Medicinal Plants: Heart and Circulatory System-Anti-Malarials

Question 1

Quinine/Peruvian Bark

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 1

• 15-20 m in height

- Andean highlands of South America (Bolivia, Peru, and Columbia) and Central America (Panama and Costa Rica)

Question 2

Quinine/Peruvian Bark

HISTORY AS A MEDICINAL PLANT:

Answer 2

• Indigenous people of South America
• “Fever” remedy
• Anti-malarial properties were popularized by the Catholic church
  
  • Mistrust of the Catholic Church limited the use in non-Catholic Europe
• Robert Talbor
  
  • Treated patients with a “secret” recipe, curing King Charles II
  • King Louis XIV of France kept the secret recipe which was revealed when Talbor died
  • Secret ingredient was the bark
• Bark was sent to Europe from Peru and Bolivia
• Quinine-isolated by French chemists
  
  • Severe shortage of the bark, only 75-500 saplings survived and the quinine yields were very low
• Charles Ledger
  
  • Bought seed from Mamani (Bolivian native)
  • Dutch were the only ones that would buy his seed
  • Nurtured seedlings, raising 12,000 saplings, concentration 8-13%
  • Weak root system, grafted onto the stronger root from low-yield trees

Question 3

Quinine/Peruvian Bark

MODERN UTILIZATION:

Answer 3

• Dutch maintained a monopoly on quinine production, eventually broken down by:
• Insecticide DDT that reduced malaria
• Plantations developed by the Americans, British, French, and Belgians were all unsuccessful
• Development of synthetic anti-malarial drugs
• Independence of the Dutch colony of Java
• United States established plantations in South America and Africa
• Quinoline alkaloids
  
  • Quindine-treats atrial fibrillation
• Semi-synthetic-chloroquine-higher activity and lower toxicity
  
  • Lumefantrine and mefloquine-effective semi-synthetics but unpleasant side effects

Question 4

DISEASE-MALARIA:

Answer 4

• Parasitic protozoans
• Originated in Africa
• Introduced to Americas by Europeans
• Transmitted to the human bloodstream by female Anopheles mosquitoes, only 60 species transmit malaria
• Release of merozoites at regular intervals, alternating bouts of fevers, chills, and sweating, liver and spleen become swollen and tender, anemia
• Self-limiting disease
• Severe malaria progresses rapidly, death often occurs within days or hours
• Central nervous system, failure of immune system
• Affected every culture and civilization-Alexander the Great, Oliver Cromwell
• Wetland drainage and the use of powerful insecticides reduced malaria
• Continues to rage across the tropics and subtropics, mostly children affected

Question 5

Artemisinin, Qinghao, or Sweet Wormwood

BOTANICAL INFORMATION:

Answer 5

• Weedy, annual herb
• Aster Family
• Southern Asia and eastern Europe

Question 6

Artemisinin, Qinghao, or Sweet Wormwood

HISTORY AS A MEDICINAL PLANT:

Answer 6

-China-anti-malarial agent

Question 7

Artemisinin, Qinghao, or Sweet Wormwood

MODERN UTILIZATION:

Answer 7

• Sequiterpenoid lactone-Artemisinin
  
  • Activity only lasts a few hours
• Drug combination therapy-artemisinin-class combination therapy (ACT)
  
  • Combines artemisinin with longer-acting synthetic quinoline (lumefantrine or mefloquine)
  • Cure rates exceeding 90%
  • Expensive
• Cultivated in China, Africa, and Southeast Asia
• Develop low-cost synthetic artemisinin using yeast