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Impact of Cultivation and Gathering of Medicinal Plants on Biodiversity: Global Trends and Issues
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... According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Endangered Species, 1,500 species (medicinal, toxic, chemical use) are listed as endangered or endangered, but the list includes only 25,452 species. The main instrument for monitoring or restricting the trade of endangered species is the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Hamilton, 2004;Schippmann et al., 2002). ...
The cultivation of medicinal plants is economically beneficial for medical and pharmaceutical purposes. These plants are a valuable source of secondary metabolites that can be converted into various drugs. However, these plants' widespread and commercial cultivation is difficult because most of the arable land is used to produce strategically essential crops. Therefore, harvesting from nature has the largest share in medicinal plants, which increases the pressure on rangelands and reduces biodiversity in rangelands. This study aims to study the effects of improper harvesting of medicinal plants on biodiversity and habitat protection. This study showed that increasing the harvest of medicinal plants from pastures reduces biodiversity, increases pressure on other plants, and destroys habitats. Decreasing biodiversity and habitat degradation also increase the risk of extinction of medicinal plants, other plants, and even insects and microorganisms.
... In India, the medicinal plant-related trade is estimated to be approximately US $1 billion per year . According to Schippmann et al. (1990), one fifth of all the plants found in India are used for medicinal purpose. The world average stands at 12.5% while India has 20% plant species of medicinal value and which are in use. ...
... Moreover, these latter ones act via multiple mechanisms to protect cell injury from ROS and inflammatory cytokines [86]. Since ancient times, many plants are used for treatment purposes and are still in practice all over the world [87,88]. e use of medicinal plants for treatment purposes is based on hundredyear-old beliefs and innumerable experiences [89][90][91]. ...
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a complex condition which has an intricate pathology mostly involving hemodynamic, in-ammatory, and direct toxic e ects at the cellular level with high morbidity and mortality ratios. Renal ischemic reperfusion injury (RIRI) is the main factor responsible for AKI, most often observed in di erent types of shock, kidney transplantation, sepsis, and postoperative procedures. e RIRI-induced AKI is accompanied by increased reactive oxygen species generation together with the activation of various in ammatory pathways. In this context, plant-derived medicines have shown encouraging nephroprotective properties. Evidence provided in this systemic review leads to the conclusion that plant-derived extracts and compounds exhibit nephroprotective action against renal ischemic reperfusion induced-AKI by increasing endogenous anti-oxidants and decreasing anti-in ammatory cytokines. However, there is no de ned biomarker or target which can be used for treating AKI completely. ese plant-derived extracts and compounds are only tested in selected transgenic animal models. To develop the results obtained into a therapeutic entity, one should apply them in proper vertebrate multitransgenic animal models prior to further validation in humans.
Australian tropical plants have been a rich source of food (bush food) and medicine to the first Australians (Aboriginal people), who are believed to have lived for more than 50,000 years. Plants such as spreading sneezeweed (Centipeda minima), goat's foot (Ipomoea pes-caprae), and hop bush (Dodonaea viscosa and D. polyandra) are a few popular Aboriginal medicinal plants. Thus far, more than 900 medicinal plants have been recorded in the tropical region alone, and many of them are associated with diverse ethnomedicinal uses that belong to the traditional owners of Aboriginal people. In our effort to find anti-inflammatory lead compounds in collaboration with Aboriginal communities from their medicinal plants, we reviewed 78 medicinal plants used against various inflammation and inflammatory-related conditions by Aboriginal people. Out of those 78 species, we have included only 45 species whose crude extracts or isolated pure compounds showed anti-inflammatory properties. Upon investigating compounds isolated from 40 species (for five species, only crude extracts were studied), 83 compounds were associated with various anti-inflammatory properties. Alphitolic acid, Betulinic acid, Malabaric acid, and Hispidulin reduced proinflammatory cytokines and cyclooxygenase enzymes (COX-1 and 2) with IC50 values ranging from 11.5 to 46.9 uM. Other promising anti-inflammatory compounds are Brevilin A (from Centipeda minima), Eupal-estin, and 5′-methoxy nobiletin (from Ageratum conyzoides), Calophyllolide (from Calophyllum in-ophyllum), and Brusatol (from Brucea javanica). D. polyandra is one example of an Aboriginal medicinal plant from which a novel anti-inflammatory benzoyl ester clerodane diterpenoid compound was obtained (compound name not disclosed), and it is in the development of topical medicines for inflammatory skin diseases. Medicinal plants in the tropics and those associated with indigenous knowledge of Aboriginal people could be a potential alternative source of novel anti-inflammatory therapeutics.
