Background: This work aims to the valorization of resources in the provinces of Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region, particularly aromatic and medicinal plants, and to the collection and documentation of the new ethno-medico-botanical information concerning the traditional use of these medicinal plants against chronic disease.Methods: An ethnobotanical survey was conducted in Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region with traditional herbalists, on one hand, and with subjects suffering from chronic diseases on the other hand, during 5 months from February to June 2019. Data were collected thanks to 581 questionnaire cards based on semi-structured interviews. Relative Citation Frequency (RFC), Family Importance Value (FIV), Plant Part Value (PPV), Fidelity Level (FL), and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF) were used in ethnobotanical data analysis.Results: A total of 79 medicinal and aromatic plant species were identified, belonging to 74 genera and 39 botanical families, of which Lamiaceae (FIV=0.038) and Asteraceae (FIV=0.015) were the most frequently represented. The most cited plant species were Nigella sativa (RFC=0.12), and Origanum compactum (RFC= 0.091). Leaves represent the most used plants part with PPV=0.246 and decoction was the major preparation model of remedies (37.7%). Concerning treated diseases, chronic kidney disease has the highest ICF (0.93). Furthermore, 18 cases of side effects related to the use of medicinal species such as Aristolochia longa and Peganum harmala were recorded. Conclusion:In light of this work, the population recognizes the effectiveness of medicinal plants in the treatment of chronic diseases, but their use will have to go through extensive phytochemical, pharmacological and toxicological research in order to clarify their effectiveness and innocuousness.

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Thymus satureioides Coss. (Lamiaceae) is a Moroccan medicinal plant locally known as “Azkouni” or “Zaitra.” It is widely used in traditional medicine to treat various ailments, including hypertension, diabetes, cold, fever, dermatological and circulatory disorders, immune problems, bronchitis, nociception, cooling, pharyngitis, cough, and influenza. The current review aims to critically summarize the literature on ethnopharmacological uses, chemical profile, and pharmacological investigations of T. satureioides in order to provide data support and scientific evidences for further investigations. Electronic databases such as Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, SciFinder, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and Medline were used to gather data on T. satureioides. Chemical characterization of T. satureioides essential oils (EOs) and extracts allowed to identify a total of 139 bioactive compounds, mainly belonging to the terpenoids, phenolic acids, and flavonoids classes. T. satureioides especially its essential oils exhibited numerous biological activities such as antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antidiabetic, anticancer, antiparasitic, and hypolipedemic activities. In light of these findings, further studies to transmute the traditional application of T. satureioides into scientific-based information are strongly required. Additional in vivo pharmacological studies are recommended to validate the results of the in vitro studies. Moreover, comprehensive preclinical and clinical trials on the pharmacological mechanisms of action of this plant and its bioactive compounds on molecular targets should be performed. Finally, more efforts must be focused on toxicological assessments and pharmacokinetic studies, in order to ensure the safety and the efficiency of T. satureioides.

Cancer is one of the major medical challenges, with an unacceptably high death toll worldwide. In Morocco, medicinal plants continue to play a pivotal therapeutic role despite the development of modern sanitation systems. In the current study, an ethnobotanical survey was carried out at the Moroccan national institute of oncology, Rabat, and we aimed at (1) establishing an exhaustive inventory of indigenous knowledge of Moroccan medicinal plants used to manage cancer and (2) confirming the reported ethnopharmacological uses through bibliometric review. An ethnobotanical survey was conducted with 291 cancer patients at the Moroccan National Institute of Oncology, Rabat, during a period of 4 months, from February to May 2019, through semistructured interviews. Ethnobotanical indices, including informant consensus factor (FIC), use report (UR), relative frequency citation (RFC), botanical family use value (FUV), fidelity level (FL), and index of agreement on remedies (IAR), were employed in data analyses. The survey revealed that 39 medicinal plants belonging to 27 botanical families and 38 genera were used to treat cancer. The most used ethnospecies were Aristolochia longa with the highest RFC value (0.096), followed by Nigella sativa, Ephedra alata, Euphorbia resinifera, and Lavandula dentata, éwith RFC values of 0.072, 0.054, 0.044, and 0.044, respectively. In regard to the plant families, Lamiaceae contributed the highest number of plants with five species (FUV = 0.034), followed by Asteraceae (4 species; FUV = 0.020), and Fabaceae (4 species; FUV = 0.020). The leaves are the most popular plant part used by the studied population against cancer; otherwise, decoction was the most commonly used method for remedy preparation and the highest FIC was noticed for uterine cancer treatment (0.86). Considering these findings, further investigations into the recorded plant species should be performed to assess phytochemical constituents and pharmaceutical benefits in order to identify their active compounds for any drug formulations.

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