Author(s):
Gunjan Kalyani, Rahul Singh, Nishtha Vaidya, Rashmi Dwivedi, Kamlesh Dadsena, Neeraj Kumar Verma, Arun Singh Parihar, Atanu Kumar Pati, Mitashree Mitra
Email(s):
mitashree.mitra@gmail.com
Address:
National Center of Natural Resources (NCNR), PRSU, Raipur 492 010, India
School of Life Sciences, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur 492 010, India
School of Studies in Anthropology, Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur - 492 010, India.
Published In:
Volume - 29,
Issue - 1,
Year - 2016
DOI:
Not Available
ABSTRACT:
Psoriasis is a disorder that leads to scaling and inflammation of skin accompanying pain, swelling, redness and heat. The process of skin turnover can happen in just few days resulting in to piling up on the skin surface. Anyone can suffer from this disease, but it is more prevalent in adults. It affects male and female in equal rate.The prevalence of psoriasis reported in India is 0.44 - 2.8 %. However, there is complete paucity of information on its prevalence in Chhattisgarh. The objective of the present research was to survey tribal population to map prevalence of Psoriasis and to document traditional knowledge (TK) on the health care usages against Psoriasis that have been adopted by indigenous community of Chhattisgarh. The map of Chhattisgarh was digitized and laid 10 x 10 km' grids overlying forested areas inhabited by the tribes. We randomly selected four districts, namely Mahasamund, Raigarh, Jashpur and Surguja as our study siles. we conducted the field survey involving 5094 households that included 19299 subjects. We used specially designed inventory for primary detection of psoriasis. Simultaneously we interviewed 45 traditional healers and also the psoriasis patients in order to document the herbs and parts thereof traditionally used for curative purposes and their efficacy. We also inquired about the herbal formulations recommended by the traditional healers and brought those formulations to our laboratory for phytochemical screening. This study has been approved by the Institution Ethics Committee (IEC) for Human Research of P. RavishankarShukla University, Raipur, India. The analysis of data revealed that the percentage prevalence of psoriasis in the designated study areas is 0.12 %. We interviewed 45 local healers and discovered that a large number of herbs, 28 species belonging to 25 families, are used for curing psoriasis in the form of 29 formulations. It was a gigantic task to identify the exact bioactive phytomolecules working against psoriasis. A detailed matrix was constructed and it was revealed that in most of the plant species belonged to family Combretaceae, Asteraceae, Agavaceae, Anacardiaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae etc. Most frequently used plant species used in the herbal formulations were Semecarpus anacardium Linn, Agave Americana, Abrus precatorius L., Terminalia arjuna (DC) Wight & Am. etc., in diverse media, such as water, sesame oil, camphor coconut oil. The sesame oil was the most preferred medium. Currently the work in under progress to mark out the exact phytochemical(s) that could be implicated for curing psoriasis. This work will help in the discovery of potential therapeutic molecule(s) for curing psoriasis.
Cite this article:
Kalyani, Singh, Vaidya, Dwivedi, Dadsena, Verma, Parihar, Pati and Mitra (2016). Quest for Bioactive Phytomolecules against Psoriasis based on Traditional Healing Practices in Chhattisgarh, India. Journal of Ravishankar University (Part-B: Science), 29(1), pp.170-171.