Abstract
Based on literature analysis of 308 angiosperm species inventoried from a 50-hectare forest plot on Barro Colorado Island, Panama, 40 species were selected and 80 samples (two samples for every species; leaf + twig and stembark samples) were collected for investigation of their medicinal/pharmaceutical potential. Extracts of these 80 samples were tested in bioassay systems to assess cancer chemoprevention (eight assays), antiplasmodial, cytotoxicity, and anti-HIV activities. Details of bioassay techniques are described. Of the 40 species, 12 (30%) showed activity in one or more of the 11 bioassay systems used. These active species areBombacopsis (= Pachira) quinata, Calophyllum longifolium, Casearia commersoniana, Lozania pittieri, Maclura tinctoria, Mouriri myrtilloides, Olmedia aspera (= Trophis caucana), Pseudobombax septenatum, Spondias radlkoferi, Stylogyne standleyi, Turpinia occidentalis, andVochysia ferruginea. Because literature data on the chemistry ofBombacopsis (= Pachira) quinata, Lozan ia pittieri, Mouriri myrtilloides, Olmedia aspera (= Trophis caucana), Pseudobombax septenatum, andStylogyne standleyi, are lacking, and similar data on the other six species are deficient, further fractionation and isolation work on these active species potentially may yield novel, biologically active structures. This study demonstrates that a plot-based selection of plant species for evaluation of their potential medicinal/ pharmaceutical value has merit in achieving such a goal, and should be used in a program on plant drug discovery.
Resumen
A base de análisis de 308 especies de angiospermas inventariadas de una parcela de 50 hectáreas de un bosque en la Isla de Barro Colorado, Panama, 40 especies fueron seleccionadas y 80 muestras (hojas + ramitas y corteza de tallo, de coda especie) fueron coleccionadas para la investigaci00F3;n hacia su potencial medicinal/farmaceútico. Los extrados de estas 80 muestras fueron suministrados a bioensayos para detectar sus actividades en la prevención de cancer (8 tipos de ensayos), antipalúdica, citotoxicidad, y anti-HIV. Los detalles de los métodos de bioensayos se presentan. De las 40 especies, 12 (30%) demostraron actividad en uno o más de los 11 bioensayos empleados. Estas especies sonBombacopsis (= Pachira) quinata, Calophyllum longifolium, Casearia commersoniana, Lozania pittieri, Maclura tinctoria, Mouriri myrtilloides, Olmedia aspera (= Trophis caucana), Pseudobombax septenatum, Spondias radlkoferi, Stylogyne standleyi, Turpinia occidentalis, y Vochysia ferruginea. En vista de queBombacopsis (= Pachira) quinata, Lozania pittieri, Mouriri myrtilloides, Olmedia aspera (= Trophis caucana), Pseudobombax septenatum, y Stylogyne standleyi, carecen de datos químicos de la literatura, mientras que datos químicos sobre las otras seis especies son deficientes, un trabajo de fraccionamiento y aislamiento sobre estas especies potencialmente nos pueda dar compuestos novedosos, biologicamente activos. Este estudio demuestra que el método de selectión de especies de plantas a partir de especies inventariadas de una parcela de bosque, para someterlas a pruebas biológicas, tiene sus méritos para empleo más amplio.
Similar content being viewed by others
Literature Cited
Auvinen, M., A. Paasinen, L. C. Anderson, and E. Holtta. 1992. Ornithine decarboxylase activity is critical for cell transformation. Nature 360:1523–1526.
Balick, M. J., E. Elisabetsky, and S. A. Laird. 1996. Medicinal Plant Resources of the Tropical Forest. Columbia University Press, New York.
Blois, M. S. 1958. Antioxidant determinations by use of a stable free radical. Nature (London) 181:1199–1200.
Böhlke, M. 1997. Potential pharmaceutical value of tropical forest plants of Costa Rica and coastal Ghana. Ph.D. thesis in Pharmacognosy, Graduate College, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, 264 pp.
—,H. Guinaudeau, C. K. Angerhofer, V. Wongpanich, D. D. Soejarto, N. R. Farnsworth, G. A. Mora, and L. J. Poveda. 1996. Costaricine, a new antiplasmodial bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid fromNectandra salicifolia trunk bark. Journal of Natural Products 59:576–580.
Collins, S. J., F.W. Ruscetti, R. E. Gallagher, and R. C. Gallo. 1978. Terminal differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia cells induced by dimethyl sulfoxide and other polar compounds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 75:2458–2462.
