Evaluation of clinical trials of the plants, which have ethnobotanical uses for skin disorders in Turkey: a review

Abstract

Abstract Background Ethnobotanical studies investigating a large number of traditional herbs and uses have an important role in the discovery of new drugs. Nowadays, some of these traditional herbs are researched directly in the clinical trials. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the 19 plant species that have been identified in the clinical trials among 300 plant species belonging to 79 families with traditional use for skin problems in Turkey. Main body Natural sources are very important to treat diseases for thousands of years. The ethnopharmacological research of natural products ranges from the collection of biogenic samples such as plants to preclinical and clinical studies with the aim of developing drug templates or new drugs. In the ethnopharmacological approach, it is aimed to reach the result based on the traditional and modern knowledge about natural resources. The biggest advantage of this approach is synthesizing new and old information. After the plant or natural compound is determined, other processes work similarly with conventional drugs. Methods Ethnobotanical papers, thesis and projects in Istanbul University Faculty of Pharmacy Department of Pharmaceutical Botany and databases (PubMed and Google Scholar) have been sought and results were synthesized. Results Most of the clinical uses of herbs have been seen similar to their traditional uses. On the other hand, there are some plants on which their clinical uses differ from the traditional uses such as Borago officinalis, Calendula officinalis or Euphorbia peplus. When the frequency of traditional uses of herbs are compared, Plantago species, Plantago major and Plantago lanceolata are the most used taxa in Turkey, secondly, Hypericum perforatum comes. However, Plantago species are not of much interest in clinical trials. It is seen that most of the plants in the clinical research are tried for wound healing occuring due to different origins such as cancer, surgery and injury. Side effects were observed only during the application of Allium cepa, Cydonia oblonga and H. perforatum. Conclusions When clinical trials are evaluated in terms of efficacy and overall results, significant differences and effective results are seen in treatment groups given herbs in comparison with placebo or control groups.