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Knowledge of African Traditional Medicine System: Immunomodulation

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Plants and Phytomolecules for Immunomodulation

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Abstract

African traditional medicine is one of the oldest forms of health-care system in the continent that has continued to be relevant. It is usually holistic, treating mind and body, and includes aromatherapy, bone setting, circumcision, herbs, homeopathy massaging, spiritual therapies, maternity care, psychiatric care, music therapy, and many more. It is a very old and culturally informed method of health management that humans have used against diseases that have threatened existence.

More than 60,000 of the world’s higher plant species can be found in sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands. These are about one-fourth of the global total and less than the 8% of the medicinal plants sold internationally from Africa. This scarcity could be due to lack of data on the traditional uses of many African plants as the knowledge is transferred orally by storytellers and traditional healers though in recent times, there are some information in print.

Immunomodulation is seen as an essential feature of immunotherapy whereby immune responses are provoked, heightened, decreased, or avoided. Immune responses have been observed to be either cellular co-receptor expression, class switching, cytokine secretion, histamine release, immunoglobulin secretion, lymphocyte expression, or phagocytosis. Immune system dysfunction is responsible for various diseases like allergies, asthmas, arthritis, cancers, and infectious diseases. So modulation of immune responses is required in controlling diseases. This is requisite nowadays because of the upsurge of infectious diseases like superbugs caused by Multi-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and the coronavirus (COVID-19) plus other emerging diseases. The historical view of African Traditional Medicine (ATMs) will be discussed from the point of view of specific plants used for immunomodulation in the ATMs and their efficacies following the trend of use and development of herbal medicines from crude formulations to refined dosage forms and procedures over time. Most of the ATMs are prepared as tonics and bitters to heighten and keep up immune defenses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy, College of Medicine Campus, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

    Joy Ifunanya Odimegwu

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  1. Department of Biochemistry, Central University of Haryana, Mahendergarh, Haryana, India

    Neelam S. Sangwan

  2. Pharmacognosy Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed A. Farag

  3. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

    Luzia Valentina Modolo

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Odimegwu, J.I. (2022). Knowledge of African Traditional Medicine System: Immunomodulation. In: Sangwan, N.S., Farag, M.A., Modolo, L.V. (eds) Plants and Phytomolecules for Immunomodulation. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8117-2_6

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