Ethno-Phytopharmacology: Product Validation Process Based on Traditional Knowledge of Medicinal Plants

Abstract

Ethno-phytopharmacology studies the traditional use of plants for the prevention and cure of several diseases. It provides multidisciplinary research on components of medicinal plants, their identification and description, properties, modes of action and interactions with the human organism. Search for new bioactive drugs is another aim of these experimental investigations. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) supports and encourages the introduction of traditional medicine resources into health systems around the world, the use of medicinal plants has shown a marked increase. For this reason, interest in applying scientific methods to validate or refute the traditional use of these plants with the rigors of evidence-based medicine to assess safety, efficacy, and quality has become increasingly important. These three concepts govern the twenty-first century therapy inherent to any conventional drug and allow medicinal plants to aid in the development and advancement of modern medicine, serving as a starting point for the design of new, better, and healthier drugs. In this chapter, parameters to validate medicinal plant attributes such as selection and harvest, extraction and processing methods, analytical techniques to isolate and identify bioactive metabolites, biological activity screening, and other aspects are discussed.