Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used by Bulang people in Yunnan, China.

BACKGROUND: Despite the popularity of modern medicine, medicinal plants remain a cornerstone of treatment for numerous diseases, particularly among ethnic groups and tribal communities around the globe. Ethnomedicine offers advantages such as ease of use, convenience, and economic benefits. Medicinal plant knowledge within Bulang ethnic community of southwest China is a valuable complement to Chinese ethnomedicine systems. Accumulated medical knowledge is due to the extensive length of occupation by Bulang People, considered the earliest inhabitants of Xishuangbanna; this has resulted in the development of various traditional treatment methods with local characteristics and unique curative effects. Therefore, there is exceeding value in exploring the medical knowledge of Bulang. METHODS: A total of 175 local informants participated in the interviews and distribution of questionnaires in 10 Bulang villages in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China. We documented the community of Bulang's use of medicinal herbs, and we used both the informant consensus factor (ICF) and use value (UV) methodologies to analyze the data. Furthermore, we conducted a comparative study to explore the potential of Bulang traditional medicine by comparing it to traditional Dai medicine. RESULTS: The study recorded 60 medicinal plant species belonging to 41 families and 59 genera, including 22 species of herb, 22 species of shrub, nine species of trees, and seven species of liana. Araceae, Compositae, Lamiaceae and Leguminosae were found to have the highest number of species. The affordability and cultural heritage of Bulang medicine make it advantageous, Investigated Informants report that increased usage of Western medicine (88%), less availability of herbal medicine (95.43%), and the reduction in medicinal plant resources (80.57%) pose significant threats to Bulang medicine. All Bulang medicinal plants are naturally grown, with only 22 per cent being cultivated. Camellia sinensis (0.94) and Zingiber officinale (0.89) showed the highest UV values, while the function of Phyllanthus emblica L. and Houttuynia cordata Thunb. were also noted. The ICF revealed digestive system related diseases were the most commonly treated, with conditions of the motor system using the highest number of plant species. Finally, a comparison with traditional Dai medicine determined that 22 plants (36.67%) of the 60 surveyed had higher medicinal value in Bulang medicine. CONCLUSION: Bulang communities primarily source medicinal plants from the wild. Should environmental damage lead to the extinction of these medicinal plants, it could result in a shift toward modern Western medicine as a preferred medical treatment. Bulang ethnomedicine is a vital supplement to China's traditional medicine, particularly aspects of ethnic medicine relevant to daily life. Future research should emphasize inter-ethnic medical studies to reveal the untapped potential of medicinal plants.

Comparison of medicinal preparations of Ayurveda in India and five traditional medicines in China.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Ayurveda is the main traditional healthcare system in Indian medicine. Tibetan medicine (TM), Mongolian medicine (MM), Buddhist medicine (BM), Dai medicine (DM), and Uyghur medicine (UM) are main traditional medicines practiced in China. These are existing traditional medical systems that still play a role in disease prevention and treatment. AIM OF THE STUDY: To reveal the similarities and differences of traditional medicinal preparations between Ayurveda in India and five traditional medicines in China to deepen medical exchanges and cooperation between the two countries and beyond. METHODS: All preparations were extracted from statutory pharmacopoeias, ministry standards, and prescription textbooks from China and India. The information of each preparation, such as therapeutic uses, medicinal materials, and preparation forms, was recorded in Excel for statistical analysis and visual comparison. RESULTS: A total of 645 Ayurvedic preparations, 458 TM preparations, 164 MM preparations, 616 BM preparations, 227 DM preparations, and 94 UM preparations were identified. Preparations of the six traditional medicines were mostly used for treating digestive, respiratory, and urogenital system diseases. The preparation forms of these six traditional medicines are mainly pills and powders. There are 38 shared-use medicinal materials in Ayurveda and TM preparations, 25 in Ayurveda and MM preparations, 30 in Ayurveda and BM preparations, 39 in Ayurveda and DM preparations, and 31 in Ayurveda and UM preparations. Finally, we selected one important shared-use preparation (Triphala) and 51 medicinal materials to research traditional use and modern pharmacology. CONCLUSIONS: These preparations are used by different prescribers and users of medicinal materials in different medical systems with the similarities and differences. The similarities may reflect the historical exchanges of traditional medicines between the two countries. The differences showed that traditional medicines in China have absorbed some theories, diagnoses, and treatments from Ayurveda but also retained their own ethnic and regional characteristics.

