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Biomedical subjects

N G Bisset

Publications and source records attributed to N G Bisset.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

War and hunting poisons of the New World. Part 1. Notes on the early history of curare.

The history to about 1850 of the muscle-relaxant poison curare is discussed, especially the developments leading to the botanical identification of the plants that yield the alkaloidal active principles: Loganiaceae (Strychnos species) and Menispermaceae (Abuta, Chondrodendron, and Curarea species). One of the earliest encounters with the poison appears to have been during the exploration of the Lake Maracaibo region in Colombia by Alonso Pérez de Tolosa in 1548. It is pointed out (yet again) that Sir Walter Ralegh did not bring back the poison to Europe in 1595 and that it was Keymis who first came across the word ourari when exploring the lower reaches of the Orinoco in 1596. Gumilla, La Condamine, Ulloa, Veigl, and others gave much additional information about the poison during the 18th century. Scientific studies began in the latter part of the century when Schreber listed the botanical identities of four of the plant components entering into the curare prepared by the Akawai Indians of Surinam. As far as is known, none of these people actually saw curare being made. Thereafter, progress was rapid. Humboldt and Bonpland were the first trained scientists to witness the preparation of the poison, at the very beginning of the 19th century. Subsequent exploration by Martius and Spix, Poeppig, Youd, the Schomburgk brothers, De Castelnau and Deville, Spruce, and others, up to the middle of the century, extended and deepened botanical and ethnological knowledge of curare. Study of its physiology started at about that time with the classical experiments of Rudolf von Koelliker and Claude Bernard.

Curare↗
PubMed1992

The Moraceae-based dart poisons of South America. Cardiac glycosides of Maquira and Naucleopsis species.

The use of cardenolide-containing Moraceae in the dart poisons of South America is reviewed. Those prepared by the Chocó Indians of western Colombia--called niaará or kieratchi--have probably been made from the latex of Naucleopsis amara and N. glabra. In Ecuador, the Colorado Indians used N. chiguila, while the Coaiquer Indians still derive a poison from the latex of N. naga and the Cayapá Indians occasionally make use of a blowgun poison, hambi, which probably also comes from a Naucleopsis species. The Kaborí (Rio Uneiuxi Makú) Indians of north-western Brazil may have utilized Maquira coriacea, but a more recent collection documents N. mello-barretoi latex as a source of their poison. The Tikuna Indians of western Brazil included leaves and bark of N. stipularis in one of their poisons. The principal cardiac glycosides present in Maquira species are strophanthidin-based and the main ones occurring in Naucleopsis species are antiarigenin- as well as strophanthidin-based. The structures of two new glycosides, isolated from dart-poison samples, have been established as strophanthidin beta-D-glucomethylosido-D-alloside and beta-D-digitoxosido-D-alloside. The former is a major component of pakurin, the crystalline glycoside mixture prepared by Santesson in 1928 from a Chocó Indian poison.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

A note on the use of topical digitalis prior to William Withering.

Attention is called to the fact that, long before the systematization of oral digitalis therapy by Withering in the eighteenth century, the drug was applied to the skin by inunction, producing effects that can now be recognized as due to an overdosage of Digitalis glycosides. The history of digitalis is briefly reviewed: the drug appears not to have been known to Greek and Roman physicians, but by the Middle Ages was widely used in folk medicine. Contrary to current wisdom, there is a wealth of historical information suggesting that topically applied Digitalis glycosides are capable of exerting physiological activity. It is perhaps time to re-examine this feature, in view of the present-day general interest in transdermal medications.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1991

One man's poison, another man's medicine?

Poisonous plants and animals are widespread in nature and have been used for a great variety of purposes. Brief discussions of a number of examples: aconite, ergot, Euphorbiaceae/Thymelaeaceae, curare, cardiac glycosides, triterpenoid saponins and animal toxins, make the point that, in addition to allowing their use as medicinal agents, the study of such substances has opened up new areas of (bio)chemistry, physiology and pharmacology. But even though the compounds concerned have a relatively low molecular weight, in some cases their examination had to wait until appropriate methods of investigation became available. Understanding the modes of action has allowed the molecules to be used as starting points for the development of useful medicinal agents, a better appreciation of structure-activity relationships having led to improvements in the properties desired. With the advent of methods for the investigation of high-molecular-weight proteins, polypeptides, polyketides, etc., it is now possible to enter entirely new fields and to study more complex materials derived from plant, animal and other sources. It is here that future developments, coupled with the possibility of more specific targeting, hold most promise for the beneficial utilization of otherwise highly poisonous substances.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

South American Strychnos species. Ethnobotany (except curare) and alkaloid screening.

