Prioritizing effective medicinal plants on ulcerative colitis from the perspective of Persian Medicine

Background and Purpose:

Ulcerative colitis is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and one of the problems of the world's medical system. Huge financial and spiritual costs, disease complications, long-term use of drugs, and inadequacy of conventional therapies in complete control of symptoms, reveal the need to focus on and use complementary therapies. The purpose of this study was to prioritize and introduce the medicinal plants mentioned in Persian Medicine (PM) resources to find new ideas for producing a suitable and effective drug in the treatment of ulcerative colitis.
 

In this narrative library study, the search for effective medicinal plants on ulcerative colitis, with the keywords "Sahj-e-am’a, Ghorouh-e-am’a, Ghorouh-e-me’a, and Ghorheh-am’a" in five authoritative pharmaceutical books of PM, including: “Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb, Al-Abnyia 'an Haqa'iq al-Adwiya, Al-Aghrāḍ al-Ṭibbīyah wa al-Mabāhith al-Alāīyah, Tuhfat ul-Momineen, Makhzan al-Adwiya”; was performed. After scoring and prioritizing based on the frequency of use and the degree of effectiveness from the perspective of physicians, related studies in scientific databases investigating the effect of the highest rated items on inflammatory and ulcerative diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, their mechanism of action and their active components were reviewed.
 

59 plants were found and the highest scores were related to “Oryza sativa L., Rumex acetosa, Plantago major L., Vicia faba, and Tragopogon graminifolius DC.”. The effects of these herbs on inflammatory and ulcerative diseases of the gastrointestinal tract have been confirmed in modern animal and clinical studies.
 

Considering similar symptoms of the two diseases “Sahj-e-am’a and ulcerative colitis”, it may be possible to propose them as equivalent terms. Concerning the anti-inflammatory and wound healing effects of most of the medicinal plants mentioned in this study, it seems that they can be used in designing clinical studies and formulating new drugs to propose therapies that improve symptoms of ulcerative colitis and inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract based on PM approach.