Mikania Cordata (Burm.F.) B.L. Rob. – A Bangladesh Folk Medicinal Plant for Gastric Disorders

Plants produce a bewildering variety of phytochemicals, otherwise known as secondary metabolites. Secondary metabolites are compounds, which are not necessary for a plant cell to live but are necessary for a plant to survive biotic or abiotic stresses [1]. Secondary metabolites can produce pharmacological responses when introduced into humans, which in turn can be toxic or serve therapeutic purposes. A number of such secondary metabolites have been isolated and have found uses in medicine like aconitine, L-hyoscyamine, camptothecin, tetrahydrocannabinol, and tubocurarine, to name only a few [2]. Although the existence of secondary metabolites were possibly not known or understood by ancient hominids, plants have always played a role in the treatment of diseases from the beginning of humankind. Medicinal plant material has been found in a 60, 000 year old Neanderthal grave in Iraq [3]. Early Asian and Egyptian texts (since the discovery of writing and writing materials) mention medicinal plants and their uses [4]. Use of plants as medicines since time immemorial gradually led to the establishment of distinct forms of traditional medicinal practices like the Ayurveda in India, Unani in Greece, Kampo in Japan, and other systems throughout the world [5]. Besides these ‘ritualized’ forms of traditional medicinal systems, there also exists folk medicine (FM), tribal medicine (TM, same as FM but practiced by tribal people instead of the mainstream population), and home remedies. Allopathic medicine has borrowed heavily from traditional medicinal practices and more than a hundred allopathic drugs are plant-derived [6]. It has been said that approximately 7080% of primary health care throughout the world is based on plant materials [7].