Anti-Tubercular Plants from Traditional Medicines of Laos

描述（由申请人提供）：老挝人民民主共和国有数百年历史的棕榈叶手稿（PLM），其中包含从宗教习俗到日常生活到医疗等信息，随着外部医学影响的进入，这些手稿正在被废弃和忽视，并受到昆虫和霉菌的破坏。与此同时，当代治疗师代代相传的传统医学知识（TMK）流失的威胁日益严重，森林砍伐导致植物物种流失。这项拟议的研究培训旨在通过科学验证来保存和保护TMK，并展示传统药用植物的价值，为老挝未开发森林资源的重要组成部分提供支持。研究培训将侧重于结核病的治疗方法。结核病是美国国立卫生研究院的重点疾病，目前正在肆虐亚洲大陆和全球人口。该研究还将着眼于整体疗法（通常包含多种植物）的有效性，而不是这些疗法的单个成分（单一植物和单一植物的部分）。潜在的假设是，由于结核病在PLM创建之前和期间就存在于老挝，并且PLM中记录的植物治疗方法今天仍被传统治疗师用于治疗结核病症状，因此这些治疗方法中使用的植物很有可能对结核病治疗有效。虽然这些治疗方法已经使用了几代人，应该确保它们在人类中的安全性和有效性，但本研究将继续使用生化工具调查这些相关性。现代治疗师和古老手稿所引用的所有传统疗法和植物都被收集、鉴定和提取出来，用于芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的生物和化学研究。在UIC结核病研究所的实验室进行的生物测定将提供这些补救措施有效性的证据，并作为其安全性的证据。参与该项目的有老挝国家图书馆和老挝卫生部的传统医学研究中心（TMRC），前者拥有数千份医学PLM，并聘请了翻译专家；后者也拥有大量医学PLM，并与翻译人员和当代治疗师联系。实现这一研究培训的具体目标将有助于提供老挝治疗结核病症状的传统疗法的安全性和有效性的证据，这反过来又将促进这些疗法的继续使用，并为老挝人民的卫生保健和福祉作出贡献。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Centuries-old palm leaf manuscripts (PLM) in the Lao PDR, which contain information ranging from religious practices to daily life to medical treatments, are falling into disuse and neglect as outside medical influences move in, and are becoming subject to destruction by insects and mold. Coupled to this are the increasing threats of loss of traditional medicine knowledge (TMK), passed orally between generations of contemporary healers, and the loss of plant species due to deforestation. This proposed research-training aims to preserve and protect TMK and to demonstrate the value of traditionally used medicinal plants through scientific validation, providing support for an important component of Laos' undeveloped forest resources. The research training will focus on remedies for tuberculosis (TB), which is an NIH priority disease that is currently ravaging the Asian continent and the entire global population. The research will also look at the effectiveness of whole remedies (usually containing multiple plants) as opposed to the individual components of those remedies (single plants and parts of single plants). The underlying hypothesis states that because TB was present in Laos before and during the period when the PLM were created, and the botanical treatments recorded in the PLM are still used to treat symptoms indicating TB by traditional healers today, there is a high potential that the plants used in those treatments are effective for TB treatment. While the fact that these treatments have been used for multiple generations should assure their safety and effectiveness in humans, this research will go on to investigate these correlations using biochemical tools. Whole traditional remedies and plants cited by both modern healers and the old manuscripts are collected, identified and extracted for biological and chemical studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Bioassays performed at the laboratories of the Institute of Tuberculosis Research at UIC will provide evidence of the effectiveness of the remedies and serve as evidence of their safety. Collaborating in this project are the National Library of Laos, which houses thousands of the PLM and employs translation experts, as well as the Traditional Medicine Research Center (TMRC), a research unit of the Ministry of Health of Laos, which also has an ample collection of the medical PLM, and contacts with translators and contemporary healers. Achievement of the specific aims of this research training will help provide evidence of the safety and effectiveness of traditional remedies to treat TB symptoms in Laos, which, in turn, will promote their continued use and contribute to the health care and well being of the people of Laos. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This research training will investigate the safety and effectiveness of traditional medicines of Laos to treat tuberculosis (TB). Because Western medicine is expensive and difficult to obtain for most people in Laos, there has been a strong reliance on traditional medicine for centuries. Achievement of the specific aims of this research training will provide evidence of the safety and effectiveness of traditional remedies of Laos to treat TB symptoms, contributing to the health care and well being of people relying on traditional medicine.