Major Chinese Ethnic Medicines for Prevention and Treatment of Ischemic Heart Diseases： A Review / 中国实验方剂学杂志

In China， the incidence of ischemic heart disease （IHD） is increasing year by year， which brings enormous burden to families and society. It is urgent to find preferable treatment methods and medical therapies. The Chinese ethnic minority medicine has gradually developed unique theoretical systems and therapeutic characteristics on the basis of clinical experience and thinking modes including image-number thinking and the holistic perspective. Consequently， it possesses huge application capacity and research value in prevention and treatment of IHD. Belonging to the medical system based on the view of nature and life， the Tibetan medicine， Mongolian medicine， and Dai medicine have respectively formed theories like "three elements" "three life-sustaining energies" "four elements and five skandhas （aggregates）" ， have put forward unique understandings of IHD and have formed corresponding therapeutic principles and methods， generating plentiful classic prescriptions represented by Sanwei Tanxiang powder， Bawei Chenxiang powder， Roukou Wuwei pills and Yajiao Hadun powder. They also contain characteristic ethnic medicine resources such as Choerospondiatis Fructus， Rhodiola Rosea and Draconis Sanguis. Aiming to provide enlightenment and reference for the clinical application and development of the Chinese ethnic minority medicine for the prevention and treatment of IHD， the authors try to summarize the related researches represented by Tibetan and Mongolian medicines， and then discuss the opportunities and challenges faced by such researches.

Ecological Suitability Analysis of Production Areas and Industrial Development Strategy of Dai Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

The suitable production area can guarantee the quality of Dai medicine， but the research on the suitable ecological factors and suitable production area of plant Dai medicine is relatively scarce at present. In this study， gmpgis was used to analyze the ecological suitability of Dai medicine in China. For the first time， the range of ecological factors and main soil types in the main distribution areas of Dai medicine were extracted， such as annual average temperature of 8.6-23.7 ℃， annual average precipitation of 1212-1881 mm， annual average sunshine of 149.7-157.4 W·m-2， the main soil types are strong eluvial soil， alluvial soil， high activity strong acid soil， etc. Based on 179 sampling points， through the analysis of ecological similarity， the largest ecological similarity area of plant Dai medicine in the world was obtained， mainly including China， Brazil， the United States， Myanmar， Laos and other countries. In China， it is mainly concentrated in the West and south of Yunnan， including Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture， Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture， Pu'er City， Baoshan City and Lincang City， which are suitable for cultivation. In addition， by analyzing the current situation of Dai medicine industry， this paper summarizes the problems such as the lack of talents， the decreasing of Dai medicine resources， the limitation of cultural heritage， and the weakness of scientific research， and puts forward strategies such as training high-quality talents of Dai medicine， the investigation and protection of Dai medicine resources， promoting the collection and arrangement of Dai medicine data and ancient books， and strengthening the basic and applied research of Dai medicine Enter the development of Dai medicine. This study provides a basis for guiding the rational layout， introduction and breeding of plant Dai medicine production base， and lays a foundation for the scientific and standardized production of high-quality Dai medicine.

Industry Status and Development Strategies of Chinese Ethnic Medicine / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Ethnic medicine is an important part of traditional Chinese medicine, which has encountered many problems in the development process, such as the lack of effective inheritance of valuable experience and practice, weak basic research and lack of talents, serious destruction of ethnic medicine resources, uneven quality of medicinal materials, weak intellectual property protection, etc. To sum up, these seriously restrict the development of ethnic medicine. Here, the authors propose some corresponding suggestions according to these problems. Firstly, we should try our best to protect and mine relevant professional books for promoting national medicine culture, establish complete system of national and local standards, strengthen the construction of standardized planting bases and germplasm resource banks, build a well-known brand of ethnic medicine and give full play to the leading role of the brand. Secondly, we should strengthen basic research on ethnic medicine and build an integrated system of production-study-research. By integrating the strength of culture, scientific research, talents and industry, this paper hopes to promote the vigorous development of ethnic medicine.

Survey of traditional Dai medicine reveals species confusion and potential safety concerns: a case study on Radix Clerodendri Japonicum.

The adulteration of herbal products is a threat to consumer safety. In the present study, we surveyed the species composition of commercial Radix Clerodendri Japonicum products using DNA barcoding as a supervisory method. A reference database for plant-material DNA-barcode was successfully constructed with 48 voucher samples from 12 Clerodendrum species. The database was used to identify 27 Radix Clerodendri Japonicum decoction piece samples purchased from drug stores and hospitals. The DNA sequencing results revealed that only 1 decoction piece (3.70%) was authentic C. japonicum, as recorded in the Dai Pharmacopeia, whereas the other samples were all adulterants, indicating a potential safety issue. The results indicate that decoction pieces that are available in the market have complex origins and that DNA barcoding is a suitable tool for regulation of Dai medicines.

Relationship of Traditional Dai Medicine And All Sorts of Cultures / 世界科学技术-中医药现代化

Dai medicine is one of the four major minority medicines in China,which is also an important part of the national minority medicine.This paper introduced the source and development of traditional Dai medicine.It also discussed the relationship of traditional Dai medicine with cultures such as Chinese medicine,Buddhism and Pattraleaf,as well as the cultures of aerial faming,tea and dietary.Thoughts and suggestions on the development of Dai medicine were also given.

