Volume 151, Issue 2, 3 February 2014, Pages 903–911
Abstract
Ethnopharmacological relevance
There
is widespread use of traditional herbal remedies in the Lao PDR (Laos).
It is common practice to treat many diseases with local plants. This
research project documented and analysed some of these traditional
remedies used to treat symptoms of tuberculosis (TB).
Materials and methods
This
research was executed by interviewing healers about plants used
traditionally to treat the symptoms of TB. Samples of some of the plants
were collected, and extracts of 77 species were submitted to various in
vitro assays in order to determine the amount of growth inhibition of
virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv (Mtb), as opposed to other microbes and mammalian Vero cells.
Results
Interviews
took place with 58 contemporary healers in 5 different provinces about
plants currently used, giving a list of 341 plants. Bioassay-guided
fractionation was performed on Marsypopetalum modestum (Pierre)
B. Xue and R.M.K. Saunders (Annonaceae), leading to the isolation of
dipyrithione, an anti-mycobacterial compound isolated for the first time
from the genus Marsypopetalum through this research.
Conclusions
This
research has helped to increase awareness of Laos’ rich diversity of
medicinal plants and will hopefully provide incentive to preserve the
undeveloped forested areas that remain, which still hold a wealth of
medical information for future discoveries.
Graphical abstract
Chemical compounds studied in this article
- Dipyrithione (PubChem CID: 3109)
Keywords
- Antimycobacteria;
- Cytotoxicity;
- Traditional medicine Asia and Oceania;
- Medical ethnobotany;
- Marsypopetalum
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+1 312 665-7862; fax: +312 996 7107.
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