytarabine (Cytosar®), covalent DNA-binding drugs (nitrogen mustards, alkylating agents), noncovalent binding drugs (anthracyclines), antiestrogens, and inhibitors of chromatin function.