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Antiprotozoal Effects of Wild Plants
Published in Mahendra Rai, Shandesh Bhattarai, Chistiane M. Feitosa, Ethnopharmacology of Wild Plants, 2021
Muhammad Subbayyal Akram, Rao Zahid Abbas, José L. Martinez
Traditionally, 10 wild plants have been used in Mexico for the treatment of parasitic infection. Molina-Garza et al. (2014) evaluated these 10 plant extracts for the treatment of T. cruzi, which are Schinus molle, Lippia graveolens, Artemisia mexicana, Ruta chalepensis, Castela texana, Persea americana, Cymbopogon citratus, Marrubium vulgare, Eryngium heterophyllum, and Haematoxylum brasiletto.
Traditional Medicine Situation in Africa
Published in Charles Wambebe, African Indigenous Medical Knowledge and Human Health, 2018
Ossy MJ Kasilo, Jean-Baptiste Nikiema, Abayneh Desta, André Lona
In 2006, McGown published a book entitled, Out of Africa: Mysteries of Access and Benefit Sharing which reported on the details related to biopiracy in Africa (McGown, 2006:6), and this was an eye opener. For instance, vaccines from microbes were out of Egypt; a treatment for diabetes was out of Libya (McGown, 2006:2); and Hoodia, the appetite suppressant, was out of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa (McGown, 2006). Similarly, four multipurpose medicinal plants were out of Ethiopia and neighboring countries: Millettia ferruginea, Glinus lotoides, Hagenia abyssinica, and Ruta chalepensis (McGown, 2006:7). As indicated by McGown, there is currently rampant misappropriation of resources from Africa. Partly, this is due to the fact that there is a lack of detailed documentation of TMK, which is generally transferred orally. However, if TMK is documented, it will be safeguarded, promoted, and made available in a more systematized manner to a wider audience. This latter includes researchers, students, and entrepreneurs, among others and it will also be possible to transmit TMK to future generations.
Ethnobotanical Issues on Medicinal Plants from Paraguay
Published in José L. Martinez, Amner Muñoz-Acevedo, Mahendra Rai, Ethnobotany, 2019
Rosa Luisa Degen de Arrúa, Yenny González, Esteban A. Ferro B.
Medicinal plants are consumed in Paraguay in different ways, either fresh or dried, the last being as powder or coarsely crushed. Different parts are employed, even the whole plant too, especially leaves, but parts such as roots, rhizomes, flower tops and the aerial parts are also widely employed. Fresh plants are preferred, and even until now they are macerated with water in order to prepare “tereré”, the traditional refreshing beverage of Paraguay (MAG-DGPE 2008, Vera 2009, Degen and González 2014b). To prepare tereré, a glass of water is required, or better, a cone shaped container or “guampa” elaborated with a cow horn or a piece of wood, with about 150 mL of capacity, where the leaf powder of processed yerba mate, Ilex paraguariensis (Aquifoliaceae), is placed. The liquid is poured into the container and drunk through a metal straw, inserted in the leaf powder, and acting as a filter. It’s brewed with cold water, or more frequently, with a cold macerate prepared by crushing fresh medicinal plants in a mortar, usually made with wood of palo santo tree, Bulnesia sarmientoi (Degen and González 2014b). Considering the popular consumption of “tereré”, it provides more than the phytochemicals of the macerated medicinal plants, by extracting chemicals from the yerba mate, mainly saponins, polyphenols and methylxanthines, and also measurable quantities of vitamins and minerals (Vera García et al. 2005, Heck and De Mejia 2007). Another way to consume medicinal plants in our country is along with “mate” (Degen et al. 2004, Vera 2009, Degen and González 2014a), the traditional beverage from Río de la Plata region, which is very similar to the tereré described above, but prepared with hot water. Other procedures quite widely employed to prepare medicinal plants for human consumption are infusions and decoctions (Basualdo et al. 2003, 2004, Degen et al. 2004), which could also be consumed, either cold or hot as substitutes of drinking water (Degen and González 2014b). Some species are also employed in different ways, to perform steam inhalations from boiled eucalypt leaves, Eucalyptus sp., as macerates to be applied or rubbed on the skin like rue, Ruta chalepensis; for wound washing like Acanthospermum australe; as poultices with chamomile, Matricaria chamomilla, or to prepare hot baths with bitter orange leaves, Citrus aurantium, respectively (Basualdo et al. 2003, Degen and González 2014a). More recently, the consumption of processed composite yerba mate, Ilex paraguariensis—a mixture of yerba mate with other plants—and the “flavored composite yerba mate” which contains one or more essential oils, became popular. Peppermint, boldo, and lemon are the herbs and flavors most frequently added (Degen et al. 2011).
Potential of the natural products against leishmaniasis in Old World - a review of in-vitro studies
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2020
Sofia Cortes, Carolina Bruno de Sousa, Thiago Morais, João Lago, Lenea Campino
Essential oils are volatile hydrophobic liquids produced by plants as secondary metabolites and can be obtained from the different parts of a plant. These oils are widely used in different therapeutic applications including antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, spasmolytic, sedative and analgesic [30,62]. Each essential oil is a complex mixture of molecules (mainly terpenes, aliphatic and aromatic compounds) with low molecular weight and at different concentrations [62]. Essential oils are known for their cytotoxicity as they can easily transpose barrier membranes and access the cells and to further induce cell death by apoptosis and/or necrosis, cell cycle arrest, and loss of key organelles function [30,62]. Additionally, essential oils from several plant species have shown antileishmanial activity (Table S1), namely in those obtained from Lamiaceae (Satureja punctata R.Br. and Thymus hirtus Willd) and Rutaceae (Ruta chalepensis L.) [60,63]. Moreover, Artemisia abyssinica Sch.Bip. ex A.Rich (Asteraceae) was tested on both L. aethiopica and L. donovani axenic amastigotes (AA) revealing a stronger growth inhibitory effect and selectivity against the first parasite species [60]. Different compounds were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry on these essential oils, most of them oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes, several of those previously described as antileishmanial agents [reviewed by [60]].