Planta Med 2023; 89(14): 1283
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1773832
Abstracts
Keynote Lectures
Monday 3rd July - Wednesday 5th July 2023

Keynote Lecture 1 “New directions in ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology of Turtle Island (North and Central America)”

John Thor Arnason
1   Biology Department University of Ottawa, Kitchissipi, Ottawa, ON Canada
,
Pierre Haddad
2   Département de Pharmacologie, Université de Montréal, Montréal QC, Canada
,
Alain Cuerrier
3   Institut de Recherche en Biologie Végétale, Jardin Botanique de Montréal, Montréal QC, Canada
,
Cory Harris
1   Biology Department University of Ottawa, Kitchissipi, Ottawa, ON Canada
,
José A. Guerrero-Analco
4   Red de Estudios Moleculares Avanzados, Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, Mexico
,
Jon Ferrier
5   Biology Department, Dalhousie University, Halifax NS, Canada
,
Todd Pesek
6   Department of Health Sciences and Human Performance, Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH, USA
,
Victor Cal
7   Belize Indigenous Training Institute, Punta Gorda, Belize
› Author Affiliations
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Reconciliation with, and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples in North and Central America has led to collaborative ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology research on traditional medicines for safety and efficacy. The Team on Aboriginal Antidiabetic Medicines in collaboration with James Bay Cree Communities of Eeyou Istchee territories studied traditional foods, medicines and lifestyles that can reverse a growing epidemic of diabetes in First Nations communities. More than 51 consensus boreal plants identified by 148 elders were ranked using syndromic importance value. Among these, bioassay guided isolation and metabolomic techniques [1] identified novel phytochemicals with glucose lowering activity, adipogenic activity, and antiglycation activity. In a metanalysis of results [2], plants were ranked by Pharmacological Importance Value. Results were used in community public health projects in four First Nations. In a second Indigenous collaboration [3] with Q’eqchi’ Maya Healers of Xna’ajeb’ aj Ralch’o’och’, Belize, the healers requested scientific assessment of their plants to gain recognition from local government. An ethnobotanical survey identified a tropical medicinal pharmacopoeia of 169 species in several use categories with a high informant consensus factor. Many wild species were cultivated for the first time in an Indigenous garden for primary healthcare. Bioassay guided isolation identified novel anti-anxiety, anti-inflammatory and antiglycation phytochemicals, with several results confirmed in animal models. One plant used dates back to the Classic period [4]. Despite the distance between them, Cree and Maya healers share a common cosmocentric world view and a belief that their medicines are most effective in a traditional context for healing.



Publication History

Article published online:
16 November 2023

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  • References

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