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Copyright © 2018 Mary Gulumian et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Abstract

The use of traditional herbal remedies as alternative medicine plays an important role in Africa since it forms part of primary health care for treatment of various medical conditions, including wounds. Although physiological levels of free radicals are essential to the healing process, they are known to partly contribute to wound chronicity when in excess. Consequently, antioxidant therapy has been shown to facilitate healing of such wounds. Also, a growing body of evidence suggests that, at least, part of the therapeutic value of herbals may be explained by their antioxidant activity. This paper reviews African herbal remedies with antioxidant activity with the aim of indicating potential resources for wound treatment. Firstly, herbals with identified antioxidant compounds and, secondly, herbals with proven antioxidant activity, but where the compound(s) responsible for the activity has not yet been identified, are listed. In the latter case it has been attempted to ascribe the activity to a compound known to be present in the plant family and/or species, where related activity has previously been documented for another genus of the species. Also, the tests employed to assess antioxidant activity and the potential caveats thereof during assessment are briefly commented on.

Details

Title
African Herbal Remedies with Antioxidant Activity: A Potential Resource Base for Wound Treatment
Author
Gulumian, Mary 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Yahaya, Ewura Seidu 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Steenkamp, Vanessa 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 National Institute for Occupational Health, Johannesburg, South Africa; Haematology and Molecular Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa 
 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; Department of Pharmacology, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana 
 Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa 
Editor
Olumayokun A Olajide
Publication year
2018
Publication date
2018
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ISSN
1741427X
e-ISSN
17414288
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2140841365
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 Mary Gulumian et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (the “License”), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/