D’Arcy, W. G. 1987. Flora de Panama, Checklist and Index. Missouri Botanical Garden, St Louis, Volume 2, 670 pp.
Desjardins, R. E., C. J. Canfield, J. D. Haynes, and J. D. Chulay. 1979. Quantitative assessment of antimalarial activity in vitro by a semiautomated microdilution technique. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 16:710–718.
Foster, R. B., and N. Brokaw. 1982. Structure and history of the vegetation of Barro Colorado Island. Pages 67–81in E. G. Leigh, A. S. Rand, and D. M. Windsor, eds., The ecology of a tropical forest, Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.
—,and S. P. Hubbell. 1990. The floristic composition of a 50-ha plot on Barro Colorado Island. Pages 85–98in A. Gentry, ed., Four neotropical forests. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT.
—,R. Condit, and S. P. Hubbell. 1991. Data from 1990 Recensus of Barro Colorado (Panama) 50-Ha Experimental Plot. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama.
Gupta, M. P. 1995. Panamanian flora: Source of bioactive compounds. Pages 359–398in K. Hostettman, A. Marston, M. Mailard, and M. Hamburger, eds., Phytochemistry of plants used in traditional medicine. Proceedings of the Phytochemical Society of Europe. Oxford University Press, New York.
Horgen, F. D. 1997. Biological and chemical evaluations of selected tropical forest plants. Ph.D. thesis in pharmacognosy, Graduate College, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA, 242 pp.
—,H. Guinaudeau, J. M. Pezzuto, D. D. Soejarto, N. R. Farnsworth, F. Agcaoili, G. de los Reyes, and R. A. Edrada. 1997. Isolation and structure elucidation of ardisenone: A new, cytotoxic alkenylphenol fromArdisia iwahigensis. Journal of Natural Products 60:533–535.
Hubbell, S. P., and R. B. Foster. 1983. Diversity of canopy trees in a neotropical forest and implications for conservation. Pages 25–41in S.L. Sutton, T. C. Whitmore, and A.C. Chadwick, eds., Tropical rain forest: ecology and management. Blackwells, Oxford.
—,and R. B. Foster. 1992. Short-term dynamics of a neotropical forest: why ecological research matters to tropical conservation and management. Oikos 63:48–61.
Kulmacz, R. J., and W. E. M. Lands. 1987. Cyclooxygenase: Measurement, purification and properties. Pages 209–227in C. Benedetto, R. G. McDonald-Gibson, S. Nigam and T. F. Slater, eds., Prostaglandins and related substances. A practical approach. IRL Press, Oxford, 1987.
Lee, K. H., Y. Kashiwada, G. Nonaka, I. Nishioka, M. Nishizawa, T. Yamagishi, A. J. Bodner, R. E. Kilkuskie, and Y. C. Cheng. 1992. Tannins and related compounds as anti-HIV agents. Pages 669–690in C. K. Chu, and H. G. Cutler, eds., Natural products as antiviral agents. Plenum Press, New York.
Leigh, E. G., A. S. Rand, and D. M. Windsor, eds. 1982. The Ecology of a Tropical Forest. Smithsonian Press, Washington, DC.
Likhitwitayawuid, K., C. K. Angerhofer, H. Chai, J. M. Pezzuto, G. A. Cordell, and N. Ruangrungsi. 1993. Cytotoxic antimalarial alkaloids from the tubers ofStephania pierrei. Journal of Natural Products 56:1468–1478.
Lichti, U., and M. M. Gottesman. 1982. Genetic evidence that a phorbol ester tumor promoter stimulates ornithine decarboxylase activity by a pathway that is independent of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinases in CHO cells. Journal of Cell Physiology 113:433–439.
Loub, W. D., N. R. Farnsworth, D. D. Soejarto, and M. L. Quinn. 1985. NAPRALERT: Computer handling of natural product research data. Journal of Chemical Information and Computer Sci., 25:99–103.
Marnett, L. J. 1992. Aspirin and the potential role in colon cancer. Cancer Research 52:5575–5589.
McCormick, D. L., and R. C. Moon. 1986. Antipromotional activity of dietary N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) retinamide in two-stage skin tumourigenesis in CD-1 and Sencar mice. Cancer Letters 31:133–138.
Mehta, R. G., and R. C. Moon. 1986. Effects of 12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate on carcinogeninduced mouse mammary lesions in organ culture. Cancer Research 46:5832–5835.
