Abstract Detail

Society for Economic Botany/BSA Economic Botany Section

Soejarto , Djaja Djendoel [1], Southavong, Bounhong [2], Sydara, Kongmany [3], Bouamanivong, Somsanith [4], Xaiveu, Mouachanh [5], Elkington, Bethany G. [6], Gyllenhaal, Charlotte [7], Kadushin, Marian R. [1], Riley, Mary C. [1], Zhang, Hongji [7].

A survey of medicinal plants of Lao People's Democratic Republic toward the discovery of bioactive compounds as potential candidates for pharmaceutical development.

Ethnobotanical interviews on medicinal plants of Lao People's Democratic Republic were conducted for the period of 1999 through 2008, as part of an effort of a Vietnam-Laos ICBG project, Studies on Biodiversity of Vietnam and Laos, to discover new bioactive compounds from plants of Laos as potential candidates for development into drugs for therapies against cancer, AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. Interviews were performed throughout the country in the Lao language by the scientific staff of the Institute of Traditional Medicine [ITM] of the Ministry of Health of Laos in Vientiane, in cooperation with scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago [UIC]. A disease-based semi-structured interview method [UIC IRB Research Protocol # 2003-0636] was used. A total of 81 healers [mostly male; age 65-82:27; age 50-64:37; age 40-49:17] in 15 of the 17 provinces of Laos were interviewed. Following the completion of an interview session, the interviewee guided the interviewer(s) to the site of the plants in a garden or in the field (forest). For each interview, a set of voucher herbarium specimens was prepared [taxonomically identified at a later date] and plant samples [plant parts] mentioned to be used for disease treatment were collected. A total of 991 plant samples were collected for biological assay. The identity of 750 of these has been determined with confidence, as belonging to 578 species of angiosperms, in 107 families. Samples were extracted at the laboratories of ITM, using a standardized extraction protocol. Extracts were dispatched to UIC for bioassay at UIC laboratories. In the event of active leads, the active species were recollected for bioassay-guided chemical isolation of the active compounds. Results of ethnobotanical survey will be presented, and results from the laboratory [biology and chemistry] analyses will be discussed. This project has been supported by NIH Grants 1-UO1-TW-001015-01 and 2-UO1-TW-001015-06.

Broader Impacts:

Related Links:
"Studies on biodiversity of Vietnam and Laos" 1998-2005: examining the impact
Bioprospecting Arrangements: Cooperation between the North and the South
Ethnobotany/Ethnopharmacology and mass bioprospecting: Issues on intellectual property and benefit-sharing

1 - University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Pharmacy, Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, m/c 781, 833 S. Wood St., Chicago, IL, 60612, USA
2 - Institute of Traditional Medicine, Xoy 1 Ban Thongkang, Vientiane, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic R
3 - Institute of Traditional Medicines, Xoy 1 Ban Thongkang, Vientiane, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic R
4 - Office of the Prime Minister, National Herbarium, Vientiane, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic R
5 - Institute of Traditional Medicines, Pharmacognosy, Xoy 1 Ban Thongkang, Vientiane, Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic R
6 - University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, 833 South Wood Street (M/C 781), Chicago, IL, 60615, USA
7 - University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, 539 Pharmacy, mc 781, 833 South Wood Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

Keywords:
Ethnobotanical survey
medicinal plants
Cancer
AIDS
TB
malaria
ICBG.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Sections
Session: P
Location: Khorassan Ballroom/Chase Park Plaza
Date: Monday, July 11th, 2011
Time: 5:45 PM
Number: PEN022
Abstract ID:698