In the present investigation, Hybanthus enneaspermus is an medicinally important plant. It is known for its therapeutic value in folkfare medicine. H. enneaspermus shows the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, carbohydrates, steroids, tannins, glycosides and terpenoids. Traditionally this plant is used as an tonic, diuretic, demulcent, aphrodisiac, in dysuria, sterility, diarrhea, and in urinary infection (Yoganarasimhan, 2ooo).In an attempt was to observe effect of different growth hormones viz., BAP (Benzyl amino purine), KIN (Kinetin) on invitro propogation in medicinally important Hybanthus enneaspermus plant. The shoot and nodal region of Hybanthus enneaspermus used as a explants for invitro culture and different combinations of cytokines in the Murashige and Skoog medium (Murashige and Skoog, 1962). Shoot formation in maximum number has been resulted in the MS medium supplemented with 9.0 μM BAP in which 14 shoots and average length of the shoot measured is about 14.9 cm. and MS medium supplemented with 10.0 μM KIN in which 12 shoots and average length of the shoot measured is about 6.9 cm. The initiation of shoot takes place in 25 days after inoculation and observations were measured after 45 days after inoculation.
Since ancient times, natural medicines have had paramount importance in bolstering biotherapeutics to treat various diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that more than 80% of the population of developing countries relies on traditional medicines, predominately herbal medicine, for their immediate medications. The drugs derived from medicinal plants have tremendous diversity with superfluous potency for managing communicable and non-communicable diseases, which diminishes the burden of modern pharmacopoeias in low and middle-developed countries. With the increasing importance and prevalence of herbal drugs, the appropriate evaluations are being implemented for their utilization. Most herbal medicines are prescribed by practical shreds of evidence and recommended in crude and semi-standardized forms. The inadequacy in pharmacological evaluation, preclinical and clinical examination of herbal drugs impedes their integration into contemporary medicinal practices. The preclinical investigation, prominently in-vivo and in-vitro studies, explores various attributes consisting of cell cytotoxicity, cell-cell interactions, intracellular activity, cell-environment interaction, gene expression studies, and metabolomics fingerprints of induced natural drugs. These pre-clinical evaluations and robust evidence consent to the safe and long-term utilization of herbal medicine to treat hideous diseases. Further, several modern practises are being considered for the precise and effective production of bioactive compounds at the commercial level. With this connection, this review illustrates the prominent sources of natural drugs, their pre-clinical assessments, the development of active drug molecules, and their commercialization in low-, middle-, and high-income countries.
Anthropogenic activities like the unbalanced use of fertilizers, agricultural chemicals like pesticides, and other industrial activities such as drilling, steelmaking, and burning of fossil fuels as well as the use of untreated wastewater from different industries have resulted in soil pollution with heavy metals (HMs). This important ecological restriction has contributed to reduced agricultural production and decreased nutritional quality due to the bioaccumulation of HMs in the plant body. Medicinal plants are being recommended for alternative products with non-food staple crops in potentially toxic elements contaminated environments. Despite their ability to bioaccumulate higher concentrations of HMs in their plant body, the plant parts used for medicinal purposes are transferring HMs into the food chain and have ultimately resulted in biomagnification through bioaccumulation in the food chain. Under HM stress, there is an increased production of reactive oxygen species, which pose oxidative stress on the membranous organelles, resulting in lipid peroxidation, protein denaturation, and nucleic acids destruction, damaging their structure and function and ultimately disrupting various metabolic processes involved in growth and development. In order to combat oxidative stress, medicinal plants activate the antioxidant system, which includes the secretion of enzymatic (ascorbate peroxidase, dehydroascorbate reductase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase) and non-enzymatic (carotenoids, glutamate, ascorbate, phenolics, or tocopherol) antioxidants. Chapter 8 summarizes the effects of HMs on the growth and physiological functions of medicinal plants and defence mechanisms against HM stress at morphological and molecular levels, both of which can contribute to improved bioactive compound yields.
This book provides the first comprehensive examination of nontimber forest products (NTFPs) in the United States, illustrating their diverse importance, describing the people who harvest them, and outlining the steps that are being taken to ensure access to them. As the first extensive national overview of NTFP policy and management specific to the United States, it brings together research from numerous disciplines and analytical perspectives-such as economics, mycology, history, ecology, law, entomology, forestry, geography, and anthropology—in order to provide a cohesive picture of the current and potential role of NTFPs. The contributors review the state of scientific knowledge of NTFPs by offering a survey of commercial and noncommercial products, an overview of uses and users, and discussions of sustainable management issues associated with ecology, cultural traditions, forest policy, and commerce. They examine some of the major social, economic, and biological benefits of NTFPs, while also addressing the potential negative consequences of NTFP harvesting on forest ecosystems and on NTFP species populations. Within this wealth of information are rich accounts of NTFP use drawn from all parts of the American landscape—from the Pacific Northwest to the Caribbean. From honey production to a review of nontimber forest economies still active in the United States—such as the Ojibway "harvest of plants" recounted here—the book takes in the whole breadth of recent NTFP issues, including ecological concerns associated with the expansion of NTFP markets and NTFP tenure issues on federally managed lands. No other volume offers such a comprehensive overview of NTFPs in North America. By examining all aspects of these products, it contributes to the development of more sophisticated policy and management frameworks for not only ensuring their ongoing use but also protecting the future of our forests.
Information on 280 medicinal plants including botanical name, family, vernacular name, botanical descriptions, distribution, uses and method of propagation and photographs for easy identification id provided.
A sampling of organizations and alliances that bring together producers and traders committed to ecological, economic and social sustainability.
