Tradition to Pathogenesis: A Novel Hypothesis for Elucidating the Pathogenesis of Diseases Based on the Traditional Use of Medicinal Plants.

Kenny Kuchta,Silke Cameron

doi:10.3389/fphar.2021.705077

Abstract

Traditional medicines embody knowledge on medicinal plants that has been accumulated through cultural evolution over millennia. In the latter half of the 20th century, two approaches to medicinal plant research have been established: the “Bench to Bedside” and the “Bedside to Bench” approaches which serve primarily for the development of more efficient therapeutics. Here, we propose a third, novel approach: from “Tradition to Pathogenesis” which aims to understand the pathogenesis of diseases based on the cultural evolution of their respective empirical treatments. We analyse multiple examples of diseases where the acting mechanism of traditional treatments across multiple cultures points to the pathogenesis of the respective disease. E.g., many cultures traditionally treat rheumatism with anti-bacterial botanical drugs, which is at odds with our current understanding that rheumatism is an aseptic inflammation. Furthermore, gastric ailments have traditionally been treated with anti-infectious botanical drugs indicating local infections, as demonstrated by the discovery of Helicobacter pylori as a common cause of gastric ulcer. Understanding traditional treatments can thus help to elucidate the pathogenesis of the disease.

Highlights

Reviewed by: Abhay Prakash Mishra, University of the Free State, South Africa Chi-Jung Tai, Pingtung Hospital, Taiwan
Based on the above presented series of documented cases of dual use of the same medicinal plant for seemingly unrelated diseases from various systems of traditional medicine worldwide, as well as by theoretical considerations grounded on the principles of biological and cultural evolution, we propose “Tradition to Pathogenesis” as a completely new approach in medicinal plant research: Using the known pharmacological properties of medicinal plants and the documented empirical knowledge of their use, it is possible to gain a new understanding of the pathogenesis of the treated diseases
Zheng) (Zhao et al, 2015) that are traditionally associated with certain herbal drugs and drug mixtures, may be an important guiding light for future discoveries. In such traditional medicinal systems like in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, and Kampo medicine the empirical use of medicinal plants are traditionally not based on the modern knowledge of physiology

Summary

Traditional Knowledge and Pathogenesis

Phytochemical research has demonstrated that sesquiterpene lactones in V. amygdalina possess anthelmintic, antiamoebic, antitumor, and antibiotic properties (Huffman, 2001). Various prescriptions include the same medicinal plants in different combinations as the individual effects i.e., anti-inflammatory, mucoprotective or microcirculation enhancing, add to the synergistic effect of the whole This is referred to as multicomponent-multitargeted therapy. These considerations enable us to understand the pathological processes of diseases by analysing the commonalities in the pharmacological properties of traditional medicinal plant drugs used in multiple cultures to treat the disease. This approach constitutes a new possible use of pharmacognosy, a discipline that has for the past century been dominated by two approaches, the “bench to bedside” and the “bedside to bench” approach

THE TWO ESTABLISHED HYPOTHESIS OF MEDICINAL RESEARCH

Helicobacter pylori as the Causative Agent of Gastric Ulcers

Rheumatoid Arthritis and Spirochaeta Infection

Bone Turnover Related to Improved Testicular Functions

CONCLUSION