Herbal antidotes for food poisoning, snake venom
NIGERIAN researchers have identified two local plants that can counteract the effects of food poisoning and snake venom. CHUKWUMA MUANYA reports.
TODAY is Christmas! The festive season is here again! It is associated with overindulgence and the possible food poisoning, and home accidents such as snake or scorpion bites.
However, Nigerian researchers have identified two local plants that could counteract the effects of food poisoning and snake venom- Bidens pilosa and Garcinia kola.
Commonly called black jack, black fellow, or Spanish needles in English, and sornet in French, Bidens pilosa belongs to the plant family Compositae. In Nigeria, the Yoruba (Ago-Are) calls it eyinata, (Ife) ab re olko (farmer's needles'), or eleshin-m-so (has a spear but does not throw it).
Traditionally, Bidens pilosa is used as a medicinal plant in many regions of Africa, Asia and tropical America. Roots, leaves and seed have been reported to possess antibacterial, antidysenteric, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antimalarial, diuretic, hepato-protective and hypotensive activities.
Commonly called bitter kola, false kola, male kola, Garcinia kola belongs to the plant family Guttiferae. In Nigeria, it is oje in Bokyi; edun in Edo, fr in Efik; efrie in Ejagham-Ekin; cida goro in Hausa; efiat in Ibibio; ml in Icheve; glg in Udoma; aku-ilu (bitter palm kernel) or gol in Igbo; akaan in Ijo-Izon; okain in Itsekiri; and orgb in Yoruba.
Garcinia kola seed, has long been used as a traditional medicine in sub-Saharan Africa for a variety of indications, including hepatitis and other viral infections (such as those caused by influenza and Ebola viruses), as an antidote to ingested poison and for oral hygiene.
The documented and suggested clinical uses of the seed include: bronchitis, asthma, liver diseases, gall bladder problems, intestinal problems, systemic inflammation, drug or environmental detoxification, blood sugar regulation, male virility, lipid disorders, weight loss and infectious.
Nigeria researchers have confirmed the potential application of Garcinia kola seed as a natural antidote for the management of ciprofloxacin poisoning.
The study was published in the journal Acta Pharm. The researchers include: Charles O. Esimone, Michael U. Adikwu, Emmanuel C. Ibezim, Sabinus I. Ofoefule, Sunday V. Nwafor, and Ogechukwu Maduka Onuoha of Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State.
Ciprofloxacin is a synthetic antibiotic, available for oral, parenteral (taken into the body or administered in a manner other than through the digestive tract, as by intravenous or intramuscular injection) and topical use. It has a variety of indications, including lower respiratory tract infections (such as pneumonia and acute bronchitis), urinary tract infections, several Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), skin and soft tissue infections, septicemia (presence of bacteria or their toxins in the blood), legionellosis (an infectious disease caused by bacteria belonging to the genus Legionella), and anthrax (an acute disease in humans and animals caused by the bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which is highly lethal in some forms).
The search for an ideal antidote for the management of ciprofloxacin poisoning has been of current research interest. Activated charcoal, talc, magnesium trisilicate, kaolin and starch have all been evaluated as adsorbents and hence antidotes for the management of ciprofloxacin poisoning with various degrees of success.
The researchers compared the adsorptive potential of Garcinia kola seed (GKS) for ciprofloxacin hydrochloride (CIP) with that of a standard adsorbent and a general poison antidote, activated charcoal (AC), using an in vitro design. In unbuffered medium (distilled water), the adsorption isotherms were shown to follow the classical Langmuir type 1 isotherm. GKS showed a higher adsorptive capacity for CIP than AC. Increased ionic strength generally decreased the adsorptive potentials of both adsorbents. Optimum ciprofloxacin adsorption occurred at pH 7 even though a clinically significant quantity (above 60 per cent) was adsorbed by both adsorbents at all the tested pH ranges. While AC may be adsorbing CIP exclusively through surface accumulation and ion exchange, a combination of complexation and ion exchange may be responsible for the GKS-CIP interaction.