The ethnobotanical uses of South American species of Strychnos L. (Loganiaceae) are reviewed, with the exception of their major rôle in the preparation of curare, which will be dealt with in detail elsewhere. Medicinal uses are less common than is the case with the African and Asian species of the genus. About 140 samples, mostly of leaves, belonging to 53 species, have been screened for alkaloids. As with species from other parts of the world, the stem bark and root bark tend to be a richer source than leaves. Nor-harman is present in extracts from S. barnhartiana leaves. Pyridino-indolo-quinolizidinone (angustine-type) bases are also found in several species. The occurrence and pharmacology of the (non-curarizing) alkaloids known to be present in South American Strychnos species is reviewed.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1989

Arrow and dart poisons.

The history of arrow and dart poisons is briefly reviewed and this is followed by an outline of their use throughout the world. Their composition and sources of active principles, both plant and animal, are considered and certain ethnological aspects are dealt with. Finally, some applications of arrow- and dart-poison constituents as medicinal agents and pharmacological tools are indicated.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Tabernaemontana L. (Apocynaceae): a review of its taxonomy, phytochemistry, ethnobotany and pharmacology.

The taxonomy, phytochemistry, ethnobotany, and pharmacology of the genus Tabernaemontana L. (Apocynaceae) is reviewed. The genus is currently being revised taxonomically; most of the segregate genera are being reunited with it and the number of species that will ultimately be recognized will probably be about 100. All the names encountered in the chemical and ethnobotanical literature have been evaluated as far as possible, and a list is presented of the recognized species and their synonyms. The biogenesis and classification of the indole alkaloids found in Tabernaemontana species is set out and some problems in the determination of their stereochemistry are discussed. To facilitate access to the information, three lists have been compiled: the alkaloids in alphabetical order; the alkaloids in order of increasing molecular weight; and the alkaloids grouped according to their biogenetic classification, together with the species and plant part(s) in which they are known to occur. Biogenetic and chemotaxonomic aspects are briefly considered. A table of the non-alkaloidal constituents is also included. The ethnobotany of individual Tabernaemontana species is outlined and an overall assessment made. Likewise, information on the pharmacology of crude extracts and individual alkaloids from Tabernaemontana species has been assembled and appraised.

Alkaloids↗
PubMed1984

Arrow poisons in south Asia. Part 1. Arrow poisons in ancient India.

The use of arrow poisons in ancient India is discussed. While it is possible that Mesolithic hunting communities may have applied poison to their arrows, passages in the Rg Veda and Atharva Veda indicate its use in warfare. The meaning of the word -ala, used in the Rg Veda to denote the poison smeared on the arrowheads, is examined; but the available evidence, while almost certainly excluding a mineral (arsenical) source, does not allow a conclusion to be drawn between an animal and/or plant origin. Certain hymns in the Atharva Veda point to aconite tubers as one source. Later Sanskrit (and Buddhist) literature shows that poisoned arrows continued to be used and that a second source of poison was (putrefying) snakes--a source confirmed by an account in the classical literature of Alexander the Great's campaign in western India. Detailed descriptions of the symptoms and methods of treatment of wounds caused by poisoned arrows are to be found in the Sanskrit medical literature.

History, Ancient↗
PubMed1981

Arrow poisons in China. Part II. Aconitum--botany, chemistry, and pharmacology.

The botany of Chinese Aconitum species is briefly reviewed. Five species have been identified as sources of arrow poison: A. carmichaelii, A. nagarum, A. ouvrardianum, A. stylosum, and A. episcopale. The most important one, A. carmichaelii, has long served, together with A. kusnezoffii, as the main source of the Chinese medicinal aconite drugs--ts'ao wu (wu t'ou), the parent tuber, and fu tzu (ch 'uan wu), the daughter tuber. Two other aconite drugs have now been accepted into the Chinese materia medica: hsüeh shang i chih hao, from A. brachypodum, A. pendulum, and A. nagarum, and kuan pai fu, from A. coreanum. The folk-medicinal use of Aconitum species throughout China is also discussed. The alkaloid content and composition of Aconitum species known to occur in China are surveyed; and the effects of "processing", practised in order to diminish the toxicity of aconite drugs, are noted. Also the pharmacology of the aconites and their alkaloids is examined, in order to determine to what extent there may be a basis for the numerous medicinal properties attributed to the plants. Current understanding of the effectiveness of the drugs is incomplete and further study is required.

Aconitum↗
PubMed1979

Arrow poisons in China. Part I.

Arrow poisons have been used for at least 2500 years in various parts of China by the Han and other peoples. The preparation and use of these poisons is discussed on the basis of accounts in Chinese and Western sources. Mostly, the principal ingredient has been an extract derived from the tubers of Aconitum species, especially A. carmichaelii Debx. (wu t'ou, fu tzu, ts'ao wu). Certain peoples of the south-west and south, besides using Aconitum, have also obtained an essential ingredient from the juice (latex) of Antiaris toxicaria Lesch. (tu mu, hu, chien hsüeh feng hou, nu chien tzu, ka tuk). The chemistry and pharmacology of the active principles found in certain of the plants incorporated into the poisons are dealt with briefly (but this does not include Aconitum, which will be treated in some detail in Part II).

China↗