Ethnopharmacological relevance of indigenous medicinal plants from district Bahawalnagar, Punjab, Pakistan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Indigenous plants have played a key role in the treatment of human diseases. This study was aimed to report the indigenous medicinal plants from Bahawalnagar district of Southern Punjab, Pakistan to document the important medicinal plants and herbal preparations. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rapid appraisal approach (RAA) involved direct interaction with local people and observations during the field visits; was used to collect data during March to June and August to December 2012. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS: A total of 63 plants were reported to be effective for ailments treatment in the local healthcare system of the study area, belonging to 56 genera and 34 families. Among families Fabaceae was the predominant by contributing 09 species. CONCLUSION: Plants knowledge is not uniformly distributed among the 488 informants interviewed by mean of questionnaire.

Ethnomedicinal knowledge and relative importance of indigenous medicinal plants of Cholistan desert, Punjab Province, Pakistan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ethnomedicinal studies are significant for the discovery of new crude drugs from indigenous reported medicinal plants. The current study aimed to report the indigenous medicinal knowledge of plants and herbal remedies used as folk medicines in Cholistan desert, Punjab Province, Pakistan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rapid appraisal approach (RAA), semi-structured interviews, group meetings with herbalists, landowners and local people having awareness about the medicinal action of plants were employed to collect the data. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS: This study reports 70 medicinal plants belonging to 27 families that were disseminated among 60 different genera and Poaceae was the predominant family over others with 13 reported medicinal plants. Among plant parts, leaves were the dominant over others with 26.4% used in herbal preparations followed by the stem (25.2%), fruit (21.5%), flower (16.3%), seed (6.5%), bark and pod (02%). Haloxylon recurvum exhibited the highest use vale (UV) 0.83 while least UV was exhibited by Mollugo cerviana that was 0.16. CONCLUSION: Important medicinal plants, reported in this study have been screened for phytochemical and pharmaceutical activities in different parts of the globe. It is recommended that reported medicinal plants having potent action for cancer and hepatitis must be screened for pharmacological activities.

Relative importance of indigenous medicinal plants from Layyah district, Punjab Province, Pakistan.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ethnomedicinal reports are important for the discovery of new crude drugs from reported medicinal plants with high use value. The current study aimed to document the medicinal flora as well as medicinal knowledge of indigenous plants of local communities from Layyah district, Punjab Province, Pakistan. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Rapid appraisal approach (RAA), semi-structured interviews, group meetings with herbalists, landowners and local people having awareness about the medicinal action of plants were employed to collect the data. Use values (UV) and frequency of citation (FC) were calculated to check the relative importance of plants. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS: The current ethnomedicinal study reported 125 medicinal plant species diversified from 106 genus belonging to the 43 different families and Poaceae was the predominant family over others with 16 reported medicinal plants. Wild herbaceous plants were the predominant over other life forms while among plant parts, leaves contributed 32% followed by the stem (27%), fruit and flowers (15%). Allium sativum exhibited the highest use vale (UV) 0.92 while the lowest UV was exhibited by Lasiurus scindicus which was 0.15. CONCLUSION: Local communities of district Layyah still have a strong faith on herbal medicines for basic healthcare needs. Indigenous plants having high UV and FC should be subjected to the detailed phytochemical investigations to explore new natural drugs.

Serum selenium concentration in liver cirrhotic patients suffering from hepatitis B and C in Pakistan.

High rates of hepatitis B and C are present in Pakistan. Epidemiological surveys demonstrated an inverse association between selenium (Se) level and regional cancer incidence, as well as viral infection. In this cross-sectional descriptive analytical study, serum selenium concentration of 150 patients suffering from hepatitis B and C patients, along with 26 healthy controls, was determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer equipped with hydride generation system. The mean and standard deviation of serum selenium concentration observed in male and female patients with hepatitis C were 101.60 ± 0.55 and 77.43 ± 0.47 µg/l, respectively, while the mean and standard deviation of serum selenium concentration observed in male and female patients with hepatitis B was 107.58 ± 0.44 and 137.8 ± 0.36 µg/l. Analysis of t test showed significant difference between hepatitis C and B (P < 0.001) patients in serum selenium concentration when compared with control.