Repertory of drugs and medicinal plants of Yemen.

The traditional uses of plants for medicine were studied in the Yemen Arab Republic. To date, 130 medicinal plants have been identified and are presented in a table with the vernacular name, the geographical and ecological distribution, the medicinal use in Yemen and the pharmacological properties. Such a study of traditional medicine demonstrates the close relation between the medicinal plants and pathology.

Cultural background of the medicinal plants of Yemen.

The study of the traditional use of medicinal plants of Yemen in the old pre-islamic and islamic pharmacopoeia has shown that: (1) the traditional medicine actually used in this country belongs to the old arabic medicine, itself similar to Greek and Indian medicines; (2) this medicine is highly original according to the great number of plants, indigenous or specific, of the Yemenite pharmacopoeia, which are not recorded in the literature, and to the high percentage of therapeutic indications belonging to Yemen which are unknown elsewhere.

Comparative choleretic and hepatoprotective properties of young sprouts and total plant extracts of Rosmarinus officinalis in rats.

Lyophilised ethanol and aqueous extracts of Rosmarinus officinalis young sprouts and total plant have been evaluated for choleretic and hepatoprotective activities in the rat. R. officinalis ethanol extracts prepared from young sprouts show a significant dose-related choleretic activity and are more active than the total plant extract. Aqueous extracts of young sprouts show a significant hepatoprotective effect on plasma GPT levels when given as pretreatment before carbon tetrachloride intoxication while the whole plant extract was inactive. Both sprouts and whole plant aqueous extracts were ineffective when given after carbon tetrachloride administration.

Hepatoprotective properties of Crepis rueppellii and Anisotes trisulcus: two traditional medicinal plants of Yemen.

Pharmacological investigations were carried out to evaluate the hepatoprotective effects of Crepis rueppellii and Anisotes trisulcus. Ethanolic extracts of these plants were investigated for their ability to reduce mortality of mice after ethanol intoxication and to lower the activities of plasma glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (GPT) after carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatitis in rats. Crepis and Anisotes extracts and a 50:50 mixture of both at 200 mg/kg presented significant hepatoprotective effects in both experimental situations. The traditional therapeutic indications of these plants have been largely confirmed.

Repertory of drugs and medicinal plants used in traditional medicine of Afghanistan.

The traditional uses of plants for medicine were studied in Afghanistan. To date, 215 medicinal plants have been identified and are presented in a table with the vernacular name (in Dari, Pashto and Kati), the geographical and ecological distribution, and the medicinal use. This study of traditional medicine demonstrates a close relationship between the kinds of medicinal plants used and pathology, and thus may serve as an indicator of the major health problems of the people.

Behavioral effects of Euphorbia hirta L.: sedative and anxiolytic properties.

Lyophilised aqueous extract of Euphorbia hirta L. (Euphorbiaceae) has been evaluated for behavioral effects in mice. The extract did not induce any toxic effect when it was administered i.p. and orally. Sedative properties could be confirmed with high doses (100 mg of dried plant/kg, and more), by a decrease of behavioral parameters measured in non-familiar environment tests (activitest and staircase test), whereas anticonflict effects appeared at lower doses (12.5 and 25 mg of dried plant/kg), by an enhancement of behavioral parameters measured in the staircase test and in the light/dark choice situation test. These findings validate the traditional use of E. hirta as a sedative and reveal original anxiolytic properties.

Repertory, therapeutic indications, chemical analysis and cultural background of mineral drugs of Afghanistan.

The traditional uses of minerals drugs and chemical products for medicine were studied in Afghanistan. Twelve medicinal drugs have been identified by chemical investigations and are presented in one table with the vernacular names (in Dari, Pasto and Kati); the origins and the therapeutical uses are listed in another table with their cultural background in pre-Islamic (Greek and Indian medicines) and Islamic pharmacopoeia (Afghano-Persian and Arabian medicines). Twenty-six other mineral drugs are also mentioned.

Medicine's green revolution.

PIP: There is a resurgence of interest in exploring the therapeutic value of medicinal plants. Throughout time, man has discovered, by trial and error, the efficacy of various plants in alleviating human afflictions. Many of the plants discovered by primitive medicine men have been investigated by western trained medical personnel and found to be effective. These modern medical investigators were initially interested in extracting the active ingredients from these plants, but eventually they learned to artifically reproduce these active substances in the laboratory. Modern medicine gradually became more and more divorced from the natural plant world. Recently investigators have returned to the study of the plants themselves and are discovering that the use of the plants in treating illness may be more beneficial than the use of extracted or synthetic ingredients used in isolation. For example, it was observed that artichokes improve liver function. At first this beneficial effectiveness was attributed to a single substance in the artichoke. Other ingredients found in artichokes when used in isolation did not affect liver function; however, when a number of these ingredients were used in combination, the beneficial effect was enhanced.^ieng

Choleretic and hepatoprotective properties of Eupatorium cannabinum in the rat.

