Prospective directions for searching new medicines of plant origin, effective in infections of different etiology

Research article: Prospective directions for searching new medicines of plant origin, effective in infections of different etiology

Author: N.P. Mehdiyeva

Institute of Botany, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, 40 Badamdar Highway, Baku AZ1004, Azerbaijan

For correspondence: naiba_m@mail.ru

Received 10 October 2020; Received in revised form 26 October 2020; Accepted 09 November 2020

Abstract: 

The global community is concerned about the COVID-19 pandemic. Existing capacities are mobilized and new ways to counter the growing threat are actively sought. The scientific development of tradi- tional medicine is a promising way of solving this problem. Information on the use of medicinal plants by different peoples is fragmented and largely unavailable to the world scientific community. The flora of Azerbaijan including almost 1600 species of medicinal plants with antiviral, anti-inflamma- tory, immunomodulatory, vitamin, general tonic and other properties are distributed in the Flora of Azerbaijan. Modern protocols for the treatment of infection caused by COVID-19, along with other therapeutic agents, will include drugs with the above properties. The article contains information about a computer database of medicinal plants in Azerbaijan, developed by the author in the frame of the doctoral thesis in the 2006 year. These data enable us to distinguish species with a set of bio- logically active substances that determine their required necessary physiological activity from the total number of medicinal plants. Therefore, the intensification of work on the study of traditional medicine and the creation of a worldwide information platform on medicinal plants can become the basis for the search and development of new antiviral drugs, including those effective and against COVID-19.

Keywords: Flora of Azerbaijan, medicinal and food plants, database, biologically active substances, physiological activity, COVID-19

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