Traditional Plant-based Medicines Research Articles

Medicinal plants used by traditional healers for the treatment of malaria in the Chipinge district in Zimbabwe

Ethnopharmacological relevanceBecause about 50% of the Zimbabwean population is at risk of contracting malaria each year, the majority of people, especially in rural areas, use traditional plant-based medicines to combat malaria. This explorative ethnobotanical survey was undertaken to document how malaria is conceptualized and diagnosed by traditional healers, and to record the medicinal plants used in the prevention and treatment of malaria, their mode of preparation and administration. Materials and methodsThe research was conducted in three villages in Headman Muzite׳s area and in Chiriga village. These villages are located in the Chipinge district in the Manicaland Province in Zimbabwe.Traditional healers were selected with the assistance of the headman of the Muzite area and a representative of the Zimbabwe National Traditional Healers Association. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 traditional healers from four villages in the Chipinge district in Zimbabwe. ResultsIn total, 28 plants from 16 plant families are used by the healers who manage malaria with medicinal plants. The most cited plant is Cassia abbreviata Oliv. (Leguminosae) followed by Aristolochia albida Duch (Aristolociaceae) and Toddalia asiatica (L.) Lam. (Rutaceae). Roots (55.3%) are the most common part used. Most of the plant parts used to treat malaria are stored as dried powders in closed bottles. The powders are soaked in hot or cold water and the water extract is taken as the active medicine. The healers consider their medicinal knowledge as a spiritual family heritage. Only 25% of the healers refer the malaria patients that do not respond to their treatment to hospital – they believe evil spirits cause their remedies to failure and they would rather try a different plant or perform a cleansing ceremony. ConclusionsLocal knowledge of medicinal plants in the treatment of malaria still exists in all four villages surveyed and traditional healers appear to play an important role in primary health care services in this remote rural area in Zimbabwe. This explorative survey underscores the need to preserve and document traditional healing for managing malaria and for more future scientific research on the plants to determine their efficacy and their safety. This could improve their traditional anti-malarial recipes and might contribute to a better integration of Zimbabwean traditional medicine into the national health system in the future.

Pratik Chakrabarti, Medicine & Empire: 1600-1960

Pratik Chakrabarti's latest book is a splendid attempt to condense 360 years—spanning the Galenic tradition to the genetic revolution—of the intertwined history of medicine and empire into 200 pages. The first chapter, covering the years 1600–1800, begins by describing how European armies—vying to secure trading monopolies—needed surgeons at-hand in the colonies. This explains why it was surgeons, rather than physicians, who powered the expansion of the European pharmacopoeia. Chakrabarti vividly explains how they adopted slave therapeutics, trialled ‘exotic’ medicines in the field, and even engaged in piracy—making individual surgeons very rich, and surgery as a profession highly respected. These field surgeons learnt much from traditional plant-based medicines. Chapter 2 takes up this story of colonial bioprospection. This intellectual and commercial ‘exchange’ between Old and New World pharmacopoeias disproportionately enriched the European materia medica, whilst local healing traditions (e.g. voodoo and obeah) were suppressed and outlawed by white planters, in part because of their supposed role in inciting slave rebellions.

Dohaekseunggi-tang extract inhibits obesity, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension in high-fat diet-induced obese mice.

BackgroundDohaekseunggi-tang (DHSGT) is a traditional plant-based medicine prescribed to promote blood circulation and to treat obesity and hypertension. The present study aimed to identify potential anti-obesity activities of DHSGT extract.MethodsAnti-obesity, anti-hyperlipidemic, and anti-hypertensive effects of orally-administered DHSGT extract were evaluated in high-fat diet- (HFD)-induced obese mice. Serum biochemistry profiles and expression of diverse metabolic regulatory gene mRNAs in mouse visceral fat were assessed by RT-PCR. The effects of DHSGT on angiotensin-1 converting enzyme (ACE) and pancreatic lipase activities were determined using in vitro inhibition assays.ResultsOral DHSGT treatment reduced obese HFD C57BL/6 J mouse body weight, liver and adipose tissue mass, adipocyte size, and blood pressure versus untreated HFD mice. DHSGT also decreased serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride, glucose, and leptin concentrations, and increased HDL-cholesterol and adiponectin levels in HFD mice. Furthermore, DHSGT markedly increased mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma, uncoupling protein-2, and adiponectin in visceral adipose tissue of HFD mice. In vitro tests revealed that DHSGT effectively inhibited porcine pancreatic lipase and ACE activities, with IC50 values of 7.58 mg/ml and 0.56 mg/ml, respectively.ConclusionsThese results validate traditional knowledge and suggest that DHSGT may be potentially useful for managing hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and obesity.

