ABSTRACT
AIM AND OBJECTIVE: In recent years, natural biopolymer (potato starch) hydrogels have been widely used in the field of wound dressing material. This study aimed to develop and characterize a novel antibacterial hydrogel made from potato starch and natural honey. METHODS: The structure of the composite films was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and 1H,13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and the antibacterial activities were tested by agar diffusion method. FTIR analysis showed chemical interaction between the components of Euphorbia honey (EH) and potato starch hydrogel (PSH). RESULTS: The 1H-13C NMR and FTIR analyses of EH/PSH confirmed their structure and showed the presence of glucose and hydrocarbon derivatives. After 24 h of incubation, the EH/PSH hydrogel showed good antibacterial activity against three bacterial strains (K.pneumonia, P.mirabilis, and P. aeruginosa) by producing clear inhibition zones of 12.33±1.88 mm, 15.33±0.94, and 10±0 mm, respectively. In addition, K. pneumonia, P. mirabilis, and P. aeruginosa were sensitive to the EH/SPH with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 1 %. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that EH-PS has potential as an alternative candidate to conventional antibiotics.
ABSTRACT
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ethnoveterinary medicine is vastly under-documented, especially in North Africa, where livestock care is increasingly medicalised. Despite evidence of the interdependence of ethnoveterinary practices and ethnomedicine for human care, the overlap between these two systems and the possible drivers of similarity are rarely addressed in ethnopharmacological literature. Here, we present the first quantitative comparison of remedies used to treat human and animal health among a pastoral society. AIMS: This study aims to document the plants and other materials used in ethnoveterinary medicine among nomadic herders in the Algerian steppe. We calculate the overlap with remedies used for human health and evaluate some of the possible drivers of similarities between the two interlinked medical systems. METHODS: The field study was conducted in spring 2018 with 201 local knowledge holders in five provinces in the central part of the Algerian steppe. Forty-six camps and ten weekly animal markets were visited. After obtaining prior informed consent, data was collected through structured interviews. Anonymous sociodemographic information was collected along with veterinary use data. Plant specimens were acquired, identified and deposited in the Botanical Laboratory Herbarium of the University of Tiaret. Ethnobotanical information was structured in use reports and therapeutic applications organised into 13 simple categories. Plants used in ethnoveterinary medicine were compared to those used in human health care using a Chi square test, and ethnoveterinary use was predicted using a generalised linear model with use for human care and plant family as predictive variables. Logistic regressions were also used to test if any specific medicinal application predicts shared use in human and veterinary medicine. RESULTS: Sixty-six plant species from 32 botanical families and ten non-vegetable remedies were documented. Plants from the Lamiaceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae and Apiaceae families were most commonly used. The plants most often cited by interviewees are all harvested from the wild (Echinops spinosissimus Turra, Atriplex halimus L., Artemisia campestris L., Juniperus phoenicea L. and Peganum harmala L.). Leaves are the most commonly used plant part and decoction is the most common preparation method. There are important similarities between remedies used to treat humans and other animals: two thirds of the remedies used in ethnoveterinary medicine are also used in human health care, and these represent half of the human health treatments. Use for human health and plant family both predict the use of a medicinal plant in veterinary medicine, but no correlation is found regarding specific therapeutic applications. CONCLUSIONS: Traditional veterinary knowledge is still key to sheep and goat herders in the Algerian steppe, but a knowledge transmission gap seems to exist between older and younger generations, and ethnoveterinary practices may disappear in the near future. Treatments for human and animal care overlap to a large extent, and a causal relationship possibly exists for, at least, some of them. However, overall a smaller number of remedies are used to treat animals than humans and for less therapeutic applications. This difference in the diversity of therapeutic applications and remedies should be the object of future research.
