Veldhi Pratyusha, Crager Chris, Ghayur Ayesha, Ul-Haq Zaheer, Ghayur Muhammad Nabeel
Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of Pikeville, Pikeville, KY 41501, USA.
Dr. Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research, International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Sind, Pakistan.
Plants (Basel). 2025 Oct 16;14(20):3182. doi: 10.3390/plants14203182.
Medicinal plants are used all over the world to prevent, cure, and manage many different diseases. The aim of this study was to provide knowledge on different medicinal plants that are native to Pike County, Eastern Kentucky, USA. The study involved two stages of activity. First, it involved a survey of some county locals to identify medicinal plants used for different medical purposes. The second part dealt with searching research databases like PubMed and Google Scholar to find out if any of those plants, identified in the survey, have any published scientific studies on them. The results of the survey identified 14 locally used medicinal plants (, , , , , , , , , , , , , and ) belonging to different families, plant types and used for a wide variety of purposes. Most plants belonged to the Ericaceae and Asteraceae families, were mostly herb type, while the most common plant part was berries, leaves and roots. The survey also showed that the local population use these plants for a variety of purposes, such as a food additive, insect repellant, antirheumatic, antiarthritic, coffee alternative, laxative, antitussive, analgesic, or anti-infective. Sometimes these plants and plant substances are used raw, made into tea, or even made into an edible jam product. For the second part of the study, all the plants were supported by multiple published studies. The most common pharmacological activity among the plants was antimicrobial, followed by anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Eastern Kentucky is well known for its scenic Appalachian Mountains, but the area holds potential for innovative herbal medicine as well. More interest and research are needed to further explore the treasure of medicinal plant use knowledge resting in this area. Additionally, more phytopharmacological and phytochemical studies are needed to investigate the scientific potential of traditionally used medicinal herbs from this region.
世界各地都在使用药用植物来预防、治疗和管理多种不同的疾病。本研究的目的是提供有关美国肯塔基州东部派克县本土不同药用植物的知识。该研究包括两个阶段的活动。首先，对一些当地居民进行了调查，以确定用于不同医疗目的的药用植物。第二部分是在PubMed和谷歌学术等研究数据库中进行搜索，以查明在调查中确定的那些植物是否有任何已发表的相关科学研究。调查结果确定了14种当地使用的药用植物（……，此处原文未完整列出植物名称），它们属于不同的科、植物类型，用途广泛。大多数植物属于杜鹃花科和菊科，大多为草本类型，而最常见的植物部位是浆果、叶子和根。调查还表明，当地居民将这些植物用于多种目的，如食品添加剂、驱虫剂、抗风湿、抗关节炎、咖啡替代品、泻药、止咳药、镇痛药或抗感染药。有时这些植物及其提取物会直接使用、制成茶，甚至制成可食用的果酱产品。在研究的第二部分中，所有这些植物都得到了多项已发表研究的支持。这些植物中最常见的药理活性是抗菌，其次是抗癌、抗氧化和抗炎活性。肯塔基州东部以其风景秀丽的阿巴拉契亚山脉而闻名，但该地区在创新草药方面也具有潜力。需要更多的关注和研究来进一步探索该地区蕴藏的药用植物使用知识宝藏。此外，还需要更多的植物药理学和植物化学研究来调查该地区传统使用的药用草药的科学潜力。
