Introduction and Background.- Ethnobotany.- Biochemical Validation.- Summary and Conclusions.- Appendix I: Additional Tables.- Appendix II: Glossary.- Appendix II: Select Plant Images.

This book highlights the common ground between biomedicine and traditional healing. Because of the destruction of forests, the degradation of old palm leaf manuscripts, and decreasing interest in traditional medicine by younger generations, it is becoming more and more important to record medicinal plant knowledge before it is lost. This research provides written and photographic documentation of some of the medicinal plant knowledge held by the people of Laos. Translating and validating some of the power of traditional medicine used in Laos into biomedical terms through laboratory analyses may serve to demonstrate its importance in a global language. In this text, the translational research was performed through in vitro laboratory analyses of select plant species with a history to treat symptoms of TB. The processes of plant collection, extraction, biological assays, and isolation/elucidation are also described and detailed in the Biochemical Validation section.

The biomedical discoveries explored in, Ethnobotany of Tuberculosis in Laos, stresses the importance of conserving and sustaining our natural ecosystems for medicinal preservation and utilization.

BETHANY GWEN ELKINGTONDepartment of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USAField Museum of Natural History, Science & Education - Botany, Chicago, USADJAJA DJENDOEL SOEJARTODepartment of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USAField Museum of Natural History, Science & Education - Botany, Chicago, USAAND KONGMANY SYDARAInstitute of Traditional Medicine, Ministry of Health Vientiane Capital, Lao, PDR