ABSTRACT
Purpose: Pfaffia paniculata, a plant known as Brazilian ginseng, has been claimed by some patients suffering from sickle cell disease to have beneficial effects. In order to examine this assertion, a powder extract was obtained from the roots of the plant. Pacients and methods. The extract was studied to verified the desickling properties in vitro. We studied the behavior of blood cells treated with Pfaffia paniculate extract in vitro through morpholofic analyses of blood cells incubated with paffia paniculate extract in vitro. Thirty Brazilian patients with sickle cell disease receiving capsules containing the powder extract of Pfaffia paniculata (500 mg each) every 8 hours or capsules containing placebo were followed up for three months. The number of erythrocytes, reticulocytes, sickle cells, and peripheral erythroblast, hemoglobin (HB), hematocrit (HT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), were determined in peripheral blood immediately before and 2 and 3 months after the beginning of the treatment. Results: Administration of Brazilian ginseng powder extract to patients having sickle cell resulted in decrease in sickle cells, erythroblast and reticulocytes in blood as well as increase in hemoglobin and hematocrit levels. Conclusion: The Pfaffic extract exhibited desickling properties when incubated with blood cells from deasese sickle cell disease patients or blood cells treated with 2% sodium methabisulphite. The clinical findings showed that treatment also led to improvement of the sintoms and signs in these patients.