Iranian Medicinal Plants: From Ethnomedicine to Actual Studies

Abstract

Iran has a rich and diverse cultural heritage, consisting of a complex traditional medicine deeply rooted in the history of the territory that goes back to the Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations. The ethnomedical practices that can be identifiable nowadays derive from the experience of local people who have developed remedies against a wide range of diseases handing down the knowledge from generation to generation over the millennia. Traditional medicine practices represent an important source of inspiration in the process of the development of new drugs and therapeutic strategies. In this context, it is useful to determine the state of the art of ethnomedical studies, concerning the Iranian territory, and of scientific studies on plants used in traditional Iranian medicine. Data regarding 245 plants used in Iranian ethnomedical practices and scientific studies conducted on 89 plants collected in the Iranian territory have been reported. All of the scientific studies here reported draw inspiration from traditional medicine. The World Health Organization (WHO) has repeatedly called for an intensification of the scientific validation processes of traditional medicines intended as an important contribution to public health in various parts of the world. The process of study and validation of Iranian ethnomedical practices appears to be at an early stage.

COVID-19 Prophylaxis Efforts Based on Natural Antiviral Plant Extracts and Their Compounds

“…The literature review, performed to create a scientific database of plants with antiviral potential, obtained results from a search of PubMed and Google Scholar combined with some of the primary traditional Persian manuscripts on medicine, including the book of AlHavi, the Canon of Medicine, Zakhireh-iKharazmshahi, Qarabadine-kabir, Tohfat ol Moemenin, and Makhzan-ol-advieh. The search was performed with terms for medicinal plants used in treating respiratory system disorders [ 27 , 28 ]. Nearly twenty medicinal plants containing mucilage were found [ 27 ].…”

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“…In the past few decades, there has been a massive increase in the public interest to use herbal medicines for the treatment of various ailments due to the side-effects associated with conventional medicines (Ekor, 2014;Mohamad et al, 2019).Therefore, the traditional use of polyherbal medicines or phytomedicines in various countries including Pakistan, Iran, India and Kingdom of Saudia Arabia are popular and well-practiced against various diseases including gastrointestinal related ailments and diarrhea (Hajhashemi et al, 2000;Mujumdar et al, 2000;Ullah et al, 2020;Buso et al, 2020). DCD-684 has been formulated by considering the effectiveness of its plant components used popularly in traditional medicine against GI diseases including abdominal colic pains.…”

Phytochemical and biological activities of some Iranian medicinal plants

“… 2015 ; Buso et al. 2020 ). Iran with different climatic and geographical zones is a habitat to at least 2300 species having aromatic and medicinal properties, wherein 7.9% are endemic (Owfi and Safaian 2017 ; Sheibani et al.…”