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
Arsenic is a naturally occurring element, but anthropogenic activities can lead to a substantial contamination of the environment. Exposure to arsenic has been associated with a significant number of adverse health effects in humans including: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hearing loss, developmental abnormalities, anemia, neurologic and neurobehavioral disorder, leukopenia, eosinophilia, fibrosis of the liver and the kidney and various neoplasms. However, the cellular and molecular events associated with arsenic toxicity are poorly understood. Also, the precise mechanisms by which arsenic acts as a carcinogen in humans remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we used human liver carcinoma (HepG2) cells as a model to study the molecular mechanisms of arsenic-induced toxicity and carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that arsenic-induced expression of stress genes and related proteins may play a role in the cellular and molecular events leading to toxicity and tumorigenesis in liver cells. To test this hypothesis, we performed the MTT-assay for cell viability, the CAT-Tox (L) assay for gene induction, and the Western Blot analysis to assess the expression of cellular proteins including c-fos, HMTIIA, HSP70 and p53. Data obtained from the MTT assay indicated a strong dose-response relationship with respect to arsenic trioxide toxicity. Upon 48 hr of exposure, the chemical dose required to cause 50% reduction in cell viability (LD50) was computed to be 8.55 +/- 0.58 microg/ml. The CAT-Tox (L) assay showed statistically significant inductions (p<0.05) of c-fos, HMTIIA, and HSP70. Western blot analysis also demonstrated a dose-response relationship with regard to expression of specific cellular proteins. The p53 protein was expressed in arsenic trioxide-treated cells, however, the densitometric analysis did not show any significant differences (p<0.05) between treated and control cells. The lack of a significant induction of p53 may be due to the potential mitogenic effect of arsenic at low levels of arsenic exposure.