The researchers wrote: "We bring to limelight the potential usefulness of the GKS as an alternative antidote in the management of poisoning caused by ciprofloxacin. Hence, attention is drawn to the fact that concurrent intake of GKS and ciprofloxacin should be contraindicated because of the possibility of greatly impairing the drug's bioavailability. In this study, we present our findings on the potential application of GKS as a natural and alternative antidote for the management of ciprofloxacin poisoning.
"Our study demonstrated the antidotal potential of Garcinia kola seed (GKS) for ciprofloxacin hydrochloride. GKS might be a good alternative for activated charcoal in the management of ciprofloxacin poisoning. With regard to its in vitro high adsorption capacity for ciprofloxacin hydrochloride, we caution that concomitant administration of ciprofloxacin hydrochloride and GKS should be avoided. Another important therapeutic inference could be drawn from the observed adsorption/ desorption profile of CIP with changes in pH. The change in pH from 1.2 to about 7.5 mimics the pH variation in the GIT (from the stomach to the large intestine). Based on our results, we can safely predict that CIP adsorption will progressively increase from the stomach (with highly acidic pH) to the first/upper parts of the small intestine (where pH becomes much less acidic)."
Nigeria researchers have also evaluation the anti-hepatotoxic activity of the biflavonoids of Garcinia kola seed. Anti- hepatotoxic substances prevents chemical-driven liver damage.
The study by M. M. Iwu, O. A. Igboko, U. A. Onwuchekwa, and C. O. Okunji of the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State was published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology.
The researchers wrote: "Seeds of Garcinia kola enjoy a folk reputation in Africa as a poison antidote. Their antihepatotoxic properties have been evaluated using four experimental toxins, namely carbon tetrachloride, galactosamine, alpha-amanitin and phalloidin. Kolaviron, a fraction of the defatted ethanol extract, and two biflavones of Garcinia kola seeds (GB1 and GB2) significantly modified the action of all these hepatotoxins. At 100 mg/kg orally, the test substances reduced thiopental-induced sleep in CCl4-poisoned rats. The microsomal enzyme levels in the serum of mice poisoned with phalloidin were significantly protected by treatment with Garcinia extractives. The probable mechanism of the antihepatotoxic action is briefly discussed."
Meanwhile, Bidens pilosa has been used in traditional medicine systems for infections of all kinds: from such upper respiratory tract infections as colds and flu to urinary tract infections and venereal diseases-and even infected wounds on the skin.
However, research has begun to confirm these uses in several in vitro microbial studies. In 1991, scientists in Egypt first documented Bidens pilosa antimicrobial activity against various pathogens. Other in vitro studies have demonstrated its antibacterial activity against a wide range of bacteria including Klebsiella pneumonia, Bacillus, Neisseria gonorrhea, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Salmonella.
Extracts of the leaf also have been documented to have antimycobacterial activity towards Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. smegmatis. A water extract of the leaf has shown significant anti-yeast activity towards Candida albicans. Much of Bidens pilosa antimicrobial actions have been attributed to a group of chemicals called polyacetylenes, which includes a chemical called phenylheptatriyne. Phenylheptatriyne has shown strong in vitro activity against numerous human and animal viruses, bacteria, fungi, and molds in very small amounts.
In the tropics, Bidens pilosa is also used for snakebite and malaria; research has confirmed these uses as well. Several studies have confirmed the plant's antimalarial activity; it reduced malaria in animals by 43-66 per cent, and in vitro by 90 per cent. With regard to its status as a traditional snakebite remedy, one research group confirmed that a Bidens pilosa extract could protect mice from lethal injections of neurotoxic snake venom.
