RESUMO
Diabetes and hypertension rank among human diseases that are very difficult to control. The medicinal material of Cameroon can provide much information on ethnic folklore practices and traditional aspects of therapeutically important natural products. Cameroon has a very rich cultural diversity with different traditional systems of medicine that need more evidence-based studies on both crude extracts and purified phytomolecules. Therefore, an ethnobotanical study was conducted on 58 socio-cultural population groups living in different phytogeographic units of Cameroon in order to collect various medicinal plants or recipes. A two by two comparison of social-cultural groups of the same phytogeographic unit indicated a significant difference in 86.97% of medicinal plants or recipes comparisons' cases. A total of two hundred and eight recipes were identified, among which 75 were used for diabetes and hypertension treatment, 74 for hypertension alone, and 59 for diabetes alone. Also, two hundred and three plants were identified among which 33 were cultivated and marketed by 25 farming families engaged in integrated agriculture and selling of antidiabetic and antihypertensive plants to enhance their socio-economic status.
RESUMO
The traditional medicine in Africa in general and specifically in Cameroon does not manage diabetes and arterial hypertension very well. Yet, these pathologies are becoming more prevalent among the populations that need adequate knowledge to fight against them. Therefore the present study was designed to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices of indigenous people regarding diabetes and hypertension control, and to assess the epidemiological aspects of these diseases in order to reinforce their health education and promote a better health care through traditional medicine. To achieve this objective, 1,131 households including 70 traditional healers, 114 diabetics, 167 hypertensive patients, 30 hypertensive patients-diabetics and other Cameroonians were questioned on their ethnomedical knowledge of diabetes and arterial hypertension. Fifty-eight randomly distributed tribes were taking in account. The elucidation of anthropological and epidemiological aspects of diabetes and hypertension improved the beliefs of indigenous people and facilitated the modernization of diabetes and hypertension comprehension that remained focused on the elucidation of diseases' causes and complications, as well as on the behaviors that could help translate biomedical terms into locally meaningful metaphors.
RESUMO
Medicinal plants have served as valuable starting materials for drug development in both developing and developed countries. Today, more than 80% of the people living in Africa were depended on medicinal plants based medicines to satisfy their healthcare needs. The main goal of the present study was to collect and document information on herbal remedies traditionally used for the treatment of diabetes and/or hypertension in Cameroon. To reach this objective, data were collected from 328 patients who have been diagnosed at least once by a physician as diabetics and/or hypertension patients. One hundred and eighty two (182) among them took for a period of 10 days different varieties of medicinal plants which were prepared in form of decoction, maceration and infusion and administered orally twice or three times daily. As result, 70% of patients who used plants were relieved at the end of the treatment. Thirty-three plants have been recorded and documented for the treatment of diabetes and/or hypertension. The results of this study can stimulate a sustainable development by providing the basis for drugs discovery and by documenting biodiversity for long time exploitation.
RESUMO
The CH2Cl2/CH3OH (1/1) extract of the dried stem of Drypetes chevalieri Beille afforded two new triterpenoïds named drypechevalin A (11-oxo-beta-amyrin-3beta-ylcaffeate) and drypechevalin B (3,7-dioxo-D:A-friedooleanan-24-al) along with five known compounds: lupeol, lupeone, erythrodiol, putranjivadione, friedelin. Their structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic analysis and chemical evidence.
