Aim The plant species reported here are traditionally used in Northern Peru for a wide range of illnesses. Most remedies are prepared as ethanol or aqueous extracts and then ingested. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential toxicity of these extracts. Materials and methods The toxicity of ethanolic and water extracts of 341 plant species was determined using a Brine-Shrimp assay. Results Overall 24% of the species in water extract and 76% of the species in alcoholic extract showed elevated toxicity levels to brine-shrimp. Although in most cases multiple extracts of the same species showed very similar toxicity values, in some cases the toxicity of different extracts of the same species varied from non-toxic to highly toxic. Conclusions Traditional preparation methods take different toxicity levels in aqueous and ethanol extracts into account when choosing the appropriate solvent for the preparation of a remedy.

Aim The plant species reported here are traditionally used in Northern Peru to treat bacterial infections, often addressed by the local healers as “inflammation”. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) of their antibacterial properties against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Materials and methods The antimicrobial activity of ethanolic and water extracts of 141 plant species was determined using a deep-well broth microdilution method on commercially available bacterial strains. Results The ethanolic extracts of 51 species inhibited Escherichia coli, and 114 ethanolic extracts inhibited Staphylococcus aureus. In contrast, only 30 aqueous extracts showed activity against E. coli and 38 extracts against S. aureus. The MIC concentrations were mostly very high and ranged from 0.008 to 256mg/ml, with only 36 species showing inhibitory concentrations of <4mg/ml. The ethanolic extracts exhibited stronger activity and a much broader spectrum of action than the aqueous extracts. Hypericum laricifolium, Hura crepitans, Caesalpinia paipai, Cassia fistula, Hyptis sidifolia, Salvia sp., Banisteriopsis caapi, Miconia salicifolia and Polygonum hydropiperoides showed the lowest MIC values and would be interesting candidates for future research. Conclusions The presence of antibacterial activity could be confirmed in most species used in traditional medicine in Peru which were assayed in this study. However, the MIC for the species employed showed a very large range, and were mostly very high. Nevertheless, traditional knowledge might provide some leads to elucidate potential candidates for future development of new antibiotic agents.

had a much lower efficacy against bacteria and fell within the range of species that are traditionally used to treat other bodily disorders. ResumenInfecciones bacterianas e inflamación se encuentran entre las enfermedades tratadas por curanderos tradicionales. La Organización Mundial de Salud se ha expresada como altamente interesada en la Medicina Tradicional, y es importante demostrar cientí-ficamente que los remedios usados en la medicina The aim of the study was to scientifically test whether plants used in TM for the treatment of infections showed antibacterial activity, and to delineate a number of candidates for further in-depth study of their Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) and toxicity. One-hundred-ninety-three ethanolic extracts and 31 water extracts were active against S. aureus. In twentyone cases only the water extract showed activity. None of the aqueous extracts were active against the other three bacteria, with the activity of the ethanolic extracts also much reduced, as only 36 showed any activity against E. coli, and 3 each against S. enterica Typhi and P. aeruginosa. Two-hundred-twenty-five extracts came from species that are traditionally employed against bacterial infections. One-hundred-sixty-six (73.8%) of these were active against at least one bacterium. Of the three-hundred extracts from plants without traditional antibacterial use, only 96 (32%) showed any activity Plants used for respiratory disorders, inflammation/infection, wounds, diarrhea, and to prevent post partum infections were efficacious in 70-88% of the tests. Plants used for "kidney inflammation"Published: February 25, 2011

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The investigation of plant mixtures used in traditional medicine in Northern Peru yielded a total of 974 herbal preparations used to treat 164 different afflictions. Psychosomatic disorders were, with almost 30% of all recipes applied, the most important afflictions treated. In most cases, healers used only one or two mixtures to treat an illness. However, up to 49 different preparations were used to treat the same disease. This indicates a high degree of experimentation. Altogether 330 plant species, representing almost 65% of the medicinal flora used in the region were applied in mixtures. The overwhelming number of plant mixtures contained 2-7 different plant species, although in the most extreme case 27 distinct species were included. The cluster analysis confirmed that mixtures used for applications like inflammations, infections and blood purification, as well as cough, cold, bronchitis or other respiratory disorders, or urinary infection and kidney problems had similar floristic compositions. Mixtures used for nervous system disorders, anxiety and heart problems often had a similar composition