Other research has focused on Bidens pilosa's anticancerous characteristics. Early research, in various in vitro assay systems designed to predict antitumor activity, indicated positive results in the early 1990s. Bidens pilosa first was reported to have antileukemic actions in 1995. Then researchers from Taiwan reported (in 2001) that a simple hot-water extract of Bidens pilosa could inhibit the growth of five strains of human and mouse leukemia at less than 200 mcg per ml in vitro.
The composition of raw Bidens pilosa leaves per 100 g edible portion is: water 85 g, energy 180 kJ (43 kcal), protein 3.8 g, fat 0.5 g, carbohydrate 8.4 g, fibre 3.9 g, carotene 1800 ug (Leung, W.-T.W., Busson, F. & Jardin, C., 1968). Consumption as a raw vegetable is not recommended because of a high saponin content.
Extracts of Bidens pilosa show antimalarial activity both in vitro and in vivo. The crude ethanol extract (50 _g/ml) causes up to 90 per cent inhibition of Plasmodium falciparum growth in vitro, compared with 86-94 per cent inhibition for the chloroform fraction and 68-79 per cent for the butanol fraction (both at 50 ug/ml). In vivo the crude ethanol extract and the chloroform fraction cause about 40 per cent reduction of Plasmodium berghei parasitaemia in mice. Phenylacetylenes and flavonoids have been found in the ethanol extract from the leaves and the roots. The results indicate that the antimalarial activity of Bidens pilosa may be attributed to the presence of acetylene compounds. The direct therapeutic usefulness of these compounds seems limited, since they are easily oxidized by air and light.
Polyacetylenes also have antimicrobial activity. A number of polyacetylenes extracts of Bidens pilosa are toxic to yeasts and some bacteria. This compound is an active anti-parasitic. Consumption of the leaves, as in South Africa, has been found to promote the development of oesophageal cancer, and dried leaves of Bidens pilosa have a co-carcinogenic action for oesophageal tumours induced in rats. In addition to the acetylenes, other compounds such as phytosterols (-sitosterol), triterpenes and caffeic acid(s) are also reported from Bidens pilosa. The main flavonoids from leaf extracts are aurones and chalcones. Several flavonoids have anti-inflammatory properties, their detection in extracts from Bidens pilosa, together with the presence of the described acetylenes, may explain the use of Bidens pilosa in traditional medicine, especially for treating wounds, against inflammations and against bacterial infections of the gastrointestinal tract.
The ethanolic extract of Bidens pilosa showed a high inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis in an in vitro assay for cyclo-oxygenase inhibitors. The methanol extract showed radiation-protection activity for bone marrow. In addition, other pharmacological activity such as, antihyperglycaemic (prevents high blood sugar), immunomodulator (regulates the immune system), anti-ulcer and hypotensive (lowers blood pressure) activity were reported.
In Uganda, five different medicinal uses are known: the sap from crushed leaves is used to speed up clotting of blood in fresh wounds; a leaf decoction is used for treating headache; sap from the plant is put in the ear to treat ear infection; a decoction of leaf powder is used to treat kidney problems; and a herbal tea made from the plant decreases flatulence.
Extracts of Bidens pilosa are used in southern Africa to cure malaria. The Manyika people in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe retain the first water used for cooking Bidens pilosa foliage for later use as a medicinal drink to cure stomach and mouth ulcers, diarrhoea, headaches and hangover.
The Zulu in South Africa use a suspension of powdered leaves as an enema for abdominal trouble, whereas in Congo a concoction made from the whole plant is taken as a poison antidote, or to ease child delivery and to relieve the pain from hernia. In South Africa, strong decoctions of the leaf taken in large doses have been reported to be helpful in treating arthritis.
In Cte d'Ivoire, the plant is used for treating jaundice and dysentery. The plant sap is applied to burns in Tanzania. In Nigeria, the powder or ash from the seed is used as a local anaesthetic and rubbed into cuts. The Giriama tribe from the coastal areas of Kenya use a leaf extract to treat swollen spleens in children. This tribe also uses a mixture of the dried and ground leaves of Bidens pilosa, soap and hot pepper as an insecticide for the control of leaf miners and other insects. The traditional application of Bidens pilosa in local medicine, especially for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties, will remain of importance, the more so as the plants are readily available. The immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and especially antimalarial properties deserve further attention.
