Ethnopharmacological application of medicinal plants to cure skin diseases and in folk cosmetics among the tribal communities of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan

Plants with topical uses in the Ripollès district (Pyrenees, Catalonia, Iberian Peninsula): Ethnobotanical survey and pharmacological validation in the literature

“…Based on these data, this author predicted a success for ethnodirected bioprospection focused on such plant uses. This statement has been confirmed by rather abundant ethnopharmacological studies on plant topical use, which have been carried out, especially in African and Asian territories (Messele, 2004;Ajose, 2007;Abbasi et al, 2010;Martínez and Barboza, 2010;Jatav and Mehta, 2013;Kumar et al 2013;Mabona et al 2013;Panthi and Singh, 2013), but these kinds of studies are very scarce in Europe, especially outside Spain (Cavero et al, 2013;Pieroni et al, 2004, for works specifically targeting skin alterations; Camejo-Rodrigues et al, 2003;Akerreta et al 2010;Calvo et al 2011;Cavero et al 2011a, b;González et al, 2010;Menendez-Baceta et al, 2014, for more general works containing some information on dermatological plant uses).…”

“…This is why applications for the skin are amongst the most important objectives of pharmaceutical industries, both with regard to dermatological pathologies as well as to cosmetics. At present, millions of people are affected annually with dermatological ailments (Tripathi and Srivastava, 2010), accounting for around 34% of all the disease cases recorded in the World (Abbasi et al, 2010). Skin problems can range from simple to major, including burns caused by contact with hot objects, fire or excessive exposure to sunlight as well as large infections caused by various pathogens, amongst others; even contact dermatitis caused by plants has a big incidence in rural areas (Modi et al, 2009).…”

Quality Control standardization of Wild Himalayan Pear: Pyrus pashia

“…16 Crushed fresh leaves are used as popular folk cosmetic by tribal communities of North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan for staining palms, feet and nails. 17 Ripened fruits are used for treatment of constipation by tribal communities of Lesser Himalayas-Pakistan. 18 Fruits are popular home remedy and are used as febrifuge, sedative and astringent in Khanbad village of Pakistan.…”

Effect of picloram, additives and plant growth regulators on somatic embryogenesis of Phyla nodiflora (L.) Greene

“…Ravikanth et al, (2000) reported that the anticancer compounds (halleridone and hallerone) from P. nodiflora. It also has the alkaloids and shows the significant analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anti-pyretic activities (Costa et al, 1989, Forestieri et al, 1996, anti-cancer, anti-tumor, anti-malarial, antifungal, cytotoxic activity (Nishino et al, 1988), antioxidant and free radical scavenging effect (Ashokkumar et al, 2008), antioxidant activities (Shukla et al 2009) and cure multiple skin disease (Abbasi et al, 2010). The commercial exploitation of the medicinal plants for the production and conventional propagation is hampered due to their poor seed viability, low rate of germination and poor rooting ability of the vegetative cuttings.…”