Latest Research Trends of Korean Medicine for the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Diseases

To research the trends of study about gastrointestinal (GI) disease in Korean medicine, we reviewed and analysed articles published in Korea from 2009 to 2012. From ancient to modern history, traditional plant-based medicines have played an important role in health care, especially GI tract. In spite of the great advances of moderm scientific medicine, traditional medicine is still the primary form of healing methods readily available to the majority of the people in the many countries. In fact many of today"s popular drugs have their origins in traditional medicine. Therefore, we suggest that the development and improvement of Korean medicine in GI tract will make good the quality of life in our lifetime.

Species Substitution in Medicinal Roots and Possible Implications for Toxicity of Herbal Remedies in Morocco

Species Substitution in Medicinal Roots and Possible Implications for Toxicity of Herbal Remedies in Morocco. Herbal medicine is an integral part of health care in Morocco and is widely used by Moroccans. However, the efficacy and safety of traditional plant-based medicine in Morocco is threatened by insufficient knowledge about practices of adulteration and substitution. These issues are of particular importance when subterranean plant parts are employed. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods was used to identify where and why confusion (accidental substitution) and intentional substitution occurs in root-based medicines sold in Marrakech. Additionally we examined local perceptions of the toxicological risks posed by substitution. We recorded a total of 20 species (34 unique cases) of roots for which substitution or confusion was reported by either herbalists or collectors. Substitution or confusion occurred in 54.6 % of the 33 most commonly sold medicinal roots, with herbalists reporting substitution in more species than collectors. Collectors and herbalists cited poor availability of roots (in part due to overexploitation of wild resources), high demand, high prices, and lack of knowledge as factors driving substitution and confusion. Roots for which substitution was reported were significantly more difficult for herbalists to identify. Moreover, profit was higher for roots for which intentional substitution was reported. Despite the detailed knowledge held by many herbalists and a long tradition of use of herbal medicine in Morocco, doctors and pharmacists had dismissive attitudes towards traditional medicine and expressed concern about both efficacy and safety of medicinal plant use. Given the high rates of substitution and confusion documented by this study, there is an urgent need for appropriate regulation of herbal remedies in Morocco, a conclusion embraced by herbalists and Western-trained medical practitioners alike.

People, plants and health: a conceptual framework for assessing changes in medicinal plant consumption

BackgroundA large number of people in both developing and developed countries rely on medicinal plant products to maintain their health or treat illnesses. Available evidence suggests that medicinal plant consumption will remain stable or increase in the short to medium term. Knowledge on what factors determine medicinal plant consumption is, however, scattered across many disciplines, impeding, for example, systematic consideration of plant-based traditional medicine in national health care systems. The aim of the paper is to develop a conceptual framework for understanding medicinal plant consumption dynamics. Consumption is employed in the economic sense: use of medicinal plants by consumers or in the production of other goods.MethodsPubMed and Web of Knowledge (formerly Web of Science) were searched using a set of medicinal plant key terms (folk/peasant/rural/traditional/ethno/indigenous/CAM/herbal/botanical/phytotherapy); each search terms was combined with terms related to medicinal plant consumption dynamics (medicinal plants/health care/preference/trade/treatment seeking behavior/domestication/sustainability/conservation/urban/migration/climate change/policy/production systems). To eliminate studies not directly focused on medicinal plant consumption, searches were limited by a number of terms (chemistry/clinical/in vitro/antibacterial/dose/molecular/trial/efficacy/antimicrobial/alkaloid/bioactive/inhibit/antibody/purification/antioxidant/DNA/rat/aqueous). A total of 1940 references were identified; manual screening for relevance reduced this to 645 relevant documents. As the conceptual framework emerged inductively, additional targeted literature searches were undertaken on specific factors and link, bringing the final number of references to 737.ResultsThe paper first defines the four main groups of medicinal plant users (1. Hunter-gatherers, 2. Farmers and pastoralists, 3. Urban and peri-urban people, 4. Entrepreneurs) and the three main types of benefits (consumer, producer, society-wide) derived from medicinal plants usage. Then a single unified conceptual framework for understanding the factors influencing medicinal plant consumption in the economic sense is proposed; the framework distinguishes four spatial levels of analysis (international, national, local, household) and identifies and describes 15 factors and their relationships.ConclusionsThe framework provides a basis for increasing our conceptual understanding of medicinal plant consumption dynamics, allows a positioning of existing studies, and can serve to guide future research in the area. This would inform the formation of future health and natural resource management policies.

