Medicinal mucilages used in Iranian traditional medicine

2^nd International Conference and Exhibition on Traditional & Alternative Medicine

August 25-26, 2014 DoubleTree by Hilton Beijing, China

Ghazaleh Heydarirad, Rasool Choopani and Jamileh Mahdavi

Accepted Abstracts: Altern Integ Med

Abstract :

Purpose: Mucilages are pharmaceutically important polysaccharides that have an extensive range of applications, including as binding agents, thickeners, water retention agents, emulsion stabilizers, suspending agents, disintegrates, film formers, and gelling agents. The therapeutic value of mucilages extends to diabetes, immunity stimulation, wound healing, and cancers. A historical approach on medical science written by Iranian scholars could help in the detection of some viewpoints that cannot be paid attention to or signified by a purely medical one and provide valuable information in the field of medicinal plants application. Methods: In this literature search assembled some main traditional manuscripts of Iranian medicine, including the book of Al Havi, Canon of Medicine, Qarabadine-kabir, Zakhireh-i Kharazmshahi, Tohfat ol Moemenin and Makhzan ol advieh . The word loab in the books mentioned above, were searched and all data about mucilages were collected. Results: In Iran, the use of medicinal plants contains mucilage date back to ancient times. In traditional Iranian manuscripts, mucilage is one of the most cited applications of medicinal plants for therapeutic objectives and has been traditionally used via oral or topical routes for respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary, musculoskeletal, and genital systems as well as skin disorders. Conclusions: A scientific assessment of these historical manuscripts can give us an insight into the thoughts of the past and be valuable in finding new information on clinical use of the mucilages that should lead to future opportunities to research their potential medicinal use.