According to our results, the traditional therapeutic indications of Eupatorium cannabinum L., choleretic and hepatoprotective effects, have been widely demonstrated. An aqueous extract induces hypercholeresis in the rat, the site of bile formation is canalicular in origin and both bile acid-dependent and bile acid-independent flows could be stimulated; the extract possesses anti-necrotic properties against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity, reducing widely the plasma GPT level in pretreated rats.

Influence of Anisotes trisulcus and Crepis rueppellii extracts on sites of bile formation in the rat.

Anisotes trisulcus and Crepis rueppellii, two medicinal plants from Yemen, have been investigated for their hepatobiliary properties. A study of their choleretic effect and of sites of bile formation was carried out in the rat, by evaluation of bile flow, bile acids output and 14C-erythritol clearance. The data suggest that both extracts of these plants induce hypercholeresis, but Anisotes would stimulate the bile acid-dependent fraction and Crepis the bile acid-independent fraction.

Neurotropic action of the hydroalcoholic extract of Melissa officinalis in the mouse.

A lyophilised hydroalcoholic extract of Melissa officinalis L. (Lamiaceae) has been evaluated for behavioral effects in mice. According to the traditional use of M. officinalis, sedative properties have been confirmed for low doses by the decrease of behavioral parameters measured in a non-familiar environment test (staircase test) and in a familiar environment test (two compartment test). With high doses, a peripheral analgesic activity was obtained by reducing the acetic acid-induced pain (writhing test); moreover, the plant extract induced the sleep in mice after treatment with an infrahypnotic dose of pentobarbital and potentialised the sleep induced by a hypnotic dose of pentobarbital.

Analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties of Euphorbia hirta.

Lyophilised aqueous extract of Euphorbia hirta L. (Euphorbiaceae) has been evaluated for analgesic, antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties in mice and rats, in order to complete its activity profile, after the confirmation of the existence of a central depressant activity particularly expressed by a strong sedative effect, associated with anxiolytic effects. This study leads us to the conclusion that this plant extract exerts central analgesic properties. Such a dose-dependent action was obtained against chemical (writhing test) and thermic (hot plate test) stimuli, respectively, from the doses of 20 and 25 mg/kg and it was inhibited by a naloxone pretreatment, a specific morphinic antagonist compound. An antipyretic activity was obtained at the sedative doses of 100 and 400 mg/kg, on the yeast-induced hyperthermia. Finally, significant and dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effects were observed on an acute inflammatory process (carrageenan-induced edema test in rats) from the dose of 100 mg/kg. On the other hand, plant extract remained inactive on chronic processes such as Freund's adjuvant-induced rheumatoid arthritis, after a chronic treatment during fourteen days at the daily dose of 200 or 400 mg/kg; however, if inefficacy was observed on rat backpaws edema and on loss of weight, the aqueous extract reduced the inflammatory hyperalgia.

Hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory effects of a traditional medicinal plant of Chile, Peumus boldus.

Dried hydro-alcoholic extract of Peumus boldus (Monimiaceae) has been evaluated for hepatoprotective, choleretic and anti-inflammatory effects in mice and rats, in order to validate or to invalidate traditional therapeutic indications. This extract exerted a significant hepatoprotection of tert-butyl hydroperoxide-induced hepatotoxicity in isolated rat hepatocytes (in vitro technique) by reducing the lipid peroxidation and the enzymatic leakage of LDH; this in vitro efficacy was reinforced by a significant hepatoprotection on CCl4-induced hepatotoxicity in mice (in vivo technique), the plant extract reducing the enzymatic leakage of ALAT. Boldine, the main alkaloid of P. boldus appears to be implicated in this hepatoprotective activity. Choleretic effects, often mentioned in traditional indications, have not been confirmed in rats. Finally, significant and dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effects were obtained on an acute inflammatory process (carrageenan-induced edema test in rats). Boldine does not appear to be involved in such properties.

Behavioural effects of the American traditional plant Eschscholzia californica: sedative and anxiolytic properties.

Eschsholzia californica Cham. is a traditional medicinal plant of the Indians used by the rural population of California for its analgesic and sedative properties. Our study on the aqueous extract shows that this plant reduced the behavioural parameters measured in a familiar environment test in mice (novelty preference, locomotion and rearings in two compartments test) at doses above 100 mg/kg and in non-familiar environment tests (staircase test) at doses above 200 mg/kg. This finding validates its traditional sedative properties confirmed by the sleeping induction at doses above 100 mg/kg. Furthermore, when administered at a dose a of 25 mg/kg, E. californica appeared to also have an anxiolytic action since it produced an increase of the number of steps climbed by mice in the staircase test (anticonflict effect) and that of the time spent by animals in the lit box when they were confronted with the light/dark choice situation. Before evaluation of the behavioural effects, it was verified that our aqueous extract did not induce any toxic effect when administered i.p. and p.o.