Abstract: India is known as the botanical garden of the world, has a great history of medicinal plant utilization, traditional plant-based medicines have always been used to treat liver diseases and jaundice. In the present work, we focused on medicinal plants used to treat jaundice and liver diseases. About 124 plant species belonging to about 53 families were found to be used against jaundice or hepatitis by the tribal’s and traditional healers. The most important plant species are Boerhaavia diffusa and otherspecies, Centella asiatica, Eclipta alba, Gentiana tubiflora and other species, Lawsonia intermis, Luffa acutangula var. Amara, Polygonum tortuosum, Portulaca oleracea, Phyllanthusamarus and other species, Solanum nigrum, Ricinus communis, Tephrosia purpurea, Thespesia lampas and Termenalia species etc. The ethnomedicinal data are compiled as botanical name, family, local name, native tribe distribution, part of plant, mode of use and references are provided.This review defiantly helps to future scientist in this area.
INTRODUCTION
Use of medicinal plants as a source of drugs to cure various diseases is as old as humankind itself. Even to the present day, medicinal plants are available as cheap and accessible source of drug for most of developing and also in developed countries. The WHO has continuously emphasizing the utilization of herbal and traditional drugs. The organization has also estimated that about 80% of the population.
Living in the developing countries relies on traditional medicine for their health care needs (WHO, 2002). Plants not only from the period of immemorial provides as a source of the drug but also till date acting as a source of lead molecules in modern medicine (Potterat and Hostettmann, 1995).
India is known as the botanical garden of the world. Out of the total 4,22,000 flowering plants reported from the world, more than 50,000 are used for medicinal purposes (Govaerts, 2001). In India, more than 43% of the total flowering plants are reported to be of medicinal importance (Pushpangadan, 1995). Utilization of plants for medicinal purposes in India has been documented long back in ancient literature (Charak, 1996).
The identification and documentation of plants of ethnomedicinal importance in many cultures have long been an active area of research and has been connected with various objectives. However, organized studies in this direction were initiated in 1956 and off late such studies are gaining recognition and popularity due to loss of traditional knowledge and declining plant population (Rao, 1996). Right from its beginning, the documentation of traditional knowledge especially on the medicinal uses of plants, has provided many important drugs of modern day (Cox and Balick, 1994; Fabricant and Farnsworth, 2001; Farnsworth et al., 1985).
Indian forests have long played an integral role in supporting the lives of tribal population, meeting their physical, cultural, spiritual and material needs. Traditional knowledge related to medicinal plants has been percolating verbally for thousands of years. Unfortunately, this type of knowledge has been seriously eroding over the past decades indicating challenges for identification and documentation. Tribal communities possess their own traditional knowledge that contributes to a broader understanding of native plant species, many of which have yet to be studied by “western” scientists.
The liver is the most important organ which regulates many important metabolic functions. Hepatic injury is associated with distortion of these metabolic functions (Wolf, 1999). Liver diseases are mainly caused by toxic chemicals, excess consumption of alcohol, infections and autoimmune disorders. In spite of tremendous advances in modern medicine, there are no effective drugs available that stimulate liver function, offer protection to the liver from damage or help to regenerate hepatic cells (Chattopadhyay, 2003; Shanmugasundaram and Venkataraman, 2006).
| Fig. 1: | Distribution of (%) tribal population in the states of India |
Contrarily, a number of medicinal preparations in traditional medicine of India are recommended for the treatment of liver disorders.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The present study is an attempt to compile the medicinal plants growing and utilizing among the different tribal culture in India with their mode of use. We reviewed scientific studies published in journals, books, theses and reports. Relevant literature was searched in various electronic databases (NISCAIR, MEDLINE, Science Direct, Scopus, Scirus and Google Scholar) using keywords such as “medicinal plants”, “tribal”, “ethnobotany or ethnopharmacology or Indigenous or Indian” and “survey” (Fig. 1).
| Fig. 2: | Plant parts used in treatment of liver disease and jaundice. Lv: leaves; Wp: whole plant; Rt: root; Fr: fruit; Fl: flower; Sh/Ap: Shoots and apex; Bk: bark; Sd: seeds; Ot: other parts |
We do not claim to have included all the tribal communities existing information about traditional uses of medicinal plants but we rather chose to focus on information easily accessible to researchers. In the last few decades, it is possible to record the traditional and tribal knowledge related to medicinal plants of different tribal communities However, in most cases, this information has yet to be made available to the modern world.
We reviewed a total of 37 publications that provided information about the use of medicinal plant species to treat jaundice and liver diseases. We only used publications presenting first-hand ethnobotanical information. A list was produced, showing name(s), part(s) used, use(s), mode of use(s) and reference(s).
In the present study, we focused our review on traditional medicinal practices of tribal communities living in the different Indian forests. The precision of botanical identification in this review depended on that from original sources. Latin names and native status (native vs. introduced) were verified.
DISCUSSION
The present review is an attempt to compile the traditional ethnobotanical medicinal plants utilized in various parts of India. This study will help to future researchers to understand the correlation between different tribes and their approach to treat liver diseases. In this study, medicinal plants which are being utilized to treat the liver disease among the tribes were focused. Data obtained from present investigation compiled in Table 1 and the medicinal plant species arearranged in alphabetical order. A total of 123 plant species belonging to 53 families have beenreported for the treatment of jaundice and other liver diseases. The most of the medicinal plants are belongs to malvaceae, leguminosae, poaceae, liliaceae, cucurbitaceae, gentianaceae, asteraceae, zingiberaceae, verbenaceae and euphorbiaceae. The botanical name, local name, native tribe utilized, part of plant, mode of use and references are provided. The compilation reveals that the different plant parts were used in the treatment of jaundiceand liver diseases. Among these leaves were highlyutilized leaves (28%) followed by whole plant (19%), roots (23%), seed (9%) fruit (7%), stem (7%), shoot, bark (5%), other parts such as volatile oils, latex and animal fecal matter and rhizomes (2%) (Fig. 2).
Table 1, shows there are some medicinal plants which were accepted in differenttribes as medications for jaundice and liver diseases. They are either used single or in combination or the same part or other parts, includes Boerhaavia diffusa and otherspecies, Centella asiatica, Eclipta alba, Gentiana tubiflora and other species, Lawsonia intermis, Luffa acutangula var. Amara, Polygonum tortuosum, Portulaca oleracea, Phyllanthusamarus and other species, Solanum nigrum, Ricinus communis, Tephrosia purpurea, Thespesia lampas and Termenalia species. These plants are also recommended in Indian system of medicines such as Ayurveda and siddha systems of medicines, these findings indicate these tribes are some or other way relates to these systems. The preparation method of medication sometimes varies from vaidus (Medicine man) to vaidus. The popular forms are decoction, juice, extract, powder, fresh part and paste. The duration of treatment varies from weeks to months.
| Table 1: | List of the traditional plant used for jaundice and liver diseases among the tribes of India |
CONCLUSION
A significant contribution to human health are provided by medicinal plants of the locality and one of the most significant ways in which humans directly reap the benefits provided by biodiversity. India has a long history of medicinal plant utilization in traditional and tribal culture. Here we reported on 124 medicinal plant species Used in the traditional health care systems of tribal people from the India. This is the most comprehensive review to date and it shows striking similarities between medicinal plant uses in nations. Thus, by triangulation, it is probably still possible to document most of the knowledge but research should continue, especially in areas or within nations that have received less attention.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank principal and management of R.C. Patel institute of pharmaceutical education and research, Shirpur for providing me library and scientific journal database facility.