Breve revisão sobre uso de fauna medicinal no Brasil: aspectos históricos, farmacológicos e conservacionistas

O tratamento de doenças em humanos e em animais por meio do uso de remédios obtidos de animais ou departes destes é conhecido como zooterapia. Apesar de constituir uma prática relativamente comum, estudos sobre estetema são relativamente escassos quando comparados àqueles que abordam a temática de remédios tradicionais obtidos deplantas. No Brasil, já foram registrados 326 animais explorados para finalidades medicinais, a maioria das quais é silvestre.A literatura acerca dos usos de animais medicinais é numericamente bastante inferior aos registros da utilização de plantasmedicinais e suas implicações, o que potencializa a necessidade do desenvolvimento de mais pesquisas sobre o tema. Entreos diversos fatores que ressaltam a importância de uma maior compreensão da zooterapia, destacam-se: perspectivashistóricas, aspectos relacionados à conservação e à validação desses medicamentos tradicionais e dificuldades nodesenvolvimento de pesquisas sobre fauna medicinal. No presente trabalho, nós construímos uma breve discussão sobrecada um destes tópicos.

An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants of Laos toward the discovery of bioactive compounds as potential candidates for pharmaceutical development

Context: An ethnobotany-based approach in the selection of raw plant materials to study was implemented.Objective: To acquire raw plant materials using ethnobotanical field interviews as starting point to discover new bioactive compounds from medicinal plants of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.Methods: Using semi-structured field interviews with healers in the Lao PDR, plant samples were collected, extracted, and bio-assayed to detect bioactivity against cancer, HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria. Plant species demonstrating activity were recollected and the extracts subjected to a bioassay-guided isolation protocol to isolate and identify the active compounds.Results: Field interviews with 118 healers in 15 of 17 provinces of Lao PDR yielded 753 collections (573 species) with 955 plant samples. Of these 955, 50 extracts demonstrated activity in the anticancer, 10 in the anti-HIV, 30 in the anti-TB, and 52 in the antimalarial assay. Recollection of actives followed by bioassay-guided isolation processes yielded a series of new and known in vitro-active anticancer and antimalarial compounds from 5 species.Discussion: Laos has a rich biodiversity, harboring an estimated 8000–11,000 species of plants. In a country highly dependent on traditional medicine for its primary health care, this rich plant diversity serves as a major source of their medication.Conclusions: Ethnobotanical survey has demonstrated the richness of plant-based traditional medicine of Lao PDR, taxonomically and therapeutically. Biological assays of extracts of half of the 955 samples followed by in-depth studies of a number of actives have yielded a series of new bioactive compounds against the diseases of cancer and malaria.

Antibacterial activities of extracts from twelve Centaurea species from Turkey

Members of the genus Centaurea (Asteraceae) have been used in traditional plant-based medicine. The methanol extracts of twelve Centaurea species, of which five are endemic to Turkey flora, were screened for antibacterial activity against four bacteria (Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus). The antibacterial activity was evaluated by the microdilution method and the minimum inhibition concentrations (MIC) of the extracts were determined. C. cariensis subsp. microlepis exhibited an antimicrobial effect on all tested microorganisms. The extracts from eight Centaurea species (C. balsamita, C. calolepis, C. cariensis subsp. maculiceps, C. cariensis subsp. microlepis, C. kotschyi var. kotschyi, C. solstitialis subsp. solstitialis, C. urvillei subsp. urvillei and C. virgata) possessed antibacterial activity against several of the tested microorganisms.

