Ethnobotanical study of natural raw materials for respiratory disease in Mongolia

Abstract

Background: Ethnobotany is a science that systematically studies local plants, their health benefits, practical uses, and knowledge passed down among local cultures and folks. Information about how Mongolians use medicinal raw materials of animal, plant, and mineral origin in geographically different regions can be a valuable source of medicine. Therefore, it is crucial to study natural medicinal raw materials that have been widely used and tested in life among Mongolians for many centuries. Aim: The purpose of our research is to summarize the experience of how Mongolians used natural medicinal raw materials for respiratory diseases, and to study the parameters such as importance and usage by ethnobotanical methods. Materials and Methods: This ethnobotanical study was conducted by collecting 535 data from 154 informants in 17 provinces of Mongolia between February and May 2023. The diseases associated with the use of natural medicinal raw materials from the informants were classified into 9 respiratory diseases according to ICD-10 (International classification of Diseases 10th edition). These include inflammatory Acute upper respiratory infections: J00-06, Influenza and pneumonia: J09-18, Asthma, bronchiectasis, and bronchiectasis: categorized J44-47. The result was analyzed by ethnobotanical indices, including Informant Consensus Factor (ICF), Use value (UV), Relative frequency citation (RFC), Fidelity level (FL), Relative popularity level (RPL), Rank order priority (ROP), Family importance value (FIV). The pharmaceutical for respiratory disease data was collected from Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, ResearchGate, Web of Science, Directory of Open Access Journals, BASE, and the composition of traditional medicine recipes prepared and compiled from books such as “Traditional Methods of folk medicine” by Tserensuren M, Batkhuu D, “Juru Dosil”, “Har Dom Sutra Chain”, “Ontsar Gadon Der Zod”, “Four Basics of Medicine. The similarity between the study data, pharmaceuticals and Mongolian traditional recipes were compared by Jaccard index (JI). The questionnaire consists of 26 closed questionnaires and 3 open questionnaires in 6 groups, including information about the participant, raw material consumption, preparation storage, dosage frequency, results, side effects, growing environment, and lifestyle. The reliability of the survey questionnaire was calculated using Crohn Bach’s alpha, 0.815 (81.5%). Results: Among the 126 species from 33 families, plants of the Fabaceae family were the most important (21.25%), and the Elaeagnaceae (FIV = 0.140) was the highest value family. When ranking the plants by the order of usage value, Saussurea involucrata Kar.et.Kir, Artemisia macrocephla Jacquem, Thermopsis lanceolata R.Br, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., Thymus gobicus Tschern., have been used the most widely, respectively. In the future, by intensifying this type of research work, we can conclude from the above research that we have the opportunity to obtain highly effective medicinal products for the treatment of colds, flu, laryngitis, and common respiratory diseases. In addition, our data was similar around 15 percent of medicinal plants in traditional medicine recipes for respiratory diseases and 3 percent of herbal medicines used in modern medicine. Conclusions: 1. Out of 126 species of plants of 33 families, plants of the leguminous (Fabaceae) family were the most (21.25%), and the Jigd family (Elaeagnaceae FIV = 0.140) was the family with the highest importance and value. When ranking the plants in order, Saussurea involucrata Kar.et.Kir, Artemisia macrocephla Jacquem, Thermopsis lanceolata R.Br, Ural licorice (Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch.), Gobi’s thyme (Thymus gobicus) Tschern.), have been used the most widely, respectively. In the future, by intensifying this type of research work, we can conclude from the above research that we have the opportunity to obtain highly effective medicinal products for the treatment of common colds, flu, laryngitis, and respiratory diseases. 2. 15 percent of medicinal plants used in recipes for respiratory diseases in traditional medicine and 3 percent of herbal medicines used in modern medicine are based on traditional medicine use.