Animal origins of herbal medicine

Résumé 0

Parasites and pathogens cause a variety of diseases that affect the behavior and reproductive fitness of all animals. Because the need to counteract such pressure is great, anti-parasitic behaviors are predicted to occur throughout the animal kingdom. Early in the co-evolution of plant - animal relationships, some arthropod species began to utilize the chemical defenses of plants to protect themselves from their own predators and parasites. The origins of herbal medicine have their roots deep within the animal kingdom. From prehistoric times humans have looked to wild and domestic animals for sources of herbal remedies. Both folklore and more recent examples provide accounts of how the use of some medicinal plants are obtained by observing the behavior of animals. Animals too learn about the details of self-medication by watching each other. To date, perhaps the most striking scientific studies of self-medication have been made on the African great apes. The great ape diet is often rich in plants containing secondary compounds of non-nutritional, sometimes toxic, value that suggest medicinal benefit from their ingestion. Chimpanzees and humans co-existing in sub-Saharan Africa are known to use Vernonia amygdalina for the control of parasite infections. Phytochemical studies have demonstrated the wide array of biologically active properties in this plant species. In light of the growing resistance of parasites and pathogens to synthetic drugs, the study of animal self-medication offers a new line of investigation to provide ecologically sound methods for the treatment of parasites using plant-based medicines in people and their livestock living in the tropics.