Transcript Medicine and Arrow Poisons, Powerpoint for April 22.

Ethnopharmacology
Nina Etkin, Ph.D. collecting medicinal plants
Participant Observer
• living with the people
under study, observing
their daily life and
customs, and learning
about their lifestyle,
foods, disease
systems, and myths
and legends
Jaguar Shaman and Mark Plotkin
Immersion Ethnobotany
• The extreme of involvement is immersion
ethnobotany in which the researcher becomes a
patient of traditional healers – e.g. seeking cure
from Ayurvedic medicine
Complexities of Indigenous Healing
Indigenous healing systems can be very complex
because they often incorporate at least three basic
components:
1. a cosmological view of the universe that can help
explain the cause, diagnosis, and treatment of
disease
2. a cultural context within which health care is
given
3. a repertoire of pharmaceutical substances
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Arrow Poisons
Documented use of arrow poisons
around the world
Monkshood – Aconitum ferox –
source of Acontine
Monkshood –
Aconitum ferox in the wild
Quiz on Monkshood
• Snape was still ignoring Hermione's quivering hand.
"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and
wolfsbane?“
….
"Sit down," he snapped at Hermione. "For your
information, Potter, asphodel and wormwood make a
sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of
Living Death. A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach
of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for
monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which
also goes by the name of aconite. Well? Why aren't you all
copying that down?"
There was a sudden rummaging for quills and parchment.
Over the noise, Snape said, "And a point will be taken
from Gryffindor house for your cheek, Potter.“
• Pg. 103 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Medicinal uses of monkshood
• In Europe the plant has been used as a liniment or tincture
in the treatment of neuralgia, sciatica, and rheumatism, and
taken internally to alleviate fevers. However the drug is so
variable that its use can’t be recommended.
• In India and China the plant is still used in treatment. In
the raw state, tubers are applied to the skin as a surface
anaesthetic and to treat lumbar and leg pains, neuralgia and
rheumatoid arthritis. After much processing it is used for
cardiotonic and diuretic properties.
• Acontine is an alkaloid derived from monkshood - used in
heart medicines, common cough medicines, and used in fly
control in Europe since 1240
First Ethnobotanical Chemical
Isolation - Strychine
• 1805 – Leschenault describes the preparation of
the Javanese dart poison Upas Tieute.
• 1809 – Magendie and Delile publish accounts of
experiments on mechanism of action of the
poison.
• 1819 – Pelletier and Caventou isolate strychine
from other sources. Magendie uses strychine in
clinical medicine.
• 1824 – Pelletier and Caventou isolate strychine
from upas tieute
• 1963 – total synthesis of strychine by Woodward
et al.
Strychnos nux-vomica - source of
Strychine
Strychnos nux-vomica
leaves and seeds
Early Report on African Arrow Poisons
• “The arrow making no noise, the herd is
followed until the poison takes effect and
the animal falls out. It is then patiently
watched til it drops – a portion of meat
round the wound is cut away, and the rest
eaten. … It is possible that the Kombe may
turn out a valuable remedy.”
- David Livingstone, 1861
Sir John Kirk (1832-1922) –
companion of David Livingstone
Strophanthus hispidus - West African species
of Kombe tree – source of strophanthin
Strophanthus flowers and seeds
Curares
Calabash curare from Strychnos
guianensis – carried in gourd
Crescentia cujete – source
of calabash gourd
Tube Curares – made from members of
Chondrodendron and other moonseeds Menispermaceae
Chondrodendron tomentosum leaves and vine
Bark being scraped to start
preparation of curare
Liquid dripped through shavings to
extract Curare
Curare added to arrow/dart tips
Waorani man
Sandbox tree –Hura crepitans –
source of huratoxin
Devil wood tree – Hura crepitans
Toxicities of several arrow poisons
Anti-tumor medicines from
Arrow Poisons?
• There is a possibility that plants producing arrow
poisons may also have value in producing antitumor medicines. Spjut and Perdue (1976)
surveyed 76 species from 63 genera in 29 families
and found that 46 of the species had been screened
for anti-tumor activity. Of these 52% of the
species and 75% of the genera had been found to
have anti-tumor activity. This high anti-tumor
activity probably comes from the fact that arrow
poison plants almost all produce cardenolide
glycosides that are cytotoxic (kill cells).
Kofan Arrow Poisons