Keeping their own and integrating the other: medicinal plant use among Ormurs and Pathans in South Waziristan, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: In multicultural societies, traditional knowledge among minorities faces several challenges. Minority groups often face difficult situations living in specific peripheral geographies and striving to retain their biocultural heritage, including medicinal plant knowledge and practices. Folk medicinal plant knowledge is a dynamic eco-cultural complex influenced by various environmental, socio-cultural, and political factors. Examining medicinal plant knowledge among minorities has been an increasingly popular topic in cross-cultural ethnobiology. It also helps understand the dynamics of local/traditional ecological knowledge (LEK/TEK) change within a given community. The current study was designed to investigate the status of medicinal plant knowledge among two linguistic groups, i.e. Ormurs and Pathans, living in a remote valley of West Pakistan. METHODS: We recruited 70 male study participants from the studied groups for semi-structured interviews to record the medicinal plant use of their communities. Data were compared among the two studied communities using the stacked charts employing the presence or absence of data with Past 4.03 and Venn diagrams. Use reports (URs) were counted for each recorded taxon. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of seventy-four medicinal plants were quoted as used as ethnomedicines by the researched communities. Most of the reported plants were used to treat digestive and liver problems. The cross-cultural comparison revealed a considerable homogeneity of medicinal plant knowledge (the two groups commonly used more than seventy plants); however, comparing uses recorded for the widely utilised medicinal plants showed numerous idiosyncratic uses among Ormurs but very few among Pathans. Ormurs reported a higher number of cultivated, wild, and imported plant uses than did Pathans. These results indicate that, compared to Pathans, the Ormur linguistic minority retain more folk medicinal plant knowledge, which may be explained by the fact that they have incorporated different folk remedies: their "own knowledge" plus that of Pathans, with whom they have lived together for centuries. Moreover, the local plant nomenclature among Ormurs was highly affected by the plant nomenclature of Pathans. CONCLUSION: The current study revealed that living together for a few centuries has not implied sharing plant knowledge (as the Pathans do not seem to have learnt from the Ormurs) or, in other words, that plant knowledge exchanges have been unidirectional. The findings show that the Pashto dominant culture may have possibly put pressure on the minority groups and affected local plant-centred cultural practices, as we see in the case of local plant nomenclature hybridisation among Omuri speakers. Hence, it is imperative to employ diverse educational strategies to revitalise the decline of medicinal plant knowledge in the studied communities, especially among Ormurs, who need more attention as they face more challenges than the other group. Locally based strategies should be devised to restore the fading connection with nature, which will be advantageous for revitalising plant knowledge.

A Review on Therapeutic Potential of Natural Phytocompounds for Stroke.

Stroke is a serious condition that results from an occlusion of blood vessels that leads to brain damage. Globally, it is the second highest cause of death, and deaths from strokes are higher in older people than in the young. There is a higher rate of cases in urban areas compared to rural due to lifestyle, food, and pollution. There is no effective single medicine for the treatment of stroke due to the multiple causes of strokes. Thrombolytic agents, such as alteplase, are the main treatment for thrombolysis, while multiple types of surgeries, such ascraniotomy, thrombectomy, carotid endarterectomy, and hydrocephalus, can be performed for various forms of stroke. In this review, we discuss some promising phytocompounds, such as flavone C-glycoside (apigenin-8-C-ß-D-glucopyranoside), eriodictyol, rosamirinic acid, 6″-O-succinylapigenin, and allicin, that show effectiveness against stroke. Future study paths are given, as well as suggestions for expanding the use of medicinal plants and their formulations for stroke prevention.

Nano-modified feather keratin derived green and sustainable biosorbents for the remediation of heavy metals from synthetic wastewater.

In this study, we employed a facile method to synthesize feather keratin derived biosorbents using water dispersed graphene oxide. The successful cross-linking of feather keratin with graphene oxide was investigated through X-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy (XPS), scanning and transmission electron microscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis. The modifications resulted in increased surface area of the keratin proteins with substantial morphological changes including the development of cracked and rough patches on the surface. The chicken feather keratin/graphene oxide based biosorbents exhibited excellent performance for the simultaneous removal of metal oxyanions including arsenic (As), selenium (Se), chromium (Cr) and cations including nickel (Ni), cobalt (Co), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd) and zinc (Zn) up to 99%, from polluted synthetic water containing 600 µgL-1 of each metal concentration in 24 h. The insights into the biosorption mechanism revealed that the electrostatic interaction, chelation and complexation primarily contributed to the removal of multiple heavy metal ions in a single treatment. This study has demonstrated that modification of chicken feather keratin with graphene oxide is an effective way to improve its sorption capacity for removing multiple trace metal ions from contaminated water.

