Indigenous knowledge as a form of science has been around for hundreds of years but the validity of science from indigenous perspectives are just now being realized in STEM fields across the globe including in medicinal practices. The goal of this research was to isolate active compounds of traditional Ojibwe medicinal plants used as febrifuge, or fever reducing, infusions. We have focused on three medicinal plants, Comptonia peregrina, Monarda fistulosa, and Thalictrum dasycarpum for this research. Compounds were extracted from the plants via soxhlet extraction with chloroform. Column chromatography was used to separate each component into fractions. Then each fraction of the column was analyzed by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine what compounds were found in each plant sample. Our goal is to get results that these plants contain anti-pyretic/ anti-inflammatory qualities and to compare the plants to each other in terms of similar or different compounds they contain. This research can help further justify the legitimacy of indigenous science in medicinal practices that has been possessed for hundreds of years before western science began making synthetic pharmaceuticals.

Isolation of active compounds of medicinal plants

2019 Spring National Meeting

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