Medicinal plants

About: Medicinal plants is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3816 publications have been published within this topic receiving 108681 citations. The topic is also known as: medicinal herbs & medicinal plants.

An ethnopharmacological evaluation of Navapind and Shahpur Virkanin district Sheikupura, Pakistan for their herbal medicines

Abstract: The chief aim of this study was to enlist the ethnobotanical uses of wild plants in district Sheikhupura, province Punjab, Pakistan. Due to extreme geographical and climatic conditions, Pakistan has a great floral diversity. Plants have been used by the indigenous people for treatment of different ailments since long. They are still dependent on the plants for their domestic purposes. Moreover, plants are used as first aid to treat diverse ailments such as cold, cough, influenza, asthma, cancer, antidote, gastric and hepatic disorders. The traditional uses of medicinal plants lead to the discovery of natural drugs. This is first quantitative ethnobotanical documentation of medicinal plants in NavaPind and ShahpurVirkan district Sheikhupura, province Punjab, Pakistan. This ethnobotanical information was collected from about 400 informants including male and female. Sample size was determined by statistical formula. The informative data was based on semi-structured interviews, group discussions, Questionnaire and field visits. Then the data was analyzed by applying different quantitative indices such as Informant Consent Factor (ICF), Use value (UV), Relative Frequency of Citation (RFC), the Fidelity level (FL) and Jaccard Index (JI). Almost 96 plants belonging to 34 families were reported. Most-frequently cited families were Poaceae (16 species) and Fabaceae (15 species). The most dominant life form was herbs (30.20%). The most-used plant parts were leaves (31.14%), followed by whole plant (24.59%), Most common mode of administration is extraction (81.25%). Generally herbal medicines were acquired from fresh plant material. Among all 54.16% plants were toxic, 31.25% were nontoxic, whereas the remaining 14.58% may be toxic or nontoxic because of their dual attitude. Almost 34 species were reported with their different medicinal uses as has been reported in literature. This ethnobotanical documentation revealed that the plants are still used by natives of rural areas in their day-to-day lives. This study provides basis for the conservation of local flora. Plants with high ICF, UV and FL can be further used for phytochemical and pharmacological studies. This documentation could provide baseline information which can be used to develop new plant-based commercial drugs.

Physiological activities and the active constituents of potentially medicinal plants used by wild chimpanzees of the Mahale mountains, Tanzania

Abstract: Potential medicinal plants for wild chimpanzees have been studied in order to discover their physiologically active compounds. Tests of the physiological activity of 3 plant species—Vernonia amygdalina, Aspilia mossambicensis, andFicus exasperata—indicate that they contain a variety of active compounds. From one species,V. amygdalina, an antitumor agent and 2 possible antitumor promoters are identified. Furthermore, steroid glucosides were isolated as the bitter substances. These structurally new compounds are expected to exhibit a number of significant physiological activities. The chemical investigation of possible medicinal plants used by chimpanzees should be helpful in recovering naturally occurring compounds of medicinal significance for human use.

Antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms by extracts from herbal Jordanian plants

Abstract: The aim was to study antimicrobial activity of a group of herbal medicinal plants, including Achillea biebersteinii, Phlomis viscosa, Ainworthia trachycarpa, Solanum elaeagnifolium, Arum hygrophilum, Varthemia iphionoides, Crupina crupinastrum, Teucrium polium, Achillea santolina, Micromeria nervosa, Chenopodium murate, Ballota philistaea, Onosma roussaei, Fagonia mollis, Marrubium vulgare, Calotropis procera, Salvia hierosolymitana, Ballota undulata, Hallogeton alopecuroides, Scrophularia hierochuntica and Nonea melanocarpa, grown in Jordan. The tested medicinal plants showed different antimicrobial activity in different extract amounts (5, 10, 15, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 ppm) against the tested microorganisms. Minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) and the diameter of inhibition zone (DIZ) were determined by in vitro bioassays using hole-plate diffusion method against two bacterial species, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and one fungi, Candida albicans. Extracts of most tested plants, except Arum hygrophilum and Micromeria nervosa, showed antimicrobial activity against some of the tested microorganisms. The antimicrobial activity was highest in Crupina crupinastrum extract (5, 10, 15, 20, 40 and 60 ppm) which gave the largest inhibition zone (DIZ 24 mm) at 60 ppm followed by the extracts from Achillea biebersteinii with highest effect at 60 ppm (DIZ 18 mm). This study shed the light on the antimicrobial ability of extracts from Jordanian medicinal plants, which can be used as natural antimicrobial agents in pharmaceutical and food preservation systems.

Antimalarial activity in crude extracts of Malawian medicinal plants.

Abstract: Aqueous and organic fractions from Cassia abbreviata, Senna petersiana (both Caesalpiniaceae) and Azanza garckeana (Malvaceae) were tested for in-vitro antimalarial activity against the multi-drug-resistant, Vietnam-Smith strain of Plasmodium falciparum, VI/S. Both roots and leaves from these Malawian medicinal plants were investigated.High activity, with a median inhibitory concentration <3 μg/ml, was seen in the organic fractions of C. abbreviata and S. petersiana, the two species most commonly cited by traditional healers in an ethnobotanical investigation of Malawian antimalarials. Extracts of A. garckeana showed weaker activity. Biologically active compounds have thus been detected within species of the family Caesalpiniaceae. Ethnobotanical investigation appears to be useful in identifying plants with antimalarial activity.