A pharmacological and phytochemical evaluation of medicinal plants used by the Harbang clan of the Tripura tribal community of Mirsharai area, Chittagong district, Bangladesh.
BACKGROUND
Recent years have witnessed a continual decline of medicinal plant availability as well as a decline in the numbers of tribal traditional healers and their medicinal knowledge in Bangladesh. Yet these medicinal plants used for treatment of various ailments by tribal traditional healers can be of considerable interest to modern science in their potential for discovery of lead compounds, which can lead to better drugs.


OBJECTIVE
The primary objective of the present study was to conduct an ethnomedicinal survey among the traditional healers of the Harbang clan (Tripura tribe) of Mirsharai to gain information on medicinal plants used to treat various ailments with the further objective of evaluating the efficacy of these medicinal plants when compared with known phytochemicals and modern-research-based pharmacologic activity studies on these plants.


METHODS
Semistructured interviews and guided field-walk methods were used to gather information on medicinal plants used by the Tripura traditional healers. Along with plants, information was also collected on plant parts used, formulations, and dosages. Information on phytochemicals as well as pharmacologic activity studies on these plants (if any) was obtained from several data bases.


METHODS
The survey was conducted among the traditional healers of the Harbang clan (Tripura tribe) residing in Mirsharai, Chittagong district, Bangladesh.


RESULTS
The traditional healers of the Tripura tribal community of Mirsharai use 64 plant species distributed into 38 families for treatment of various ailments.


CONCLUSIONS
Information on phytochemicals and pharmacologic activity studies conducted on a number of the plants (used by Tripura tribal healers) by modern scientific methods validated the traditional use of a number of plants and suggested that they can form a good source of newer drugs. The survey further highlighted the importance of gathering such ethnomedicinal information for effective conservation of tribal medicinal knowledge and medicinally important plant species.
Rahmatullah
Mohammed
M
Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, University of Development Alternative, Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh. rahamatm@hotmail.com
Rahman
Md Asifur
MA
Hossan
Md Shahadat
MS
Taufiq-Ur-Rahman
M
M
Jahan
Rownak
R
Mollik
Md Ariful Haque
MA
D000328:Adult; D001459:Bangladesh; D003625:Data Collection; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008519:Medicine, Traditional; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D010946:Plants, Medicinal
D010936:Plant Extracts