Investigation into the Antihypertensive Effects of Diosmetin and Its Underlying Vascular Mechanisms Using Rat Model.

OBJECTIVE: Diosmetin is a flavonoid that is found in many important medicinal plants that have antihypertensive therapeutic potential. Diosmetin has been shown to have antiplatelet, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which suggests that it could be a potential candidate for use in antihypertensive therapy. METHODS: In vivo and in vitro methods were used for our investigation into the antihypertensive effects of diosmetin. RESULTS: Diosmetin significantly decreased the mean arterial pressure (MAP). The effects of diosmetin on the MAP and heart rate were more pronounced in hypertensive rats. To explore the involvement of the muscarinic receptors-linked NO pathway, Nω-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and atropine were pre-administered in vivo. The pretreatment with L-NAME did not significantly change the effects of diosmetin on the MAP by excluding the involvement of NO. Unlike L-NAME, the atropine pretreatment reduced the effects of diosmetin on the MAP, which demonstrated the role of the muscarinic receptors. In the in vitro study, diosmetin at lower concentrations produced endothelium-dependent and -independent (at higher concentrations) vasorelaxation, which was attenuated significantly by the presence of atropine and indomethacin but not L-NAME. Diosmetin was also tested for high K+-induced contractions. Diosmetin induced significant relaxation (similar to verapamil), which indicated its Ca2+ antagonistic effects. This was further confirmed by diosmetin shifting the CaCl2 CRCs toward the right due to its suppression of the maximum response. Diosmetin also suppressed phenylephrine peak formation, which indicated its antagonist effects on the release of Ca2+. Moreover, BaCl2 significantly inhibited the effects of diosmetin, followed by 4-AP and TEA, which suggested that the K+ channels had a role as well. CONCLUSIONS: The obtained data showed the Ca2+ channel antagonism, potassium channel activation and antimuscarinic receptor-linked vasodilatory effects of diosmetin, which demonstrated its antihypertensive potential.

Ex vivo, in vitro, and in silico approaches to unveil the mechanisms underlying vasorelaxation effect of Mentha Longifolia (L.) in porcine coronary artery.

OBJECTIVE: Mentha (M.) longifolia (L.) is traditionally used for various ailments. The current study was intended to explore the underlying vasorelaxation mechanisms of M. longifolia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Aqueous-methanol extract from the aerial parts of M. longifolia was prepared and subjected to activity-guided fractionation. The vasorelaxant activity was performed using porcine coronary arteries with intact and denuded endothelium. In-vitro PDE inhibitory activity of the active fraction was carried out using the radio-enzymatic assay. The active fraction was also subjected to GCMS. Docking and molecular dynamic simulation studies were also performed RESULT: We had observed that aqueous-methanolic extract induced relaxation in the coronary artery in a dose-dependent manner when the endothelium was intact and denuded. n-butanol fraction (MLB) has produced a maximum effect, and it was selected for mechanistic studies. MLB has significantly enhanced the relaxation produced by cAMP and cGMP, elevating atrial natriuretic peptide, sodium nitroprusside, isoproterenol, and forskolin. The pre-treatment with MLB inhibited the contractile response produced by KCl, U46619, and CaCl2 in without endothelium rings. MLB has non-selectively inhibited the PDE isoforms. GCMS analysis of MLB has revealed the presence of menthol, thymol, and carvacrol in the active fraction. Docking and molecular dynamic simulation studies have indicated that thymol can be a competitive inhibitor for PDE1. CONCLUSION: It is postulated that an n-butanol fraction of Mentha longifolia produced endothelium-independent relaxation due to increased levels of cAMP and cGMP caused by the inhibition of various PDEs.

Pharmacological evaluation of cardioprotective potential of Berberis orthobotrys Bien.ex Aitch.

