Ethnobiological treatments of neurological conditions in the Chota Nagpur Plateau, India

Ethnopharmacological relevanceWorld 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.Materials and methodsA 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).ResultsSixty 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.ConclusionTMM 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.

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