Comparative Activity of Reserpine and Total Alkaloids of Rauwolfia serpentina Benth

Rauwolfia serpentina has come to stay with the modern medical profession as a useful therapeutic agent. It would be easily the best remedy so far discovered from amongst Indian folk lore and it will be a matter of time involving wide field trials before the drug finds its exact role in the management of two challenging medical problems namely ‘hypertension’ and ‘neuropsychiatric’ conditions. However the judicious use of the drug in therapeutics demands an answer to two questions: (a) What are the therapeutically useful constituents of the plant? Does reserpine represent all that is useful in the plant or is there any other constituent or constituents that also possess therapeutically utilisable properties? (b) What happens to the drug inside the body, i.e. knowledge of metabolism of the drug, which might provide a clue to the mode of action of the drug.