Metabolomics for Discovery of Novel Medicinal Compounds

Plant tissues have complex chemical profiles consisting of both primary metabolites required for growth and development and secondary metabolites that enable the plant to sense and adapt to changing conditions. The products of plant secondary metabolism are a rich resource for discovery of new medicines but traditional methods of discovery such as bioassay-guided fractionation are expensive and time-consuming while some plant-based treatments rely on synergy between several compounds for full biological effect. Metabolomics is the study of the whole complement of small compounds in a biological sample and recently, this technique has been used to discover novel, medicinally active phytochemicals in traditional plant-based medicines. The overall objective of the Medicinal Plant Metabonomics research program is to assess the capacity for compound discovery by mass spectrometry and NMR-based metabolomics technologies and to quantitatively compare metabolites specific to individual medicinal plants. An extract of a single leaf of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L) has been found to contain more 2,500 unique phytochemicals while extracts of species in the genus Scutellaria contain more than 4,200 individual compounds. A simple cup of coffee from a commercial retailer can contain between 8,000–10,000 distinct phytochemicals. Efforts to understand this phytochemical complexity and to develop models for study of chemodiversity form the foundation of future research in compound discovery, medicinal plant development and optimized diets.

Traditional Thai Medicines Inhibit <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> In-Vitro and In-Vivo: Support for ethnomedical use

In Thailand, traditional plant-based medicines have always been used to treat gastrointestinal ailments, including gastritis, peptic ulcer disease (PUD) and diarrhea. Since Helicobacter pylori (HP) is an etiological agent of PUD, we have used an ethnomedical approach for screening plant extracts as potential treatments for HP infections, including over 20 species from Thailand. International Memoranda of Agreement were established between UIC and Mahidol University in Thailand. Medicinal plants were collected, identified and extracted. Susceptibility testing was performed with 15 HP strains using the agar dilution procedure guidelines of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute. In vivo studies included evaluating bacterial load, as well as acute and chronic inflammation in HPinfected Mongolian gerbils. Extracts of Curcuma longa L. and Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. significantly reduced HP-induced gastric lesions, as assessed both macroscopically and microscopically in Mongolian gerbils. The treatments reduced acute and/or chronic inflammation in a prevention model of HP-induced gastritis.

The scientific study of herbal wound healing therapies: Current state of play

Acute wound healing occurs in four stages, namely, haemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodelling. Underlying metabolic disturbances and/or disease may disrupt the regenerative process, causing delayed healing. This has imposed a huge financial burden in both the developed and undeveloped world. As a result, the possibility of deriving alternative, cost effective therapies from traditional plant-based medicines has been explored. The majority of such investigations take the form of in vitro assays based on cell culture models of the various phases of healing. Although insightful in terms of possible modes of drug action, it is conceded that in vitro assessments are insufficient to demonstrate efficacy and both animal testing and human trials are required for global scientific acceptance. Aloe vera is the only herbal medicine to be subjected to all three forms of assessment and is an appropriate example of the scientific methodologies to which herbal medicines are currently subjected. A discussion of the virtues and drawbacks of the in vivo and in vitro approach is given, together with an indication of the information which may be derived from each. It is concluded that in vitro models based on cells derived from diseased tissues are superior to other in vitro models and, in some respects, to animal studies. The investigation of wound healing herbal therapies should be directed toward clinical trials. For the purpose of the joint demonstration of efficacy and elucidation of drug mechanisms, such trials should, where possible, be performed with attendant tissue culture of cells derived from participants.

1055 PRODUCTION AND MARKETING OF SPICES, TEA HERBS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

Concurrent with the development of the U.S. market for certified organically-grown produce, there has been a growth in the production and marketing of organically-grown botanicals. This activity has been centered in the Pacific Northwest for the past 20 years. The current global market for biologically-grown botanicals has been stimulated by public interest in alternative and traditional plant-based medicines. Trout Lake Farm has organized efforts to stimulate the production and marketing of medicinal plants and spices. The efforts include R&D, growing methodologies, quality assurance, drying, and processing. Research of many ornamentals has revealed potential uses for them other than strictly ornamental. Cultivation is necessary to avoid extirpation of fragile and threatened wild medicinals. The use of organic growing practices is necessary, particularly for specialty crops which have no EPA level inclusions for pesticides. Increasing domestic production of temperate and subtropical herbs and spices helps reduce U.S. imports.