Ostrem, V. K., Y. Tanaka, J. Prahl, H. F. DeLuca, and N. Ikekawa. 1987. 24-26-Homo-l,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3: Preferential activity in inducing differentiation of Human Leukemia cells HL-60 in vitro. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 84:2610–2614.
Pezzuto, J. M. 1995. Natural product cancer chemopreventive agents. Pages 12–45in J. T. Arnason, R. Mata, and J. T. Romero, eds., Recent advances in phytochemistry Volume 29. Plenum Press, New York.
Pisha, E., and J. M. Pezzuto. 1997. Cell based assay for the determination of estrogenic and anti-estrogenic activities. Methods in Cell Science 19:37–43.
Prochaska, H. J., A. B. Santamaria, and P. Talalay. 1992. Rapid detection of inducers of enzymes that protect against carcinogens. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 89:2394–2398.
Skehan, P., R. Storeng, D. Scudeiro, A. Monks, J. McMahon, D. Vistica, J. T. Warren, H. Bokesch, S. Kenney, and M. R. Boyd. 1990. New colorimetric cytotoxicity assay for anticancer-drug screening. Journal of the National Cancer Institute 82:1107–1112.
Skopek, T. R., H. L. Liber, J. J. Krolewski, and W. G. Thilly. 1978a. Quantitative forward mutation assay inSalmonella typhimurium using 8-azaguanine resistance as a genetic marker. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 75:410–414.
—,H. L. Liber, D. A. Kalden, and W. G. Thilly. 1978b. Relative sensitivities of forward and reverse mutation assays inSalmonella typhimurium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 75:4465–4469.
Smith, R. C. 1982. Reaction of uric acid and 3-N-ribosyluric acid with l,l-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl. Bioorganic Chemistry 11:436–442.
Smith, R., J. C. Reeves, R. C. Dage, and R. A. Schnettler. 1987. Antioxidant properties of 2-imidazoles and 2-imidazolthiones. Biochemical Pharmacology 36:1457–1460.
Soejarto, D. D. 1991. Plant drug discovery from the tropical rain forests: Are our efforts adequate? Program and Abstracts, International Research Congress on Natural Products. The 32nd Annual Meeting of The American Society of Pharmacognosy, Chicago, July 21-26, Abstract S-1.
Soejarto, D. D. 1996. Biodiversity prospecting and benefit sharing: perspectives from the field. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 51:1–15.
—,C. Gyllenhaal, P. S. Ashton, and S. H. Sohmer. 1996. Plant explorations in Asia under the sponsorship of the National Cancer Institute, 1986-1991: An overview. Pages 284–310in M. J. Balick, E. Elisabetsky, and S. A. Laird, eds., Medicinal plant resources of the tropical forest. Columbia University Press, New York.
Sokoloski, J. A., J. Li, A. Nigam, and A. C. Sartorelli. 1993. Induction of the differentiation of HL-60 and WEHI-3B D+ leukemia cells by lithium chloride. Leukemia Research 17:403–410.
Tan, G. T., J. M. Pezzuto, A. D. Kinghorn, and S. H. Hughes. 1991. Evaluation of natural products as inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase. Journal of Natural Products 54:143–154.
Verma, A. K., C. L. Ashendewl, and R. K. Boutwell. 1980. Inhibition by prostaglandin synthesis inhibitors of the induction of epidermal ornithine decarboxylase activity, the accumulation of prostaglandins, and tumor promotion caused by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate. Cancer Research 40:308–315.
Whitmore, T. C. 1988. Tropical Rain Forest of the Far East, 2nd ed., Oxford Science Publications, U.K.
World Conservation Monitoring Centre. 1992. Global Biodiversity. Chapman and Hall, London. 585 pp.
Zhou, J. Y., Q.A.W. Norman, M. Lubbert, E. D. Collins, M. R. Uskokovi, and H. P. Koeffler. 1983. Novel vitamin D analogs that modulate leukemic cell growth and differentiation with little effect on either intestinal calcium absorption or bone calcium mobilization. Blood 62:709–721.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Part of a M.Sc. thesis in Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Calderon, A.I., Angerhofer, C.K., Pezzuto, J.M. et al. Forest plot as a tool to demonstrate the pharmaceutical potential of plants in a tropical forest of Panama. Econ Bot 54, 278–294 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02864782
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02864782