Dey Abhijit, Gorai Partha, Mukherjee Anuradha, Dhan Raghunath, Modak Biplob Kumar
Ethnopharmacology and Natural Product Research Laboratory, Department of Life Sciences, Presidency University (Formerly Presidency College), 86/1, College Street, Kolkata 700073, West Bengal, India.
Department of Zoology, Sidho-Kanho-Birsha University, P.O.: Purulia Sainik School, West Bengal 723104, India.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Feb 23;198:33-44. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2016.12.040. Epub 2016 Dec 23.
World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized the contribution of traditional medicine in the primary health care system. WHO also considers neurological disorders as one of the prime concern to the public health. Inadequate and inaccessible health facilities in the rural and underprivileged areas have forced the various tribal and non-tribal communities to use ethno-phyto and ethno-zoo therapeutics against different ailments. Chota Nagpur Plateau, India is one of the richest in India in terms of plant and animal diversity, and houses a number of indigenous communities often practising their own ethnobiological medicines. These undocumented indigenous treasure must be preserved and could be utilized in discovering lead compounds against human ailments including neuroprotective and psychoactive disorders.
A number of ethnobiological surveys were carried out during 2012-2015 in the three districts of the Bengal part of Manbhum region, Chota Nagpur Plateau via conducting open and semi-structured interviews among the traditional medicine men (65:59 males and 6 females aged between 22 and 85 years). This dataset was statistically analysed by calculating seven quantitative indexes such as use value (UV), informants' consensus factor (ICF), fidelity level (FL), relative importance (RI), cultural importance index (CII), index of agreement on remedies (IAR) and cultural agreement index (CAI).
Sixty five traditional medicine men (TMM) reported 47 traditional formulations involving 58 plant species and 17 animal species used against 13 neurological and psychological disorders and as pro-cognitives. Fabaceae was represented by the highest number of medicinal plant species (9 species) whereas herbs (48%) and roots (28%) represented the most common plant habit and plant part, respectively. Quantitative ethnobiology revealed the frequency and coherence of ethnomedicinal reports. The plant Piper nigrum (1.35) and the animal, Spilostethus hospes (0.50) showed the highest UV. Among the ethnobotanicals, maximum RI value was noted for Hemidesmus indicus (0.91) and IAR was found to be maximum (1.00) for 8 plant species. Among the ethnozoologicals, Spilostethus hospes (0.67) displayed maximum RI value whereas Axis axis (2.32) displayed maximum CAI value.
TMM possessed knowledge on preparations, dose dependence, administration, safety, possible toxicity and side effects of using traditional formulations. TMM practising age old traditional therapeutics serve as alternative medical option for the underprivileged rural ethnic people in these remote areas of the country.
世界卫生组织（WHO）已认识到传统医学在初级卫生保健系统中的贡献。WHO还将神经系统疾病视为公共卫生的主要关注点之一。农村和贫困地区卫生设施不足且难以获得，迫使各个部落和非部落社区使用民族植物药和民族动物药来治疗各种疾病。印度的乔塔纳格普尔高原是印度动植物多样性最丰富的地区之一，有许多土著社区经常使用他们自己的民族生物医学。这些未记录的本土宝藏必须得到保护，并可用于发现针对人类疾病（包括神经保护和精神活性障碍）的先导化合物。
2012年至2015年期间，通过对传统医学从业者（65名男性和59名女性，年龄在22至85岁之间）进行开放式和半结构式访谈，在乔塔纳格普尔高原曼布姆地区孟加拉邦部分的三个区开展了多项民族生物学调查。通过计算七个定量指标，如使用价值（UV）、信息提供者共识因子（ICF）、保真度水平（FL）、相对重要性（RI）、文化重要性指数（CII）、药物一致性指数（IAR）和文化一致性指数（CAI），对该数据集进行了统计分析。
65名传统医学从业者报告了47种传统配方，涉及58种植物物种和17种动物物种，用于治疗13种神经和心理疾病以及作为促认知药物。豆科植物的药用植物物种数量最多（9种），而草本植物（48%）和根（28%）分别是最常见的植物习性和植物部位。定量民族生物学揭示了民族医学报告的频率和一致性。植物胡椒（1.35）和动物细纹长蝽（0.50）的使用价值最高。在民族植物药中，印度牛弥菜的相对重要性值最高（0.91），8种植物的药物一致性指数最高（1.00）。在民族动物药中，细纹长蝽的相对重要性值最高（0.67），花鹿的文化一致性指数最高（2.32）。
传统医学从业者拥有关于传统配方的制备、剂量依赖性、给药方式、安全性、可能的毒性和副作用的知识。在该国这些偏远地区，践行古老传统疗法的传统医学从业者为贫困的农村少数民族提供了替代医疗选择。
