Medicinal plants of the mountain region of Kahuzi-Biega in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Uses, accessibility and consensus among traditional therapists

peer reviewedFor ethnobotanists, aspects such as the influence of a plant's accessibility on its frequency of use, consensus among traditional therapists over the relationships between plants and diseases and the degree of fidelity to a plant for a given category of ailments are essential to assess a medicinal tradition, but difficult to interpret. We explored these aspects through a study based on semi-structured interviews with 88 traditional therapists from the Batwa, Havu, Shi and Tembo communities near the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, in South Kivu Province in eastern DRC. Our survey showed that 77 plant species are used to treat pathologies grouped into 18 categories of ailments, the most frequent being digestive disorders and infections. Leaves and bark are the parts most frequently used, usually in recipes involving a single plant and mainly prepared as aqueous solutions. Although there is a positive correlation between the accessibility of plants and the frequency of their use (H = 17.64; p < 0.001), some less accessible forest plants have very high use frequencies. Consensus between traditional therapists is high overall, especially for musculo-skeletal disorders (= 0.83) and infections (= 0.80). Although the degree of fidelity to a plant for a given category of ailments is low overall, it is always high for at least one plant in all categories. Our results, although exploratory, suggest that certain medicinal traditions are well rooted in the region's local communities. This assumes a good local knowledge of medicinal plants, intergenerational transmission of that knowledge and a degree of cooperation between traditional therapists. Further studies are needed to assess these different aspects with greater precision

Medicinal plants of the mountain region of Kahuzi-Biega in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Uses, accessibility and consensus among traditional therapists

peer reviewedFor ethnobotanists, aspects such as the influence of a plant's accessibility on its frequency of use, consensus among traditional therapists over the relationships between plants and diseases and the degree of fidelity to a plant for a given category of ailments are essential to assess a medicinal tradition, but difficult to interpret. We explored these aspects through a study based on semi-structured interviews with 88 traditional therapists from the Batwa, Havu, Shi and Tembo communities near the montane forests of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, in South Kivu Province in eastern DRC. Our survey showed that 77 plant species are used to treat pathologies grouped into 18 categories of ailments, the most frequent being digestive disorders and infections. Leaves and bark are the parts most frequently used, usually in recipes involving a single plant and mainly prepared as aqueous solutions. Although there is a positive correlation between the accessibility of plants and the frequency of their use (H = 17.64; p < 0.001), some less accessible forest plants have very high use frequencies. Consensus between traditional therapists is high overall, especially for musculo-skeletal disorders (= 0.83) and infections (= 0.80). Although the degree of fidelity to a plant for a given category of ailments is low overall, it is always high for at least one plant in all categories. Our results, although exploratory, suggest that certain medicinal traditions are well rooted in the region's local communities. This assumes a good local knowledge of medicinal plants, intergenerational transmission of that knowledge and a degree of cooperation between traditional therapists. Further studies are needed to assess these different aspects with greater precision

CBD oils on the Belgian market: A validated MRM GC-MS/MS method for routine quality control using QuEChERS sample clean up

Quality control of CBD oils on the Belgium market showed that the CBD content not always corresponds to the label claim. There is a pressing need to develop new analytical methods specifically developed to the assay of such oily samples. Analytical issues are, however, encountered for routine analyses due to the matrix complexity, high cost of cannabinoid standards and low Δ9-THC concentrations. An oily matrix could cause technical damages to analytical instruments and reduce the lifetime of the chromatographic columns. This paper proposes a procedure combining a sample cleanup by QuEChERS, removing the oily matrix, followed by a validated MRM GC-MS/MS method for the routine analysis of CBD oil samples. Eighteen CBD samples were selected on the Belgium market for analysis. This method allows the quantification of CBD, the legality check for the Δ9-THC content by a CBN standard and the screening of seven other cannabinoids namely CBN, CBDV, CBT, CBC, Δ8-THC, THCV and CBG. The method was validated at three concentration levels (0.5–1–2% (w/v)) for CBD and (0.05–0.1–0.2% (w/v)) for CBN. The detection limits for CBT, CBD, CBC, Δ8-THC, CBN and for the other cannabinoids of interest, were 10 and 14 ng/mL respectively. The accuracy profile values for CBD and CBN showed that the β-expectation tolerance intervals did not exceed the acceptance limits of 20%, meaning that 90% of future measurements will be included within this error&nbsp;range.</p

Characterization of traditional healers in the mountain forest region of Kahuzi-biega, South-kivu, DR Congo [Caractérisation des tradipraticiens de la région de forêt montagneuse de Kahuzi-Biega, sud-Kivu, RD Congo]

Description of the subject. Several ethnobotanical studies have demonstrated links between traditional medicine practices and the ethnicity and geographical location of healers, while many others have concluded the opposite. This study deals with the typology of traditional healers in the mountain region of Kahuzi-Biega. Objectives. The goal is to understand whether the typology of traditional healers is related to their inter-ethnic and inter-zonal differences, based on diseases treated and plants used. Method. Ethnobotanical surveys were conducted using the “PSSVV” method. This involved 88 traditional healers recognized as “specialists” in 33 villages adjacent to the forest of Kahuzi-Biega, in DR Congo. Multivariate analysis (clustering, ordination, Mantel test, IndVal) were applied to establish typologies of traditional healers. Results. Multivariate analyses showed that ethnicity and geographical location did not explain the practices and knowledge of healers. However, by using the IndVal method, differences were observed in their degree of specialization. Non-specialized healers (70%) could be distinguished from specialized healers (30%). Two clear groups of specialists emerged; those who treat bone trauma and those who treat obstetric-gynecological complaints. The Mantel correlation test revealed a positive association (r = 0.134, p < 0.05) between the “healers-plants” and “healers-diseases” matrices. This indicates that healers who treat similar diseases use similar herbs. Both typologies have shown their preferences for forest species (81%), especially trees (51%). Conclusions. This exploratory study suggests that traditional healers are characterized based on their specializations. This result helps in creating strategies to preserve local traditional knowledge and apply it to the conservation of species. © 2016, FAC UNIV SCIENCES AGRONOMIQUES GEMBLOUX. All rights reserved