The resurgence of scrutiny in plant-based medicine is mainly due to the current widespread belief that "green medicine" is safe and more dependable than the expensive synthetic drugs. The current study was focused to evaluate the anti-myocardial ischemic potential of Berberis orthobotrys Bien ex Aitch against chemically induced myocardial ischemia in animal models. Myocardial ischemia was instigated in Sprague Dawley rats of either sex (250-450g) by administration of Isoproterenol (ISO) and doxorubicin (DOX) at doses of 25mg/kg b.w and 15mg/kg b.w. respectively. The protective effect of the plant extract was explored by pretreating a group of animals with aqueous methanolic extract of Berberis orthobotrys roots at a dose of 50mg/kg b.w. (orally) for 10 days in ISO-ischemic model while for doxorubicin ischemic model; the study was conducted for 14 days. The findings of the study revealed that serum levels of cardiac marker enzymes were significantly increased (p<0.0001) followed by the administration of Isoproterenol and doxorubicin whereas the pretreatment with aqueous methanolic plant extract had significantly (p<0.0001) prevented the rise in the same, as compared to both intoxicated groups. The statistical analysis of the study led to the conclusion that Berberis orthobotrys possesses cardio protective potential against chemically induced myocardial ischemia.

Cardioprotective potential of Thymus linearis Benth.

In developing countries, myocardial ischemia and the resulting impairments in heart function are the leading cause of illness and mortality. Thymus linearis Benth has been used as an antibiotic, antioxidant, and antihypertensive agent for centuries. The goal of this investigation was to see if Thymus linearis could protect isoproterenol and doxorubicin-induced myocardial ischemia in vivo at doses of 25 mg/kg s.c. and 15 mg/kg i.p., respectively. The level of cardiac enzymes (CK-MB, LDH, and AST) in the serum isolated from the experimental animal's blood was used to determine myocardial ischemia. The anti-ischemic potential was assessed by comparing the levels of the aforementioned cardiac biomarkers in the intoxicated and treated animal groups. The study found substantial increase (p0.0001) in the serum levels of CK-MB, LDH, AST when compared to intoxicated groups, while pretreatment of animals with crude extract of Thymus linearis significantly reduced the rise in serum cardiac indicators. The findings of the study indicated that the aqueous methanolic Thymus linearis crude extract has cardioprotective potential against Isoproterenol and Doxorubicin-induced cardiac necrosis in rats.

Cassia artemisiodes attenuates nociceptive and diabetes-induced neuropathic pain modalities apropos antioxidant and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

Cassia plants have a considerable position in conventional systems of medicine. The possible anti-nociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and anti-neuropathic properties of Cassia artemisiodes (CAD) extract were tested using the standard animal models. In this study, in vitro antioxidant, cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and 2), and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) inhibitory assays were performed. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated using carrageenan, histamine, and serotonin-induced paw edema models. Antipyretic activity, thermally and chemically-induced nociception, and naloxone antagonistic activities were carried out. The CAD extract was tested for anti-neuropathic activity in the streptozotocin-induced diabetic neuropathy model. Suppressing the effect of CAD extract on the mRNA level of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), COX-2, and pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6) was determined by performing RT-PCR. The CAD extract inhibited COX-2 and 5-LOX enzymes, paw inflammation, and reduced nociceptive behaviors. The mRNA gene expression of iNOS, COX-2, and inflammatory cytokines was reduced significantly with increased DPPH scavenging activity. The extract significantly reduced the diabetes-induced neuropathic pain. In a nutshell, these results recommended that the CAD extract has anti-nociceptive and anti-neuropathic activities due to inhibition of inflammatory and oxidative signaling.

Characterization of chickpea genotypes of Pakistani origin for genetic diversity and zinc grain biofortification.