Survey of traditional Dai medicine reveals species confusion and potential safety concerns: a case study on Radix Clerodendri Japonicum / 中国天然药物

The adulteration of herbal products is a threat to consumer safety. In the present study, we surveyed the species composition of commercial Radix Clerodendri Japonicum products using DNA barcoding as a supervisory method. A reference database for plant-material DNA-barcode was successfully constructed with 48 voucher samples from 12 Clerodendrum species. The database was used to identify 27 Radix Clerodendri Japonicum decoction piece samples purchased from drug stores and hospitals. The DNA sequencing results revealed that only 1 decoction piece (3.70%) was authentic C. japonicum, as recorded in the Dai Pharmacopeia, whereas the other samples were all adulterants, indicating a potential safety issue. The results indicate that decoction pieces that are available in the market have complex origins and that DNA barcoding is a suitable tool for regulation of Dai medicines.

[Investigation, collation and research of traditional Dai medicine of China].

In order to find out the composition, characteristics and traditional utilization characteristics of Dai medicine and promote the rational protection, inheritance and utilization of the resources and traditional knowledge of Dai medicine in China, the resources of traditional Dai medicine have been investigated systematically and the traditional knowledge of Dai medicine have been analyzed in the article. We found out that there were altogether 1 077 kinds of traditional Dai medicine in China and among which 272 were the first time recorded in the condition of Dai folk medical uses. There were 1 053 plant medicines which belong to 169 family and 694 genus. These plant medicines mainly distributed in the southern, west southern and east southern area of Yunnan province, the southern area of Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian province and tropical, subtropical district as Taiwan, and more than 94.49% plant medicines could be found in Yunnan province. From the point of plant life form, they were major herbaceous or shrubby plants; When it is used as medicinal part, root and rhizome of plants account for the highest proportion, the next were whole plant and leaves. From nature, flavor and channel tropism points of view, the largest proportion of Dai medicines were cool, bitter-tasted and possesses water element. In terms of treatment of disease types, most of the drugs can treat gastrointestinal diseases, next were drugs that could be used to treat upper respiratory infection, traumatological and rheumatic diseases, urinary infection, gynecological diseases, hepatopathy, puerperium fever and diseases caused by poisonous insects and beast of prey bite. The study revealed that the resources of traditional Dai medicine and traditional knowledge of application were abundant in China, but the resources of traditional Dai medicine and traditional knowledge of application were faced with the risk of gradually reduce and loss. The article suggested that we should take measures to strengthen the study of protection and utilization of important traditional Dai medicine and endangered resources along with the protection and transmission of traditional knowledge of Dai nationalistic medicine.

[A new furan-2-carboxylic acid from stem bark of Cassia alata].

A new furan-2-carboxylic acid, 5-[3-(hydroxymethyl)-4,5-dimethoxyphenyl]-3-methylfuran-2-carboxylic acid(1),has been isolated from the bark of Cassia alata by using various chromatographic techniques. It displayed cytotoxicity against NB4, A549, SHSY5Y, PC3 and MCF7 cell lines with IC50 values of 2.5, 1.2, 2.2, 3.6 and 1.9 µmol•L⁻¹, respectively.

A new 2-arylbenzofuran from twigs of Cassia alata and its cytotoxicity / 中草药

Objective: For the purpose of finding new bioactive agents from ethnic medicines, the chemical study on Dai Medicine Cassia alata was carried out. Methods: The chemical constituents from the twigs of C. alata were isolated by column chromatographic methods of silica gel, MCI-Gel resin, Sephadex LH-20, and HPLC. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. The cytotoxicity of this compound for NB-4, A-549, SHSY5Y, PC-3, and MCF-7 cells line was also evaluated by using the MTT method. Results: Four 2-arylbenzofuran compounds were isolated from this plant and identified as 7- methoxy-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,5-dimethylbenzofuran (1), moracin N (2), 2-(2'-methoxy-4'-hydroxy-aryl)-3-methy-6-hydroxybenzofuran (3), and moracin P (4). Conclusion: Compound 1 is a new compound named as 7-methoxy-2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-3,5-dimethylbenzofuran. Compound 1 also displays the high cytotoxicity to tested cancer cell-line.

Ethnobotanical study on medicinal plants used for treatment of puerperal diseases by Dai people / 中草药

Xishuangbanna Dai prefecture has high temperature and high humidity all throughout the year, and puerperal diseases are very common to local Dai women. This paper focused on the medicinal plants using knowledge by Xishuangbanna Dai ethnic people and conducted a series of medicinal ethnobotanical study. In total, 27 plant species were investigated and recognized; The plants near to Dai village had the highest utilization; The selection of medicinal plant reflects the manifested time and space characteristics; Taking herbal decoction with water was the most-used method; Furthermore, the local Dai people attached more importance to the compatibility of different medicines to get better curative effect. The study indicates that the Dai medicine should take the different time and occasion into account when used for treating puerperal diseases, and the treatment is very complicated and variable. The authors have called on more attention to Dai medicinal ethnobotanical study.

