Gitksan medicinal plants-cultural choice and efficacy

BACKGROUND: The use of plants for healing by any cultural group is integrally related to local concepts of the nature of disease, the nature of plants, and the world view of the culture. The physical and chemical properties of the plants themselves also bear on their selection by people for medicines, as does the array of plants available for people to choose from. I examine use of medicinal plants from a "biobehavioral" perspective to illuminate cultural selection of plants used for medicine by the Gitksan of northwestern British Columbia, Canada. METHODS: Consultant consensus, "intercultural consensus", independent use of the same plants by other cultural groups, and phytochemistry and bioassay results from the literature, were employed in analysis of probable empirical efficacy of plant uses. RESULTS: 70% of 37 Gitksan medicinal plants were used similarly by other cultures where direct diffusion is not known to have occurred; eleven plants, including the eight most frequently mentioned medicinal plants, also show active phytochemicals or bioassays indicating probable physiologically based therapeutic effects. CONCLUSION: Analysis of intercultural consensus revealed that the majority of cultures in the British Columbia region within the plant ranges use the same plants, or closely related species, in similar ways. The rigor of this analysis is effected by the lack of consistent data on all taxa of interest for all cultures within the region

Botanical pesticides as a source of safe bioacaricides for the control of Tetranychus cinnabarinus

The potential of crude extracts from four plant species were evaluated for their ability to control the Tetranychus cinnabarinus mites under controlled conditions. The extracts were prepared from four plant species Artemisia herba-alba, A. leucodes, Eruca sativa and Sinapis alba . The toxicity of the four plant extracts to animal cells was measured in vitro using the vital mitochondrial dye 3-[4,5-dimethyliazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The assay revealed that the extracts from A. herba-alba, A. leucodes or S. alba were not toxic to animal cells up to concentrations of 100 µg/ml. Extracts from E. sativa at concentrations > 100 µg/ml were found to significantly reduce cell viability and are therefore toxic to animal cells. The mortality and repellency potential of the different extracts showed that A. leucodes or E. sativa at a concentration of 50 µg/ml resulted in more than 80% mortality and repellency. However, extracts at the same concentration from A. herba-alba or S. alba caused only 58% and 71% mortality and repellency, respectively. These results indicate that further investigations are required to characterize and identify the bioactive ingredients from A. leucodes and E. sativa that revealed greater potential as acaricidal sources for mite control

Evaluation of the antimalarial and antileishmanial activity of plants from the Greek island of Crete

Different parts of 65 plant species from the Greek island of Crete have been extracted and the 249 extracts obtained have been investigated for in-vitro antiprotozoal activity. Their activity against chloroquine-sensitive (D6) and resistant (W2) strains of Plasmodium falciparum and Leishmania donovani promastigotes was determined. Their cytotoxicity on a mammalian kidney fibroblast (Vero) cell line was also tested. Dichloromethane and methanol extracts of Berberis cretica and methanol extracts of Cytinus hypocistis subsp. hypocistis, C. hypocistis subsp. orientalis, and C. ruber had significant activity against both strains of P. falciparum (IC50<10 μg mL-1). Dichloromethane extracts of Eryngium ternatum, Origanum dictamnus, and Origanum microphyllum, and the methanolic extract of Eryngium amorginum had significant activity against Leishmania donovani (IC 50<10 μg mL-1). None of the extracts was cytotoxic. © The Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy and Springer-Verlag 2006