Discrimination of legal and illegal Cannabis spp. according to

Aerial parts containing cannabidiol can be purchased in a legal way but cannabis&nbsp;used as recreational drug is illegal in most European countries. Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol&nbsp;is one of the main cannabinoids responsible for the psychotropic effect.&nbsp;European Union countries and Switzerland authorize a concentration of THC of 0.2 % and&nbsp;1.0 % w/w, respectively, for smoking products and industrial hemp. Public health&nbsp;inspectors and law enforcement officers need to check the legality of samples.&nbsp;Therefore there is a need for innovative approaches, allowing quality control of these&nbsp;products in an easy way and preferably on site. In many countries, cultivation of&nbsp;industrial hemp is permitted if the THC content does not exceed 0.2 % w/w. A portable&nbsp;equipment could be a useful measuring tool for farmers to check for the THC content&nbsp;at regular time. In this work, 189 samples were analysed with a benchtop and a&nbsp;handheld NIR device in order to create two classification methods according to&nbsp;European and Swiss laws. All samples were also analysed by GC-FID to determine their THC concentration. Supervised analysis was applied in order to establish the best&nbsp;model. For the first classification, the accuracy was 91% for the test set with the&nbsp;benchtop data and 93 % for the test set with the handheld data. For the second&nbsp;classification, the accuracies were respectively 91 % and 95 %. The obtained models,&nbsp;hyphenating spectroscopic techniques and chemometrics, enable to discriminate legal and&nbsp;illegal cannabis samples according to European and Swiss&nbsp;laws.</p

Molecular networking on wild “Tali” (Erythrophleum, Fabaceae) from Central tropical Africa

To highlight plant adaptive traits, we have observed the metabolome from leaves of wild type tropical Erythrophleum genus that includes the set of particular metabolites present in an organ at a certain time. To answer those ecological questions, genetic approaches as neutral genetic markers (like microsatellites) are usually used to evaluate how evolutionary forces interact to shape phenotypic variations observed among natural populations. As metabolites are the result of a complex network of gene expression, protein expression and interactions and other regulatory processes, they are therefore closer to the phenotype than transcriptome or proteome. Secondary metabolites resulting from specific biosynthetic pathways possess characteristic structural features depending on the specific allelic forms of enzymes involved in their biosynthesis. One example of such phylogenetic signature is found in the Erythrophleum (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae) which contains original cassane diterpenes, restricted to various Fabaceae genera. We have studied two species with various geographical origins: (i) E. Ivorense that grows in the rainforests of Guinea, Gabon and Congo, forming wide stands; and (ii) E. Suaveolens that grows in mountainous semi-humid areas and is found in the Guinean savannah, on the strip of land that runs from Gambia in the northwest to Kenya in the east, and from Mozambique in the southeast to the People’s Republic of the Congo in the southwest. For this study, all individuals were cultivated and collected in a common garden in Cameroun. After a metabolomic exploration by LC-HRMS and multi-block correlation of genotype with metabolome &[DT1]  for the exploration of the phenotype based on the metabolome, we have developed a molecular networking dereplication pipeline based on MS/MS focusing on cassane diterpenes family. For molecular network construction the user-friendly Metgem software has been used. Principal results of dereplication will be presented.  [DT1]???Pour mettre en évidence les caractères d’adaptation des plantes, nous avons observé le métabolome de feuilles du genre Erythrophleum tropical de type sauvage comprenant l’ensemble des métabolites particuliers présents dans un organe à un moment donné. Pour répondre à ces questions écologiques, des approches génétiques en tant que marqueurs génétiques neutres (tels que les microsatellites) sont généralement utilisées pour évaluer la manière dont les forces évolutives interagissent pour façonner les variations phénotypiques observées au sein de populations naturelles. Les métabolites étant le résultat d’un réseau complexe d’expression génique, d’expression de protéines, d’interactions et de processus de régulation, ils sont donc plus proches du phénotype que le transcriptome ou le protéome. Les métabolites secondaires résultant de voies de biosynthèse spécifiques possèdent des caractéristiques structurelles caractéristiques en fonction des formes alléliques spécifiques des enzymes impliquées dans leur biosynthèse. Un exemple de cette signature phylogénétique se trouve dans l'Erythrophleum (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae) qui contient des diterpènes de cassane originaux, limités à divers genres de Fabaceae. Nous avons étudié deux espèces aux origines géographiques variées: (i) E. Ivorense qui pousse dans les forêts tropicales humides de Guinée, du Gabon et du Congo, formant de larges peuplements; et (ii) E. Suaveolens qui pousse dans les zones montagneuses semi-humides et se trouve dans la savane guinéenne, sur la bande de terre allant de la Gambie au nord-ouest au Kenya à l'est et du Mozambique au sud-est au peuple. République du Congo au sud-ouest. Pour cette étude, tous les individus ont été cultivés et rassemblés dans un jardin commun au Cameroun. Après une exploration métabolomique par LC-HRMS et une corrélation multi-blocs du génotype avec le métabolome et pour l'exploration du phénotype basé sur le métabolome, nous avons développé un pipeline de déréplication en réseaux moléculaires basé sur MS / MS et centré sur la famille des diterpènes de cassane. Le logiciel convivial Metgem a été utilisé pour la construction de réseaux moléculaires. Les principaux résultats de la déréplication seront présentés