Modern human need for medicines is so extensive that it is thought to be a deep evolutionary behavior. There is abundant evidence from our Paleolithic and later prehistoric past, of survival after ...periodontal disease, traumas, and invasive medical treatments including trepanations and amputations, suggesting a detailed, applied knowledge of medicinal plant secondary compounds. Direct archeological evidence for use of plants in the Paleolithic is rare, but evidence is growing. An evolutionary context for early human use of medicinal plants is provided by the broad evidence for animal self-medication, in particular, of non-human primates. During the later Paleolithic, there is evidence for the use of poisonous and psychotropic plants, suggesting that Paleolithic humans built on and expanded their knowledge and use of plant secondary compounds.
Graphical Abstract
Globally, the search for safe and potent natural-based treatment for depression is receiving renewed interest given the numerous side-effects associated with many existing drugs. In South Africa, the ...use of plants to manage depression and related symptoms is fairly documented among different ethnic groups. In the current study, we reviewed existing ethnobotanical, ethnopharmacological and phytochemical studies on South African medicinal plants used to manage depression. Electronic databases were accessed for scientific literature that meets the inclusion criteria. Plants with ethnobotanical evidence were subjected to a further pharmacological review to establish the extent (if any) of their effectiveness as antidepressants. Critical assessment resulted in 20 eligible ethnobotanical records, which generated an inventory of 186 plants from 63 plant families. Due to the cultural differences observed in the definition of depression, or lack of definition in some cultures, most plants are reported to treat a wide range of atypical symptoms related to depression.
Boophone disticha
,
Leonotis leonurus
and
Mentha longifolia
were identified as the three most popular plants, with over eight mentions each from the ethnobotanical records. The dominant families were Asteraceae (24), Fabaceae (16), Amaryllidaceae (10), and Apocynaceae (10) which accounted for about 32% of the 186 plants. Only 27 (≈14.5%) of the plants have been screened for antidepressant activity using
in vitro
and
in vivo
models.
Agapanthus campanulatus
,
Boophone disticha
,
Hypericum perforatum
,
Mondia whitei
and
Xysmalobium undulatum
, represent the most studied plants. Phytochemical investigation on nine out of the 27 plants revealed 24 compounds with antidepressant-like effects. Some of these included buphanidrine and buphanamine which were isolated from the leaves of
Boophone disticha
, Δ
9
-tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabidiol and cannabichromene obtained from the buds of
Cannabis sativa
and carnosic acid, rosmarinic acid and salvigenin from
Rosmarinus officinalis
, A significant portion (≈85%) of 186 plants with ethnobotanical records still require pharmacological studies to assess their potential antidepressant-like effects. This review remains a valuable reference material that may guide future ethnobotanical surveys to ensure their robustness and validity as well as database to identify promising plants to screen for pharmacology efficacy.
In recent years, the use of natural psychoactive drugs (NPDs) has grown rapidly. They are classified as new psychoactive substances (NPSs), despite the reality that they have been used for centuries. ...We are lacking information regarding patterns of use or characteristics of users, but some evidence suggests that NPDs substantially differ from NPSs in terms of both their safety profile and patterns of use. The aim of this study was to investigate patterns of use and user characteristics by collecting data from a sample of NPD users. We designed an online questionnaire that was shared through social media. A sample of 564 NPD users was recruited from 52 different countries, with the United States being the most common (19%), followed by Spain (14.9%). The typical user in our sample is a well-educated adult individual who uses NPDs sporadically. The most used substances were Psilocybe mushrooms (88.5%) and ayahuasca (51%). Users reported that the use of NPDs positively influenced their lives, and they showed a good mental health status. Stakeholders should consider these results particularly when deciding on legal classifications for these substances, as the study findings suggest that NPDs should not be in the same class as NPSs.
Plants that produce atropine and scopolamine fall under several genera within the nightshade family. Both atropine and scopolamine are used clinically, but they are also important in a forensics ...context because they are abused recreationally for their psychoactive properties. The accurate species attribution of these plants, which are related taxonomically, and which all contain the same characteristic biomarkers, is a challenging problem in both forensics and horticulture, as the plants are not only mind-altering, but are also important in landscaping as ornamentals. Ambient ionization mass spectrometry in combination with a hierarchical classification workflow is shown to enable species identification of these plants. The hierarchical classification simplifies the classification problem to primarily consider the subset of models that account for the hierarchy taxonomy, instead of having it be based on discrimination between species using a single flat classification model. Accordingly, the seeds of 24 nightshade plant species spanning 5 genera (i.e. Atropa, Brugmansia, Datura, Hyocyamus and Mandragora), were analyzed by direct analysis in real time-high resolution mass spectrometry (DART-HRMS) with minimal sample preparation required. During the training phase using a top-down hierarchical classification algorithm, the best set of discriminating features were selected and evaluated with a partial least square-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) classifier to discriminate and visualize the data. The method yields species identity through a class hierarchy, and reveals the most significant markers for differentiation. The overall accuracy of the approach for species identification was 95% and 96% using 100X bootstrapping validation and test samples respectively. The method can be extended for the rapid identification of an infinite number of plant species.
