Wangbama Central School, Thimphu District, Bhutan.
Health and Wellbeing North Ward, 34 Gregory Street, Townsville, QLD 4810, Australia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2017 Jul 31;207:192-202. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2017.06.009. Epub 2017 Jun 9.
The Bhutanese Sowa Rigpa medicine (BSM) uses animal parts in the preparation of numerous polyingredient traditional remedies. Our study reports the taxonomical identification of medicinal animals and the description of traditional uses in English medical terminologies.
To taxonomically identify the medicinal animals and their derived natural products used as a zootherapeutic agents in BSM.
First, the traditional textbooks were reviewed to generate a list of animal products described as ingredients. Second, animal parts that are currently used in Bhutan were identified. Third, the ethnopharmacological uses of each animal ingredients were translated into English medical terminologies by consulting Traditional Physicians, clinical assistants, pharmacognosists, and pharmacists in Bhutan. Fourth, the animal parts were taxonomically identified and their Latin names were confirmed by crosschecking them with online animal databases and relevant scientific literature.
The study found 73 natural products belonging to 29 categories derived from 45 medicinal animals (36 vertebrates and 9 invertebrates), comprising of 9 taxonomic categories and 30 zoological families. Out of 116 formulations currently produced, 87 of them contain one or more extracts and products obtained from 13 medicinal animals to treat more than 124 traditionally classified illnesses. Only five animal ingredients were found available in Bhutan and rest of the animal parts are being imported from India.
Out of 73 natural products described in the traditional textbooks, only 13 of them (some omitted and few substituted by plants) are currently included in 87 formulations of BSM.
不丹的藏医（BSM）在制备众多多成分传统药物时使用动物器官。我们的研究报告了药用动物的分类鉴定以及用英文医学术语描述的传统用途。
对 BSM 中用作动物治疗剂的药用动物及其衍生天然产物进行分类鉴定。
首先，审查传统教科书以生成描述为成分的动物产品清单。其次，确定目前在不丹使用的动物器官。第三，通过咨询不丹的传统医生、临床助理、生药学家和药剂师，将每种动物成分的民族药理学用途翻译成英文医学术语。第四，通过与在线动物数据库和相关科学文献交叉核对，对动物器官进行分类鉴定，并确认其拉丁名。
该研究发现 73 种天然产物，属于 29 个类别，源自 45 种药用动物（36 种脊椎动物和 9 种无脊椎动物），包括 9 个分类类别和 30 个动物科。在目前生产的 116 种配方中，有 87 种含有一种或多种提取物和从 13 种药用动物中获得的产品，用于治疗 124 种以上传统分类的疾病。仅发现 5 种动物成分在不丹有供应，其余动物成分均从印度进口。
在传统教科书中描述的 73 种天然产物中，只有 13 种（有些被省略，有些被植物取代）目前包含在 BSM 的 87 种配方中。
