In a recent study published in PLoS ONE , researchers investigated the behavioral and pharmacological effects of self-medicative plants in the diets of Budongo chimpanzees. Wild chimpanzees eat plants for nutrition and health, some containing bioactive poisons. Health professionals use these plants occasionally to treat illnesses.
Chimpanzees have displayed therapeutic self-medication by eating leaves and chewing bitter pith, decreasing nematode infection. In vivo investigations have demonstrated that pith extracts permanently paralyze mature Schistosome parasites. Chimpanzees and other primates may also engage in medical activities like bark feeding and dead wood chewing.
In the present study, researchers explored the medicinal properties of plants consumed by wild chimpanzees and their potential health benefits. The researchers monitored two habituated chimp communities in Uganda's Budongo Forest to sample 17 botanical plants they consumed that had potential self-medication properties (such as dead wood consumption, pith-stripping, and bark feeding) or occurrences (e.g.
, high parasite loads, injury, or abnormal urinalysis). They selected components from 13 plant species, including four herb varieties and nine trees, to extract three samples using solvents such as ethyl acetate, methanol/water, and n-hexane to examine them for anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. They assessed the plants' growth inhibition properties against multidrug-resistant bacterial isolates,.