Ethnopharmacological Survey of Plants Used in the Traditional Treatment of Gastrointestinal Pain, Inflammation and Diarrhea in Africa: Future Perspectives for Integration into Modern Medicine

Abstract

Simple SummaryThis review provides an inventory of numerous plant species used as traditional remedies for pain and diarrhea in Africa. Africa can emulate advances in traditional Chinese medicine through research, commercialization, teaching traditional medicine in medical schools, and incorporating botanical products in treating veterinary and human patients. Prioritized research of plant species with proven folklore in treating pain and diarrhea using high throughput screening to identify and test bioactive compounds to verify their effectiveness, mechanisms of action and safety and translational research are needed to facilitate these advances and the integration of traditional African botanical preparations for treating pain and gastrointestinal disorders into western medicine.AbstractThere is a growing need to find the most appropriate and effective treatment options for a variety of painful syndromes, including conditions affecting the gastrointestinal tract, for treating both veterinary and human patients. The most successful regimen may come through integrated therapies including combining current and novel western drugs with acupuncture and botanical therapies or their derivatives. There is an extensive history and use of plants in African traditional medicine. In this review, we have highlighted botanical remedies used for treatment of pain, diarrheas and inflammation in traditional veterinary and human health care in Africa. These preparations are promising sources of new compounds comprised of flavonoids, bioflavanones, xanthones, terpenoids, sterols and glycosides as well as compound formulas and supplements for future use in multimodal treatment approaches to chronic pain, gastrointestinal disorders and inflammation. The advancement of plant therapies and their derivative compounds will require the identification and validation of compounds having specific anti-nociceptive neuromodulatory and/or anti-inflammatory effects. In particular, there is need for the identification of the presence of compounds that affect purinergic, GABA, glutamate, TRP, opioid and cannabinoid receptors, serotonergic and chloride channel systems through bioactivity-guided, high-throughput screening and biotesting. This will create new frontiers for obtaining novel compounds and herbal supplements to relieve pain and gastrointestinal disorders, and suppress inflammation.

Prioritization of useful medicinal tree species for conservation in Wari-Maro Forest Reserve in Benin: A multivariate analysis approach

“…Species belonging to Leguminosae (Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae) and Rubiaceae families were the most commonly used in treatment of diseases in the study area. In the Sudanian zone, Leguminosae is an abundant family (Adomou et al, 2006) and it has often been reported as being the most important family in ethnopharmacological surveys all over the world (Stark et al, 2013).…”

Effects of essential oils from medicinal plants acclimated to Benin on in vitro ruminal fermentation of Andropogon gayanus grass

“…Natural plant secondary metabolites such as essential oils (EOs), tannins and saponins show promise as a means of reducing enteric methane from ruminants . However, the potential of extracts from West African plants to modify ruminal fermentation and to reduce enteric methane production has not been explored, despite a long history of use of these secondary metabolites in both human and veterinary medicine . Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of EOs from medicinal plants acclimated to Benin (West Africa) to modify in vitro rumen microbial fermentation and reduce methane production from Andropogon gayanus grass.…”

Anvillea garcinii extract inhibits the oxidative burst of primary human neutrophils

“…Thus, inhibition of neutrophil hyper activation represents an interesting strategy to develop novel anti-inflammatory agents. There is increasing research in identifying novel natural plant products to integrate in conventional immunomodulators as they often have less side effects [11,12]. Our data showed that water-soluble polysaccharides extract isolated from medicinal plants, Anv inhibited fMLF-and PMA-induced superoxide anion (O 2 .-) production in human neutrophils.…”

“…To this end, bioactive products isolated from medicinal plant such as Garcinia buchananii and Ficus aurantiaca Griff have been shown to be antioxidative by respectively displaying in vitro H 2 O 2 scavenging activity [9] or inhibiting neutrophil ROS production [10]. Indeed, integration of the wealthy African medication for several diseases including inflammation in western medicine is considered as a promising challenge [11]. Medicinal plant extracts are usually made with water and water-soluble polysaccharides isolated from plants have attracted much attention because of their broad spectrum of therapeutic properties and relative low toxicity [12].…”