Drug-herb interaction: database of medicinal plants of the Caribbean, their indications, toxicities and possible interactions with conventional medication.

OBJECTIVE: Healthcare professionals in the Caribbean today know very little about these drug-herb interactions of the popular West Indian medicinal herb practices linked to the immigrants from West Africa and India, and to the indigenous Amerindians. It is the intent of this project to produce a database which comprehensively summarizes indications and possible drug-herb interactions of these plants. METHOD: Using the database programme Epi Info 3.5.1, one hundred and eighty-three herbs used in the Caribbean as medicine by locals have been entered into the West Indian Drug Herb Interaction Database version 0.06 (WIDHID 0.06). RESULTS: A range of one to three common names have been entered with the family and scientific name of each herb, in addition to a range of one to six conditions/illnesses for which a particular plant was to be used as a medicinal herb. One to four bioactive compounds have been made to correlate with the typical herbal preparation methods and toxicity. Thirty of the most common and popular herbs have been researched for their drug herb interactions. CONCLUSION: West Indian Drug Herb Interaction Database version 0.06 for the first time allows easy access to Caribbean ethno-medicinal plant cures with their possible drug-herb interactions reference sources, a feature often absent although so important. In addition, WIDHID 0.06 will support pharmaco-epidemiological studies in the field. It will also ensure future public access to ethno-medicinal information through developed web pages or programmes.

Polysaccharide Synthesis and Turnover in the Cell Walls of Growing and Non-growing Cells of Gravistimulated Sunflower Hypocotyls.

No significant changes were detected in the proportions of the various monosaccharides present in the cell wall polysaccharides of the peripheral cell layers on the upper and lower sides of sunflower hypocotyls which had undergone gravicurvature. The incorporation of radioactive glucose into the major classes of polysaccharide was similar in the walls of growing (convex) and non-growing (concave) cells. Autoradiographic studies showed that most of the newly incorporated material was located in the innermost layers of the cell wall, this being the case at both the upper and lower sides of the curving hypocotyl. During the period of differential growth causing curvature, the turnover of the recently incorporated glucose was not detected. These results may mean that neither the relative rates of synthesis of the main polysaccharides nor the turnover of recently incorporated major polysaccharides were influenced significantly by short term changes in growth rate of the peripheral cell layers.

Solute production and net wall synthesis in the growing and non-growing cells of gravistimulated sunflower hypocotyls.

Solute generation and cell wall synthesis were examined in sunflower hypocotyl peripheral layers, the growth rate of which had been altered by gravistimulation. Measurements of both the concentrations of the major solutes and the osmotic potential showed that although upper cells stopped growing, the solute levels in these cells continued to increase at rates comparable to those in lower cells. This indicated that altered growth rates, generated during gravicurvature, are not based on solute generation but must result from cell wall changes. Gravimetric and precursor incorporation studies showed that net wall synthesis continued in upper cells despite their lack of growth. An ultrastructural study of the epidermal cells on the uppermost (non-elongating) and lowermost (elongating) surfaces of horizontal cucumber hypocotyls showed that the relative amounts of the various membrane fractions were similar in upper and lower cells despite their very different growth rates.