Review of literature and phytochemistry screening of medicinal plants used in traditional treatment of brain diseases in Africa

Abstract

Plants are large reservoir of active ingredients used to treat many pathologies including brain pathology. This research work aims first at reviewing the existing literature pertaining to those plants used in traditional African medicine to treat neurological and / or psychiatric diseases. In addition, it performs a phytochemical screening of twenty-eight of these plants. The literature review identified 511 plant species belonging to 113 families, 788 recipes treating convulsion, epilepsy, headache, migraine, hallucinations, insomnia, madness and mental disorders. 78% of the recipes are unique plants, while 22% are obtained by plant associations. The most used part of the plant in the ongoing study is the leaf. The recipes are usually administered as decoction and orally. Phytochemical screening reveals the presence of chemical families such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, anthocyanins, mucilages, terpenes, steroids and coumarins, possessing various properties including antioxidant, anesthetic, anticonvulsant, myorelaxant, sedative and anxiolytics that may be involved in the treatment of convulsions, epilepsy and mental disorders. The findings of the study provide a database for biological screening in the search for new plant-based neuroprotective molecules.