Toxicity of medicinal plants used in traditional medicine in Northern Peru

Traditional preparation methods take different toxicity levels in aqueous and ethanol extracts into account when choosing the appropriate solvent for the preparation of a remedy. The plant species reported here are traditionally used in Northern Peru for a wide range of illnesses. Most remedies are...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnopharmacology 2011-09, Vol.137 (1), p.121-140
Main Authors: Bussmann, R.W., Malca, G., Glenn, A., Sharon, D., Nilsen, B., Parris, B., Dubose, D., Ruiz, D., Saleda, J., Martinez, M., Carillo, L., Walker, K., Kuhlman, A., Townesmith, A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Artemia - drug effects
Artemia salina
Biological and medical sciences
Brine shrimp
Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
Ethanol - chemistry
Ethnobotany
General pharmacology
Lethal Dose 50
Medical sciences
Medicinal plants
Medicine, Traditional
Northern Peru
Peru
Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Plants, Medicinal - chemistry
Plants, Medicinal - toxicity
Risk Assessment
Solvents - chemistry
Toxicity
Toxicity Tests
Water - chemistry
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Summary:Traditional preparation methods take different toxicity levels in aqueous and ethanol extracts into account when choosing the appropriate solvent for the preparation of a remedy. The plant species reported here are traditionally used in Northern Peru for a wide range of illnesses. Most remedies are prepared as ethanol or aqueous extracts and then ingested. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential toxicity of these extracts. The toxicity of ethanolic and water extracts of 341 plant species was determined using a brine-shrimp assay. Overall 24% of the species in water extract and 76% of the species in alcoholic extract showed elevated toxicity levels to brine-shrimp. Although in most cases multiple extracts of the same species showed very similar toxicity values, in some cases the toxicity of different extracts of the same species varied from non-toxic to highly toxic. Traditional preparation methods take different toxicity levels in aqueous and ethanol extracts into account when choosing the appropriate solvent for the preparation of a remedy.
ISSN:0378-8741
1872-7573
DOI:10.1016/j.jep.2011.04.071