International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

International Journal of Medicinal Plant Research ISSN: 2169-303X Vol. 2 (1), pp. 135-145, January, 2013. © International Scholars  Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Contributions of folk medicine knowledge in South-western Morocco: The case of rural communities of Imouzzer Ida Outanane Region

Baha Saadi, Fouad Msanda and Hassan Boubaker*

Laboratoire de Biotechnologies et Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles, Université Ibn Zohr, Faculté des Sciences, B.P 8106, Agadir, Morocco.

Accepted 15 December, 2012

Abstract

The present work was undertaken with the aim to collect detailed information about the usage of plants in human therapy in the Imouzzer Ida Outanane region (south-western Morocco). The survey was carried out over a period of 15 months, by means of semi-structured and structured interviews. A total of 350 interviews were conducted with traditional health practitioners and with people who had knowledge in traditional medicine. For this purpose, we collected information about the plants used, the prescriptions and the procedure applied to prepare the used plant. A total of 119 plant species representing 101 genera and 52 families were used in the treatment of various diseases. The most encountered medicinal plant families were Lamiaceae (18 species), Asteraceae (14 species), Apiaceae (10 species) and Fabaceae (8 species). Plant leaves were the most commonly used plant part, and decoction and infusion were the most common methods of traditional drug preparation. The major source of remedies came from wild plants, indicating that cultivation of medicinal plants is not a common practice. This study has established a monograph of medicinal plants used in traditional herbal medicine in Imouzzer Ida Outanane region of south-western Morocco.

Key words: Ethnobotanical survey, medicinal plants, traditional medicine, Imouzzer Ida Outanane Region, Morocco.

International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research ISSN: 2169-303X Vol. 2 (1), pp. 146-151, January, 2013. © International Scholars  Journals
 Full Length Research Paper

High-performance liquid chromatography with Photodiode Array (HPLC-PAD) quality control of menoprogen, a traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formula used for the management of menopause

Wang G. L.¹, Wei M.², Wang J.³, Lu Y.², Mahady G. B.⁴ and Liu D.⁵*

¹Basic Medical College of Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China,

²Jiangsu Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210014, China,

³Nanjing Second Hospital, College of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing 210003, China,

⁴Department of Pharmacy Practice, PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.

⁵Natural Herbal Farm, Inc, New York, NY, USA.

Accepted 10 December, 2012

Abstract

The development and optimization of quality control and assurance methods for plant based medicines to assure batch-to-batch consistency and standardization is an essential part of the production process. This is even more important for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) formulas that may contain several different medicinal plant drugs. The goal of the present work was to optimize high-performance liquid chromatography-photodiode  array detection (HPLC-PDA) fingerprinting method for a TCM herbal formula (menoprogen) used for the management of menopause. Ten batches of the combination herbal product were obtained and extracted in methanol-water. The extracted samples were analyzed by HPLC-PDA and separated on a Kromasil ODS C18 column (4.6 × 250 mm, 5 μm) with a mobile phase of 0.1% phosphoric acid (0.1%) -acetonitrile in a gradient elution over 135 min using a PDA (205 nm) for analysis and compared with reference standards. The developed HPLC-PDA method clearly identified the main 21 common peaks from a methanol extract of 10 batches of menoprogen with excellent precision and reproducibility. The results demonstrate that the HPLC-PDA chemical fingerprinting methods described in this work are feasible for the comprehensive quality evaluation of the medicinal plant formulation, and thus can be used for the chemical standardization and batch-to-batch consistency of this product.

Key words: Botanicals, fingerprinting, herbals, photodiodide array, medicinal plants, menopause; menoprogen, traditional Chinese medicine.

International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research ISSN: 2169-303X Vol. 2 (1), pp. 129-134, January, 2013. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Acute and chronic hypoglycaemic effect of Achillea santolina aqueous leaves extract

Najim  Abbas J. Al-awwadi

Department of Pharmacology, University Thi qare Al Nasiriyah – IRAQ.

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail:[email protected]

 Accepted 10 October, 2012

Abstract

Achillea santolina, (Asteraceae) is a plant traditionally used in Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan as a tonic, vermifugal and carminative and also for stomach pain and hypertension. It contains several polyphenols, a family of compounds with a great anti-diabetic potential. The present study investigates the hypoglycemic effect produced by the acute and chronic administration of Achillea santolina leaf extract in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. Oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTT) were conducted in STZ-diabetic rats using orally administered glucose (5 g/kg body weight) followed or accompanied by the leaf extract (150 or 250 mg/kg body weight). Weekly plasma glucose concentrations were recorded in control STZ-diabetic rats and diabetic rats orally treated with the leaf extract. The acute administration of the aqueous extract of A. santolina resulted in significant reductions of glycemia in diabetic rats after oral administration at doses of 250 mg/kg and 150 mg/kg. Since the A. santolina extract showed a marked hypoglycemic activity, it was administered daily per os to streptozotocin diabetic rats during 28 days. After 28 days of A. santolina extract administration at a dose of 250 mg/kg/day, diabetic rats showed improvement in glycemia when compared with the diabetic control group. In conclusion our results demonstrate that A. santolina seems to present some interesting hypoglycemiant effects with a drug dose dependant response.

