African Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medical Knowledge
Charles Wambebe in African Indigenous Medical Knowledge and Human Health, 2018
Without adequate ABS agreements, threats such as local extinction, forest clearing, desertification, and loss of quality in wild populations of medicinal plants risk affecting their sustainable and continued use. These risks are evidenced in another well-documented case of bioprospecting: that of the Prunus africana tree, from Equatorial Africa. While the conservation and cultivation dimension of the trade in P. africana has been much discussed in literature, no research appears to have focused on the traditional resource rights and related ethical dimensions of this trade in African TM. The bark of P. africana was exploited from the 1960s for use in prostate medication by French and Spanish companies. This resulted in a vast depletion of wild stocks of the species across Central Africa. Had consideration been given to (1) the traditional ownership of forest resources and (2) the traditional and customary ownership of the medical knowledge associated with the use of the species, harvest rates would have been monitored, local communities could have benefited from royalties rather than as from being mere bark collectors, and monitoring of the harvest would have been a feature of sustainable production. However, none of this was the case, and P. africana stands today as a textbook case for the consequences of ABS agreements not being applied—species loss, exploitation of traditional medical knowledge, and exploitation of local labor, rather than creation of local microenterprises (Bodeker et al., 2014).
Discovering new drugs in “Traditional” Chinese Medicine
Stephan Kloos, Calum Blaikie in Asian Medical Industries, 2022
Artemisinin was considered neither a Chinese nor Western drug when Tu conducted her lab research but was referred to as a “new drug” or xinyao (新药). Most “new drugs” were defined as imitations or substitutes for foreign products using native (Chinese) herbs, or animal tissue, as their base ingredients. This practice had its origins in the Republican era but expanded in the early Communist period at an unprecedented rate, as private medicinal companies became state owned and subject to state-directed policies and quotas. The Soviet Union had shown that it was possible to become nearly self-sufficient in local drug production by means of reverse engineering, and the new Chinese government drew on that example with the help of Soviet advisors. Bioprospecting occurred throughout the country in the 1950s and early 1960s, with numerous herbs brought to the laboratory with the hope of isolating their active ingredients, or at least producing single-herb-based formulas that could serve as substitutes for imported drugs. The many Soviet-inspired pharmaceutical factories built by the regime – designated by the names of their cities – often contained both laboratories and mass production facilities.2 (Chee 2015, 2021)
Natural Products Structures and Analysis of the Cerrado Flora in Goiás
Luzia Valentina Modolo, Mary Ann Foglio in Brazilian Medicinal Plants, 2019
Finally, the targeting of bioprospecting studies has been possible, to some extent, due to the ethnobotanical knowledge that was concluded through this research, which identified the potential plant species linked to possible biotechnological development. Therefore, the group from the Laboratory of Natural Products and Organic Synthesis has developed its research in light of popular knowledge, as well as some plant species studied, such as, Hymenaea stigonocarpa Hayne (Fabaceae), Kielmeyera coriacea Mart. & Zucc (Calophyllaceae) and Annona coriacea Mart. (Annonaceae). Besides these, many other plant species have already been studied before. The main chemical and biological data of these plant species are presented herein. All plant species focused on in this chapter are listed in Table 11.1.
A systematic review of the bioprospecting potential of Lonomia spp. (Lepidoptera: Saturniidae)
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2023
Henrique G. Riva, Angela R. Amarillo-S.
Considering that several specific keywords had to be used in the search equation for this review to find documents about bioprospecting, it is possible that there are other articles that have not been considered in this review that are associated with different keywords. This review displays the state of the art regarding the potential of Lonomia for bioprospecting and may be useful to foment research in areas scarcely studied, in addition to revealing research opportunities in well-studied subjects. Considering that there are several articles about the use of Lonomia derivatives in cell culture, a review and further experiments on this subject would be useful to understand, among other questions, which molecules (Q2-5, rLOPAP, rLOSAC, and pM2c) are most effective or could have synergistic effects in different cell types. Several applications have the same knowledge gap, which relates to the lack or absence of in vivo studies, including thrombosis treatment, tissue regeneration, and antiviral and antibiotic treatment. Two other applications require the development of recombinant production: antiviral treatment (AVLO) and thrombosis treatment (Lonomin V).
In vitro and molecular docking studies on a novel Brevibacillus borstelensis NOB3 bioactive compounds as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial activity
Published in Egyptian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 2023
Hend A. Hamedo, Aya A. Elkashef, Mohamed A. I. Mansour, Naglaa Elshafey
More and more natural therapeutics are being discovered as researchers look for alternative therapeutics that employ microbial species and have significant benefits for the biotechnological and biological disciplines [4]. Extreme ecosystems, such as soda lakes and hypersaline environments, provide a lot of potential for bioprospecting, which aims to find new enzymes or genes for novel biotechnological applications [31]. New species are frequently reported, indicating that microbial diversity and activity increase in hypersaline settings [32–34]. Rocks, dust, aquatic environments, and the viscera of numerous insects and mammals are just a few places where Brevibacillus has been found [35–38]. B. borstelensis NOB3 had never been identified in the North Sinai solar saline environment created by the Bardawil lagoons. We selected this area for our research because it has a unique physicochemical profile and contains multiple novel species, and because research on the area was lacking [22]. Numerous researchers have chosen new locations for the isolation of novel antibiotic-producing bacteria, as well as those containing advantageous microbial populations, which are strongly present in these unusual and alluring settings [39,40].
Lichenochemicals: extraction, purification, characterization, and application as potential anticancer agents
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 2020
Mahshid Mohammadi, Vasudeo Zambare, Ladislav Malek, Christine Gottardo, Zacharias Suntres, Lew Christopher
Lichen extracts have shown bioactivities against various diseases such as bacterial, fungal, and viral infections. Of particular interest is the potent anti-cancer activity of lichen compounds. Many studies have emphasized the importance of better understanding and deciphering the biological mechanisms of cytotoxicity and cell growth inhibition [18–20] or gene overexpression [13]. Considering the past and present trends of increased cancer prevalence among the human population, there is a growing interest in bioprospecting alternative natural sources, including lichens and their secondary metabolites, for potential anti-cancer drug development. Although the lichen secondary metabolites have been previously reviewed [7,21–25], there is a lack of a comprehensive source of systematically organized information on their extraction, purification, characterization, and application as potential anticancer agents.
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