Abstract:
Background: Plant-based remedies have been used since antiquity to treat menstrual-related diseases (MD). From the late nineteenth to the early to mid-twentieth century, Italian folk remedies to treat \"women\'s diseases\" were documented in a vast corpus of literature sources. Aim: The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the plant-based treatments utilized by Italian folk medicine to heal clinical manifestations of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea and menstrual disorders in an attempt to discuss these remedies from a modern pharmacological point of view. Moreover, we compare the medical applications described by Hippocrates with those utilized by Italian folk medicine to check if they result from a sort of continuity of use by over two thousand years. Results: Out of the 54 plants employed in Italian folk medicine, 25 (46.3%) were already documented in the pharmacopoeia of the Corpus Hippocraticum for treating MD. Subsequently, a detailed search of scientific data banks such as Medline and Scopus was undertaken to uncover recent results concerning bioactivities of the plant extracts to treat MD. About 26% of the plants used by Italian folk medicine, nowadays, have undergone human trials to assess their actual efficacy. At the same time, about 41% of these herbal remedies come back to in different countries. Conclusions: Active principles extracted from plants used by Italian folk healers could be a promising source of knowledge and represent strength candidates for future drug discovery for the management of MD.
摘要:
背景:自古以来,植物疗法已被用于治疗月经相关疾病(MD)。从19世纪末到20世纪初到20世纪中叶,在大量文献来源中记录了治疗“妇女疾病”的意大利民间疗法。目的:本文的目的是揭示意大利民间医学用于治愈经前期综合征(PMS)临床表现的植物性治疗方法,痛经,闭经和月经失调,试图从现代药理学的角度讨论这些补救措施。此外,我们将希波克拉底所描述的医疗应用与意大利民间医学所使用的医疗应用进行比较,以检查它们是否源于超过两千年的连续性使用。结果:在意大利民间医学中使用的54种植物中,25例(46.3%)已经记录在用于治疗MD的Hippocraticum的药典中。随后,对Medline和Scopus等科学数据库进行了详细搜索,以发现有关治疗MD的植物提取物生物活性的最新结果。意大利民间医学使用的植物中约有26%,如今,已经经历了人体试验以评估其实际疗效。同时,这些草药中约有41%回到不同的国家。结论:从意大利民间治疗师使用的植物中提取的活性成分可能是有希望的知识来源,并代表了未来用于MD管理的药物发现的优势。