Key words: Anchilea, santolina, diabetes Mellitus, HOMA, glucose, insulin.

International Journal of Medicinal Plant Research. ISSN: 2169-303X Vol. 1(7), pp. 093-098, December, 2012 © International Scholars Journals

 Full Length Research Paper

Genetic diversity analysis among and within populations of Vatica mangachapoi from China with RAPD and AFLP makers

Ying Zhang, Lei Li, Dawei Tong, Tingliang Yan, Qiang Liu *

Life Science College of Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, Hainan, China, The Key Laboratory of Tropical Animal and Plant Ecology of Hainan Province, Haikou 571158, Hainan, China

*Correspondence author. E-mail: [email protected] .

Received 27 July, 2012; Accepted 13 December, 2012

Abstract

Genetic diversity and relationships of five populations of Vatica mangachapoi, which was overexploited for  rubber, banana, pineapple and lichi planting by the civilian in Hainan Island, China, were investigated by Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) and Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) method. A total of 354 highly reproducible and discernible loci were generated from 100 individuals of 5 natural populations with 20 primers by RAPD, of which polymorphic loci were 73.01%. Nei`s gene diversity was 0.2187 and Shannon information index was 0.3270. With 5 primer combinations by AFLP, 337 highly reproducible and discernible loci (frequency >5.00%) were generated and populations polymorphic loci were 48.83%. Nei`s gene diversity was 0.1956 and Shannon information index was 0.2437. Based on Nei`s Gst value, a large proportion of genetic variation (71.31% by RAPD; 61.73% by AFLP) was resided among individuals within populations, however, only (28.69% by RAPD; 38.27% by AFLP) genetic varience was resoded among populations. UPGMA cluster analysis based on Nei`s genetic distance, the populations in Shimeiwan (SMW) do not form one group by RAPD and AFLP makers. It proved V. mangachapoi Blanco ssp. Hainanensis was not the new variety of V. mangachapoi specie. Further works involving suitable human interferences and afforestation approaches were suggested for the conservation and development of Vatica mangachapoi in Hainan Island, China.

Key words: Vatica mangachapoi, RAPD, AFLP, genetic diversity, conservation biology 

International Journal of Medicinal Plant Research  ISSN: 2169-303X  Vol. 1 (7), pp. 124-128,  December, 2012 © International Scholars  Journals
Full Length Research Paper

Total phenolic (flavonoids) contents and antioxidant capacity of different Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng. extracts

U. Rani* R. N. Verma and A. Batra

Plant Biotechnology Labaratory. No. 5, Department of Botany, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

 *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected].

Received 20 September, 2012; Accepted 16 December, 2012

Abstract

In the present study, antioxidant activities of the three plant parts (stem, leaf and callus) were investigated. Ethanolic extracts of stem, leaf and callus powder was characterized by the method described by (Hatano et al., 1988) in which stable 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical solution was used. In this paper, it is found that all of the in vitro and in vivo extracts have remarkable antioxidant activities. The IC₅₀ (inhibition concentration 50) of the ethanolic extracts of M Koenigii callus-stem-leaf were 47-78, and 116 μg/ml respectively. The total phenolics and flavonoid content of the Murraya koenigii callus cultures were also measured. Among them in vitro callus showed higher antioxidant activity, due to phenolics and flavonoid content. Therefore, the research clearly indicates that M. koenigii callus is exceptionally advantageous for human health.

Key words: In vitro propagation, Murraya koenigii (L.) spreng, ethanolic extracts, IC₅₀.

International Journal of Medicinal Plant  Research  ISSN: 2169-303X  Vol. 1 (7), pp. 099-123,  December,  2012. © International Scholars  Journals
Full Length Research Paper

An ethnobotanical survey of medicinal plants used in the Tata Province, Morocco

Mustapha Abouri, Abdelhamid El Mousadik, Fouad Msanda*, Hassan Boubaker, Baha Saadi and Khalil Cherifi

Laboratoire de Biotechnologies et Valorisation des Ressources Naturelles, Université Ibn Zohr, Faculté des Sciences, B.P 8106, Agadir, Morocco.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. 

Received 20 September, 2012; Accepted 03 December, 2012

Abstract

An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in the Tata Province (South-eastern Morocco) with the aim to collect the detailed information about the usage of plants in human therapy. The survey was carried out over a period of 24 months, by means of semi-structured and structured interviews. A total of 900 interviews were conducted with traditional health practitioners and knowledgeable villagers. A total of 163 plant species representing 134 genera and 56 families were used in the treatment of various diseases. The most encountered medicinal plant families were Lamiaceae (12.3% of use-reports), Asteraceae (7.4%), Apiaceae and Fabaceae (6.7%). Plant leaves were the most commonly used plant part, and decoction and infusion were the most common methods of traditional drug preparation. This study has established a monograph of medicinal plants used in traditional herbal medicine in Tata Province. This work is a contribution to the preservation of local knowledge in traditional herbal medicine.

Key words: Ethnobotanical survey, medicinal plants, traditional medicine, Tata Province, Morocco.