Planta Med 2013; 79 - PA15
DOI: 10.1055/s-0033-1351919

Bioprospecting using a statistical approach applied to an ethnopharmacological database on ‘snakebite-plants’ – the genus Piper

KF Toft 1, M Molander 1, N Ronsted 2, AK Jäger 1
  • 1Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, 2 Universitetsparken, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
  • 2Natural History Museum of Denmark Solvgade 83, Opg. S., 1307 Copenhagen, Denmark

The present study was undertaken to investigate whether statistical evaluation of ethnobotanical data enhances the selection of species with pharmacological activities. A database was created for plants used to treat snakebites worldwide, which included 164 plant families, 883 genera and 1521 species (1). Five countries with a high number of entries, representing different cultures, geography and floristic zones were selected: Brazil, Nicaragua, Nepal, China and South Africa. The datasets were analysed by regression and binominal analysis in to see if any „snake-plant family/genera“ was overrepresented in the respective traditional medicinal systems relative to the abundance in the local flora (1). The only genus recognized as a positive outlier was Piper.

11 species of Piper were obtained from the Copenhagen Botanical Garden. Water, ethanol and chloroform extracts were prepared. The extracts were tested for inhibition of hyaluronidase, phospholipases and proteases in microplate-based enzyme assays, using Bitis arietans venom as enzyme source. These enzymes are involved in the tissue necrosis following a snakebite.

The results showed a moderate activity of chloroform extracts of P. arboretum and P. sylvaticum in the hyaluronidase assay. The ethanolic extract of P. cernuum showed moderate inhibition of phospholipase A2. The water extracts of all Piper species showed some inhibition of protease. The chloroform extract of P. sylvaticum showed high inhibition of protease with an IC50 of 29 µg/ml. The ethanolic extracts of P. sylvaticum and P. nigrum also showed moderate inhibition of protease.

All the tested species of the selected genus did show some activity. This indicates that statistical evaluation of ethnobotanical data might be merited before undertaking a pharmacological study.

References:

[1] Molander M, Haris Saslis-Lagoudakis C, Jäger AK, Rønsted N. Cross-cultural comparison of medicinal floras used against snakebites. J Ethnopharm 2012; 139: 863 – 872