According to The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa by H. M. Burkill, traditionally, the flower of Bidens pilosa is used for pulmonary troubles; the leaf for food, medicines for anus, haemorrhoids (also known as piles, are enlarged and swollen blood vessels in or around the lower rectum and back passage- anus), liver, naso-pharyngeal affections. Phytochemistry shows the leaf contains tannins, astringents.
The leaf flower is used for diarrhoea, dysentery; while infusions from the plant is used as abortifacients (substances that induce abortion), ecbolics (agents that induce and/ or maintain uterine contractions), antidotes (venomous stings, bites,), food poisoning, sedatives, vermifuges (medicines that expel intestinal worms). Phytochemistry indicates the leaf flower contains alkaloids, aromatic substances, flavones, glycosides, saponims, steroids.
The plant seeds are used as pain-killers and the sap for cutaneous, subcutaneous parasitic infection; ear treatments; eye treatments.
But despite its use as food and fodder the plant is regarded as a topical irritant, yet withal it has soothing anodynal (used to increase circulation and reduce pain, stiffness and muscle spasm) and analgesic uses. The plant-sap with or without the addition of pepper is used in the ear for earache and alone in the eye for conjunctivitis and as a styptic to arrest bleeding.
In Cote d'Ivoire eye-instillations are a treatment for jaundice. In Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika) the sap is applied to burns. In Cote d'Ivoire and in Nigeria the leaf-sap or infusion is soothing in colitis and diarrhoea. The young leaves are also used in Cote d'Ivoire for dysentery: softened over fire the leaves are admixed with the ash of banana skin, and taken by mouth. For babies the leaf only is given, or is administered by enema reduced to a paste in water. In Gabon sap from the stem is used for filaria in the eye.
In Cote d'Ivoire the plant is considered to be a nematicide and to relieve muscular pain; it is advocated as a poison-antidote, for snakebite and smallpox. Sap or a leaf-infusion is widely used as a cough-medicine in which tannin present may play the beneficial part. In Congo whole plant decoction is taken as a poison-antidote, to ease child-birth and to relieve hernia; a decoction is taken in draught, bath or vapour-bath, with the lees of freshly pulped leaves massaged topically onto the body for headache, fevers, and intercostal pain, and as a sovereign treatment for whooping-cough; the sap is used for headache, earache, ophthalmia and dental caries, and the leaves are rolled up into a rectal suppository for piles.
The Zulu of South Africa give the powdered leaf in water as an enema for abdominal trouble and people of European descent take strong decoctions of the leaf in large doses and at frequent intervals for any inflammation. An infusion of the plant is given as a tea to babies in Liberia (perhaps superstitious), but an infusion is given in Cote d'Ivoire as a sedative to agitated children and in Tanganyika to children to remedy fits. In Mexico it is used as a tea-substitute, tonic and stimulant.
A macerate in palm-wine alone or with Melanthera scandens (Compositae) is a counter-poison commonly used in the Lower Cote d'Ivoire. The flowers are considered a remedy for diarrhoea in Nigeria, and they are used in Cote d'Ivoire, Upper Volta (Burkina Faso) for bronchial and intestinal affections. No antimalarial activity has been found.
The seeds, burnt and powdered, show a local anaesthesia, and are rubbed into cuts in Nigeria, and into scarifications on the body in South Africa to relieve pain. Traces of alkaloids and saponins have been recorded throughout Madagascan material, traces of steroids and terpene in the roots of Congo material and saponin in fair quantity in the leaves, and the presence of an unnamed alkaloid in the seeds. Other work shows the presence of flavones and antibiotic substances.
