Lecture 20: Plants and Medicine: Heart and Circulation

Question 1

______ and ______ are the 2nd and 3rd, respectively causes of death in Canada after cancer.

Answer 1

Heart disease, stroke

Question 2

______ is the main cause of hospitalization for people over 65, but increasingly affecting people over 35. Ca. 50,000 Canadians diagnosed every year.

Answer 2

Congestive heart failure

Question 3

_____ occurs when the heart is unable to provide sufficient pump action/force to distribute blood flow to meet the needs of the body.

Answer 3

CHF (Congestive heart failure)

Question 4

What are the 5 most common symptoms of congestive heart failure

Answer 4

Fluid accumulating in the body

Gaining weight.

Feeling bloated and puffy.

Lungs get “wet” with laboured breathing .

Feeling lethargic, exhausted and have trouble carrying out simple tasks.

Question 5

CHF—> Edema =

Answer 5

Dropsy

Question 6

______ plants are very numerous and have ______ that increase the force of heart muscle contraction without increasing O2 consumption

Answer 6

Cardiotonic, Cardiac glycosides

Question 7

True or False: Cardiac glycosides were so toxic that people used them as poisons, homicidal or suicidal aids.

Answer 7

True

Question 8

Monarch butterflies sequester cardiac glycosides from ______ (Asclepias spp.).

Answer 8

milkweeds

Question 9

True or False: The glycosides are harmless to the butterflies and the birds who eat them

Answer 9

False, harmless to the butterflies but toxic to the birds who would want to eat them.

Question 10

What is the purpose plants producing cardiac glycosides?

Answer 10

Plants produce them to defend themselves against animals.

Question 11

Who was the individual first to discover the cure for dropsy or CHF?

Answer 11

William Withering (1741-1799

Question 12

______ is used for cardiac incefenciencies and _____ is used more for supra-ventricular arrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation.

Answer 12

Digitalin, digitoxin

Question 13

______ or high blood pressure, is a chronic medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is elevated. ______ is the opposite.

Answer 13

Hypertension (HTN), Hypotension

Question 14

The ______ plant is used to treat hypertension.

Answer 14

Rauvolfia sp. (snakeroot species)

Question 15

There are 50 alkaloids in Snakeroot but the chemical _____ acts on the sympathetic nervous system depleting norepinephrine (and dopamine). This results in a relaxation of vessels and a diminished output from the heart.

Answer 15

Resperine

Question 16

True or False:

Garlic is efficient in mild cases of hypertension.

Answer 16

True

Question 17

What are other benefits of garlic?

Answer 17

Reduces cholesterol, inhibits platelet aggregation, and increases antioxidant status

Question 18

______ was traditionally used in Chinese herbal medicine (Ma-huang) to treat bronchial asthma, colds, and influenza but more modernly treated for hypotension (decongestant) now.

Answer 18

Ephedra spp

Question 19

The alkaloid Ephedrine is similar in structure with _____ and ______.

Answer 19

amphetamine and methamphetamine (crystal meth)

Question 20

Ephedrine increases the activity of ________.

Answer 20

noradrenaline.

Question 21

Thus Ephedra is both a _____ (similar to adrenaline) and a ______.

Answer 21

Stimulant, thermogenic

It increases heart rate, constricts blood vessels therefore, increasing blood pressure.

Question 22

_______ another alkaloid contained by Ephedra, is used in over-the-counter decongestants.

Answer 22

Pseudoephedrine

Question 23

_____ is used to treat cardiac arrhythmia

Answer 23

Crataegus spp. Hawthorn

Question 24

True or False: Hawthorn is also effective in treating chronic heart failure & hypertension

Answer 24

True

Question 25

What are the 2 active ingredients in Hawthorn?

Answer 25

flavonoids and oligomeric procyanidins.

Question 26

What are the physiological effects of hawthorn?

Answer 26

Dilate blood vessels

Strengthen heart muscle contractions

Stabilize heart beat

Question 27

A heartbeat that is too fast is called ______ and a heartbeat that is too slow is called ______.

Answer 27

tachycardia, bradycardia

Question 28

______ is any of a large and heterogeneous group of conditions in which there is abnormal electrical activity in the heart

Answer 28

Cardiac arrhythmia

Question 29

_____ is The ONLY plant safe to use to treat a wide spectrum of heart problems.

Answer 29

Hawthorn

Question 30

_____ is used to treat peripheral and cerebral circulatory stimulation

Answer 30

Ginkgo

Question 31

_____ was Worshipped like a god in Japan

Answer 31

Ginkgo

Question 32

What are the 4 current uses of ginkgo?

Answer 32

improvement in blood flow (including in small capillaries in the brain)

inhibitors of platelet aggregation (blood clotting)

Antioxidant

Cognitive impairment/mild dementia

Question 33

What are the 2 active compounds in Gingko?

Answer 33

Ginkgolides and bilobalide

remember spp. Ginkgo biloba

Question 34

____ reduces cholesterol, inhibits platelet aggregation, and increases antioxidant status

Answer 34

Garlic (Allium sativum)and to some extent onion (A. cepa)

Question 35

What are the 4 plants named that reduce cholesterol, platelet aggregation and blood clots

Answer 35

Garlic (Allium sativum)and to some extent onion (A. cepa)

Avena sativa -oat

Linum ussitatisimum - flax

Glycine max- soybeans

Question 36

______ possesses different pharmacological activities besides reducing cholesterol levels, like antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, immunomodulatory, and antidiabetic.

Answer 36

Oat

Question 37

______ are steroid compounds found in plants that mimic cholesterol. A diet rich in phytosterols reduces (bad) cholesterol

Answer 37

Phytosterols

Question 38

Question: In addition to reducing bad cholesterol, One of the plants below reduces blood pressure

Answer 38

A: allium sativum (garlic)

Question 39

Question: What is resperprine?

Answer 39

Alkaloid in snakeroot, act on the sympathetic nervous system depleting norepinephrine

Question 40

What are 4 examples of phytosterols? (last slide)

Answer 40

Camelia sinensis (green tea),
Theobroma coaco (chocolate),
Wine,
Cinnamon

Question 41

What are 4 examples of phytosterols? (last slide)

Answer 41

Camelia sinensis (green tea),

Theobroma cacao (chocolate),

Wine,

Cinnamon