The theory and methods of diagnosing and treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) of Dai ;medicine / 国际中医中药杂志

By reviewing documents and learning from the Dai medicine teachers, the papertried to show the theory and methods of Dai medicine on diagnosing and treating Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Dai medicine took a note that RA was caused by the unbalance of the interal Sita and affected by the external Paya Longgananhuang. Those pathogeny can make the partial joint and muscle's function abnormal, which resulted in the RA. RA can be separated into three types which are Longmengshahoufeixiang. They could be treated by boththe internal and external treatments. The etiology and pathogenesis of RA and its diagnosis and treatment methods of traditional Dai medicine were profound, unique and useful. It`s worth of clinical application and further researches.

Investigation, collation and research of traditional Dai medicine of China / 中国中药杂志

In order to find out the composition, characteristics and traditional utilization characteristics of Dai medicine and promote the rational protection, inheritance and utilization of the resources and traditional knowledge of Dai medicine in China, the resources of traditional Dai medicine have been investigated systematically and the traditional knowledge of Dai medicine have been analyzed in the article. We found out that there were altogether 1 077 kinds of traditional Dai medicine in China and among which 272 were the first time recorded in the condition of Dai folk medical uses. There were 1 053 plant medicines which belong to 169 family and 694 genus. These plant medicines mainly distributed in the southern, west southern and east southern area of Yunnan province, the southern area of Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Sichuan, Fujian province and tropical, subtropical district as Taiwan, and more than 94.49% plant medicines could be found in Yunnan province. From the point of plant life form, they were major herbaceous or shrubby plants; When it is used as medicinal part, root and rhizome of plants account for the highest proportion, the next were whole plant and leaves. From nature, flavor and channel tropism points of view, the largest proportion of Dai medicines were cool, bitter-tasted and possesses water element. In terms of treatment of disease types, most of the drugs can treat gastrointestinal diseases, next were drugs that could be used to treat upper respiratory infection, traumatological and rheumatic diseases, urinary infection, gynecological diseases, hepatopathy, puerperium fever and diseases caused by poisonous insects and beast of prey bite. The study revealed that the resources of traditional Dai medicine and traditional knowledge of application were abundant in China, but the resources of traditional Dai medicine and traditional knowledge of application were faced with the risk of gradually reduce and loss. The article suggested that we should take measures to strengthen the study of protection and utilization of important traditional Dai medicine and endangered resources along with the protection and transmission of traditional knowledge of Dai nationalistic medicine.

A new furan-2-carboxylic acid from stem bark of Cassia alata / 中国中药杂志

A new furan-2-carboxylic acid, 5-[3-(hydroxymethyl)-4,5-dimethoxyphenyl]-3-methylfuran-2-carboxylic acid(1),has been isolated from the bark of Cassia alata by using various chromatographic techniques. It displayed cytotoxicity against NB4, A549, SHSY5Y, PC3 and MCF7 cell lines with IC₅₀ values of 2.5, 1.2, 2.2, 3.6 and 1.9 μmol•L⁻¹, respectively.

A new triterpenoid bearing octacosanoate from the stems and roots of Clerodendrum philippinum var. simplex (Verbenaceae).

A new triterpenoid bearing octacosanoate, named taraxer-3ß-yl octacosanoate (1), together with 13 known compounds (2-14), was isolated from the ethanol extract of the stems and roots of Clerodendrum philippinum var. simplex. The structure of taraxer-3ß-yl octacosanoate (1) was elucidated by extensive spectroscopic analysis. Uncinatone (8) and clerodenone A (10) exhibited inhibition of lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC50 values of 12.50 and 3.18 µM, respectively.

A new 8-O-4′-neolignan from stem barks of Lindera caudata and its cytotoxicity / 中草药

Objective: To study the chemical constituents in the stem barks of Lindera caudata. Methods: The chemical constituents from the stem barks of L. caudata were isolated by column chromatographic methods of silica gel, MCI-Gel resin, Sephadex LH-20, and high performance liquid chromatography. The structures were elucidated by spectroscopic methods, including extensive 1D and 2D NMR techniques. The cytotoxicity of this compound for NB4, A549, SHSY5Y, PC3, and MCF7 cells line was also observed by using the MTT method. Results: A 8-O-4′-neolignan, caudatalignan A (1) was isolated from this plants. Conclusion: Compound 1 is a new compound and displays the cytotoxicity against NB4 and SHSY5Y cells with IC50 values of 4.2 and 5.0 μmol/L, respectively.