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•Seed taxonomy was identified with DART-HRMS data and a hierarchical classifier.•MS spectra were directly generated from seeds representing 24 species (5 genera).•Species are atropine and scopolamine-containing members of the nightshade family.•A top-down hierarchical classification aids in high accurate taxonomy prediction.•Best discriminative features were identified.
The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of the main aims and scopes in screening of botanicals, a task of which thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is, on an everyday basis, ...confronted with and engaged in. Stunning omnipresence of this modest analytical technique (both in its standard format (TLC) and the high-performance one (HPTLC), either hyphenated or not) for many analysts might at a first glance appear chaotic and random, with an auxiliary rather than leading role in research, and not capable of issuing meaningful final statements. Based on these reflections, our purpose is not to present a general review paper on TLC in screening of botanicals, but a blueprint rather (illustrated with a selection of practical examples), which highlights a sovereign and important role of TLC in accomplishing the following analytical tasks: (i) solving puzzles related to chemotaxonomy of plants, (ii) screening a wide spectrum of biological properties of plants, (iii) providing quality control of herbal medicines and alimentary and cosmetic products of biological origin, and (iv) tracing psychoactive plants under forensic surveillance.
ABSTRACTCompounds in some plants have remarkable effects on the central nervous system. Plants containing those compounds are mind altering orpsychoactive in nature. These are consumed in the form of ...simple or complex preparations to affect the mind or alter the state of consciousness.Psychoactivity may include sedative, stimulant, euphoric, deliriant, and hallucinogenic effects. Several hundred psychoactive plants are known.Some important examples of psychoactive plants include Datura, Salvia, and Cannabis. Psychoactive plants have been used ritually, medicinally, andrecreationally for thousands of years. Hence, the sociocultural and economic significance of psychoactive plants is enormous.Keywords: Cannabis, Datura, Psychoactive plants, Euphoria, Hallucinogen.
The psychoactive plant Salvia divinorum has long been used medicinally by Indigenous people from southern Mexico, the only place where it is endemic, and is now studied by pharmaceutical researchers. ...I analyze competing ways the two groups "make medicine" with salvia, attending simultaneously to material/embodied and semiotic/linguistic dimensions of those practices. I introduce two concepts - stripping and enrobing - to show that differences in how the groups interact with salvia have ethical and political consequences. Those repercussions matter because salvia is but one of many plants important to marginalized groups whose ties to them are threatened by international medical interests.
Cannabis is a plant with a rich history of medical, recreational, industrial and spiritual uses. This paper aims to explore drug use rituals as methods of community-controlled use that help maintain ...a self-regulated and healthy relation to the substance in questions. Furthermore, it explores how cannabis is used in developing spirituality and a sense of community. The ritual use of cannabis is discussed in the context of drug policy.
Ethnographic research methods, such as fieldwork, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and qualitative analysis, were used to research a phenomenological community in rural Catalonia, where ancient psychoactive plants (APP), such as ayahuasca and cannabis, are regularly used in a ritual context.
Cannabis has a long history of ritual/spiritual uses and is still being used for such purposes in Catalonia. The rituals are effective harm reduction techniques and can even generate beneficial effects for the individual as well as the community by strengthening bonds between community members. The rituals associated with APP are seen as spiritual or religious practices, as well as forms of self-care and community-care, rather than involving drug dependence or addiction.
The contemporary use of APP in Western societies is gaining popularity. International drug policies and the schedule of controlled drugs claim to be based on scientific evidence, but this evidence is limited. The contemporary myopic focus on the risks and harms of drugs overlooks important realities, such as the benefits of non-problematic drug use. These omissions could in part be rectified through the consideration of scientific findings from the field of ethnography regarding the spiritual and community dimensions of drug use.
Este trabajo reúne una serie de reflexiones y propuestas interpretativas acerca de determinadas manifestaciones artísticas postpaleolíticas de la Península Ibérica. Se plantea la hipótesis de que ...algunas expresiones gráficas del Neolítico y la Edad del Cobre plasmadas en paneles rupestres y en diversos soportes muebles pudieran haberse inspirado en estados de trance, al combinarse una serie de variables, entre las cuales destaca la presencia de posibles motivos entópticos y escenas chamánicas en la iconografía. Además, apoyándonos en el registro arqueobotánico, se valora el papel de las plantas psicoactivas en las prácticas de alteración de la consciencia desde el Neolítico Antiguo (ca. mediados del VI milenio cal. AC). Lo anterior se relaciona con los profundos cambios en las estructuras socioeconómicas e ideológicas de las comunidades de la prehistoria reciente peninsular, como resultado de la adopción de la economía de producción durante el Neolítico y de la progresiva intensificación de las diferencias sociales que se percibe en el registro arqueológico a partir de entonces.
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