BACKGROUND: Intake of food low in essential minerals, like zinc (Zn), is one of the major reasons of malnutrition. Development of genotypes with grains enriched in essential minerals may help to solve the issue of malnutrition. In this study, 16 chickpea genotypes (eight each of desi and kabuli types) of Pakistani origin were evaluated for genetic diversity and grain Zn biofortification potential with and without Zn fertilization. RESULTS: A wide variation was noted for agronomic, physiological, agro-physiological, utilization, and apparent recovery efficiencies of Zn in the chickpea genotypes tested. Genotypes also differed for grain Zn concentration (37.5-48.6 mg kg-1 ), bioavailable Zn (3.72-4.42 mg day-1 ), and grain yield. The highest grain Zn concentration and bioavailable Zn were noted in genotypes NIAB-CH-2016 (47.1 mg kg-1 and 4.30 mg day-1 respectively) and Noor-2013 (48.6 mg kg-1 and 4.38 mg day-1 respectively) among the desi and kabuli types respectively. The same genotypes were the highest yielders. Cluster analysis showed that all (eight) kabuli genotypes grouped together, whereas most (six) of the desi genotypes clustered in a separate group. There was low to moderate genetic diversity (0.149 for desi and 0.104 for kabuli types) and a low level of genetic differentiation between the two chickpea types (0.098). CONCLUSION: Two populations of chickpea had low to moderate genetic diversity, with consistent gene flow. This genetic diversity in both chickpea types allows the breeding gains for improving the grain yield and grain Zn biofortification potential of chickpea genotypes. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Antibacterial and antibiofilm properties of traditional medicinal plant from Sheikh Buddin range.

During current project, antibacterial and antibiofilm properties of traditional medicinal plant Ziziphus nummularia leaf extract and various fractions was investigated. The plant leaves were dried and extracted using 90% methanol followed by sequential fractionation using liquid-liquid fractionation. The fractions of a diverse polarity including chloroform, n-hexane, methanol and ethyl acetate and aqueous extracts were obtained that was further analysed by using HPLC. The phytochemical screening indicated presence of saponins, triterpenes and flavonoids. During DPPH assay, the methanolic fraction presented highest activity (IC50 193.1µg/mL), followed by ethyl acetate (IC50 220µg/mL) and chloroform (IC50 263µg/mL) fractions respectively. During FRAP assay, FRAP value for Z. nummularia extract 20.43µM. Among fractions, ethyl acetate fraction presented highest FRAP value (370.2µM), followed by chloroform (204µM) and methanolic (249µM) fractions. The antimicrobial activity of chloroform fraction was significantly high against P. aureginosa (6mm), L. monocytogenes, S. aureus (5mm), K. pneumoniae, B. Subtillus and E. coli (4mm). The ethyl acetate part presented significant activity (MIC 4mg/mL) against S. aureus, B. Subtillus and L. monocytogenes. The total extract and fractions were further tested for MBC and the MBC for ethyl acetate fractions was 4mg/mL, whereas all other fractions exhibited MBC >10mg/mL. No activity was recorded against Aspergillus niger. During antibiofilm assay, n-hexane fraction presented highest inhibition (88%) followed by ethyl acetate (69%) chloroform (65%) fractions. It was concluded that Z. nummularia possess moderate antimicrobial and antibiofilm activities. Further a synergistic effect is suggested in formulation having Z. nummularia.

Characterizing bread wheat genotypes of Pakistani origin for grain zinc biofortification potential.

BACKGROUND: Zinc (Zn) is essential for all life forms and its deficiency is a major issue of malnutrition in humans. This study was carried out to characterize 28 wheat genotypes of Pakistani origin for grain zinc biofortification potential, genetic diversity and relatedness. RESULTS: There was low genetic differentiation among the tested genotypes. However, they differed greatly in yield-related traits, grain mineral (Zn, calcium (Ca) and protein) concentrations and Zn bioavailability. Zinc application increased the concentration of Zn in wheat grain (32.1%), embryo (19.8%), aleurone (47%) and endosperm (23.7%), with an increase in bioavailable Zn (22.2%) and a reduction in phytate concentration (6.8%). Application of Zn also enhanced grain protein and Ca concentrations. Among wheat genotypes, Blue Silver had the highest concentration of Zn in grain, embryo, aleurone and endosperm, with high bioavailable Zn, while Kohinoor-83 had low phytate concentration. CONCLUSION: Wheat genotypes of Pakistan are genetically less diverse owing to continuous focus on the development of high-yielding varieties only. Therefore genetically diverse wheat genotypes with high endospermic Zn concentration and better grain yield should be used in breeding programs approaches, aiming at improving Zn bioavailability. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.