According to The Useful Plants of West Tropical Africa by H. M. Burkill, the roots of Garcinia kola are also used, sometimes in preference, and in the Ibadan area of Southern Nigeria they are thought to prevent dental caries. Tests have, however, shown no anti-biotic activity. In Sierra Leone the root is chewed to clean the mouth. In Igbo (Nigeria) pharmacology extracts of stems, roots and seeds have shown strong anti-hepatotoxic and hepatotropic activity. Petroleum ether and acetone extracts were found to be markedly anti-microbial.
The bark contains an abundant sticky resinous gum. It has water-proofing property. Certain people in West Cameroun use it to protect powder in the priming pans of flinklock guns from rain. It is incendiary and twigs burn brightly and can be used as tapers. It is used on skin-infections in Liberia, and Congo (Brazzaville).
The powdered bark is applied in Nigeria to malignant tumours, cancers, etc., and the gum is taken internally for gonorrhoea, and externally to seal new wounds. In Congo a bark-decoction is taken for female sterility and to ease childbirth, the intake being daily till conception is certain and then at half quantity throughout the term. The bark is added to that of Sarcocephalus latifolius (Rubiaceae), a tisane of which has a strong reputation as a diuretic, urinary decongestant and for chronic urethral discharge. The bark is also thought to be galactogenic, whilst in Ghana the bark is used with Piper guineense (Piperaceae) and sap from a plantain stalk (Musaceae) to embrocate the breast for mastitis. In Ivory Coast a decoction of the bark is taken to induce the expulsion of a dead feotus, and seed and bark are taken to treat stomach-pains.
Bark and leaves are used in Congo for pulmonary and gastro-intestinal troubles. Root and bark are administered in Sierra Leone as a tonic to men 'to make their organs work well' and in that country too bark is added to palm-wine to improve its potency. Bark is administered in Cote d'Ivoire as an aphrodisiac. In Southern Nigeria a cold-water extract of root-bark with salt administered to cases of ukwala and agbo-or, identified as bronchial asthma or cough, and vomiting, is said to promote improvement. The bark is used in tanning in Ghana, and during the 1939-45 War thousands of tons were exported as a tanning material. Tannins, a reducing sugar and traces of an alkaloid have been detected in the bark; flavonins are also present, the whole being extremely bitter, resinous and astringent.
The leaves have a bitter taste. They are used in Congo as a deterrant to fleas. A leaf-infusion is purgative. The fruits are edible, orange-sized, and contain a yellow pulp surrounding four seeds. The fruits are eaten in Nigeria as a cure for general aches in the head, back, etc., and as a vermifuge. Igbo medicine-men prescribe the fruit for arthritic conditions. Wild animals go for them and the elephant is particularly partial, coming from afar to trees in season.
The seeds are an important article of commerce being traded well beyond the distribution area of the tree. They are the false kola nut, or the bitter kola, as distinct from the true kola, which is from Cola nitida (Sterculiaceae). They have medicinal attributes. Mastication will relieve coughs, hoarseness, and bronchial and throat troubles. They are taken dry as a remedy for dysentery. They are said to provide an antidote against Strophanthus poisoning. They are vermifugal. In Senegal, on Mt. Nimba, Liberia, in Cote d'Ivoire and in Congo they are considered aphrodisiac.
In Liberia the seeds are chopped up and steeped in water or better still in beer, while in Congo they enter into many medico-magical remedies taken with palm-wine 'to cleanse the stomach and to give strength in love'.
In Nigeria the simple act of mastication of the seeds is held to be as effective. The active principle, or principles, in the nut remain enigmatic. Caffeine, which is present in the true kola, is absent. A trace of alkaloid has been reported in Nigerian materials, but absent in other samples. Tannins are present which may contain the anti-bacterials morellin and guttiferin. The seeds have been shown to have four fluorescent substances of an undetermined nature. Activity may also lie in resins, which are as yet unidentified.
