TY - JOUR
T1 - Ethnopharmacology of Q'eqchi' Maya antiepileptic and anxiolytic plants
T2 - Effects on the GABAergic system
AU - Awad, Rosalie
AU - Ahmed, Fida
AU - Bourbonnais-Spear, Natalie
AU - Mullally, Martha
AU - Ta, Chieu Anh
AU - Tang, Andrew
AU - Merali, Zul
AU - Maquin, Pedro
AU - Caal, Francisco
AU - Cal, Victor
AU - Poveda, Luis
AU - Vindas, Pablo Sanchez
AU - Trudeau, Vance L.
AU - Arnason, John T.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Special thanks to the participating healers and their families, and to the communities of Indian Creek, Big Falls and Jalacte. We are grateful to the Belize Indigenous Training Institute (BITI) for their technical and logistic support, to Pablo Sanchez and Luis Poveda for their taxonomic expertise and collaboration, as well as to Nil Basu and Rena Wang for their assistance with the in vitro assays.
PY - 2009/9/7
Y1 - 2009/9/7
N2 - Ethnopharmacological relevance: The Q'eqchi' Maya possess a large selection of plants to treat neurological disorders, including epilepsy and susto (fright), a culture-bound illness related to anxiety disorders. Aim of the study: To investigate the activity of antiepileptic and anxiolytic plants in the GABAergic system, and determine if there is a pharmacological basis for plant selection. Materials and methods: Ethanol extracts of 34 plants were tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit GABA-transaminase (GABA-T) or bind to the GABAA-benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor, two principal drug targets in epilepsy and anxiety. Pharmacological activity was correlated with relative frequency of use, based on informant consensus. Results: Ten plants showed greater than 50% GABA-T inhibition at 1 mg/ml, while 23 showed greater than 50% binding to the GABAA-BZD receptor at 250 μg/ml. Piperaceae, Adiantaceae and Acanthaceae families were highly represented and active in both assays. There was a significant positive correlation between GABA-T inhibition and relative frequency of use for epilepsy, and an even stronger correlation between GABAA binding and relative frequency of use for susto (fright). Conclusions: Clearly, Q'eqchi' traditional knowledge of antiepileptic and anxiolytic plants is associated with the use of pharmacologically active plants. Based on the evidence, it is suggested that the mechanism of action for some traditionally used plants may be mediated through the GABAergic system.
AB - Ethnopharmacological relevance: The Q'eqchi' Maya possess a large selection of plants to treat neurological disorders, including epilepsy and susto (fright), a culture-bound illness related to anxiety disorders. Aim of the study: To investigate the activity of antiepileptic and anxiolytic plants in the GABAergic system, and determine if there is a pharmacological basis for plant selection. Materials and methods: Ethanol extracts of 34 plants were tested in vitro for their ability to inhibit GABA-transaminase (GABA-T) or bind to the GABAA-benzodiazepine (BZD) receptor, two principal drug targets in epilepsy and anxiety. Pharmacological activity was correlated with relative frequency of use, based on informant consensus. Results: Ten plants showed greater than 50% GABA-T inhibition at 1 mg/ml, while 23 showed greater than 50% binding to the GABAA-BZD receptor at 250 μg/ml. Piperaceae, Adiantaceae and Acanthaceae families were highly represented and active in both assays. There was a significant positive correlation between GABA-T inhibition and relative frequency of use for epilepsy, and an even stronger correlation between GABAA binding and relative frequency of use for susto (fright). Conclusions: Clearly, Q'eqchi' traditional knowledge of antiepileptic and anxiolytic plants is associated with the use of pharmacologically active plants. Based on the evidence, it is suggested that the mechanism of action for some traditionally used plants may be mediated through the GABAergic system.
KW - Anxiety
KW - Epilepsy
KW - GABA-benzodiazepine receptor
KW - GABA-transaminase
KW - Q'eqchi' Maya
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=68949189401&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jep.2009.06.034
DO - 10.1016/j.jep.2009.06.034
M3 - Article
C2 - 19591913
AN - SCOPUS:68949189401
SN - 0378-8741
VL - 125
SP - 257
EP - 264
JO - Journal of Ethnopharmacology
JF - Journal of Ethnopharmacology
IS - 2
ER -