Category: Immunity

Medicinal Uses of Nasturtium

On By HerbBlurbIn Herbal Medicine, Immunity, Plant Medicine, UncategorizedLeave a comment

With spring upon us, the New Zealand countryside and our gardens are rich with budding and flowering plants, many of them normally regarded as weeds, but in fact highly medicinal.

One of these is Nasturtium (Tropaelum majus; Indian cress), a plant with water lily like circular leaves and bright yellow, orange and red flowers which is native to South America but established in many warmer areas of New Zealand and Australia. While it can certainly be very weedy in some situations, it also makes a useful plant on the edges of the vegetable garden to attract bees and other beneficial insects. It can also act as a decoy by attracting cabbage white butterflies and drawing these pests away from brassicas.

What many people don’t realise, however, is that all parts of Nasturtium are edible, with its leaves and flowers making a decorative, peppery addition to salads, and the fruits when pickled with vinegar serving as a tasty alternative to capers. It also has outstanding antioxidant activity due to its rich content of phenolic compounds, including anthocyanin and vitamin C. Like many ‘weeds’ readily available in the New Zealand environment, Nasturtium is also a highly medicinal plant.

Traditionally it was used to help ward off and treat various infections, particularly those affecting the lungs and the urinary tract. The pungent compounds known as isothiocyanates found in all parts of nasturtium and roots of horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), have powerful and fairly broad spectrum antibacterial activities particularly against Haemophilus influenza and Moraxella catarrhalis, a common cause of middle ear infection (otitis media) and sinusitus in children(1). These isothiocyanates have also recently been reported to have good activity against both developing and mature biofilms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a bacterial pathogen associated with many serious human illnesses(2). Importantly also, they have also been shown to be well absorbed into the bloodstream following oral ingestion of nasturtium in humans(3).

Nasturtium was used in folk medicine as a remedy against scurvy, and can be used as a natural, warming remedy to help the body overcome and prevent the common cold and influenza. It was also used traditionally to treat muscular pain, and it’s antimicrobial properties extend to its use as a topical treatment for bacterial infections and minor scrapes and cuts.

Possible applications in the prevention or treatment of various cancers are also likely, due to conversion of a key constituent glucotropaeolin to benzyl isothiocyanate, within the body. This compound, formed also from isothiocyanates found in brassica (cruciferous) vegetables, exhibits anticancer activity against cultured lung, breast, liver, prostate, brain, melanoma, oral & ovarian cancer cells in vitro, and prevents chemically induced carcinogenesis in rodents(4-10).

Potential benefits in fluid retention, hypertension and other cardiovascular conditions, have been suggested by Brazilian research showing diuretic, hypotensive and lipid-lowering activities for a hydroethanolic extract in rats(11-13). Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition was implicated as a possible mechanism for these effects, in a similar manner to how ACE inhibitor drugs work to help manage hypertension and other cardiovascular conditions(14). Unlike many other conventional diuretic drugs, however, no unwanted effects on urinary calcium or potassium excretion seem to occur, suggesting valuable potassium and calcium-sparing properties. These findings indicate possible applications also to help prevent osteoporosis, which is supported by another Brazilian study in menopausal rats(13).

Nasturtium may also be useful to help prevent or manage obesity, according to findings from a Korean study published in the June 2017 issue of the journal Food and Nutrition Research(15). The study investigated the effects of a nasturtium ethanolic extract on a mouse cell line with adipocyte-like characteristics, used in research on adipose (fat) tissue. Treatment of cells with nasturtium extract produced a concentration-dependent reduction in lipid accumulation, and inhibited the expression of various proteins associated with differentiation of fat cells. This suggests potential usefulness also, in the prevention and treatment of obesity.

With these compelling research findings, incorporation of nasturtium into the diet or herbal treatments of a range of human conditions common in the 21st century, should overtake our view of it simply as a bothersome weed.

References:

  1. Conrad A et al, Drug Res (Stuttg). 2013 Feb;63(2):65-8.
  2. Kaiser SJ et al, 2017 Jun;119:57-63.
  3. PPlatz S et al, Mol Nutr Food Res. 2016 Mar;60(3):652-60..See comment in PubMed Commons below
  4. Wattenberg LW. J Natl Cancer 1977 Feb;58(2):395-8.
  5. Hecht SS et al. J Nutr. 1999 Mar;129(3):768S-774S.
  6. Cho HJ et al, Int J Mol Sci 2016 Feb 22; 17(2):264
  7. Shang HS et al, Environ Toxicol 2016 Dec; 31(12):1751-1760.
  8. Yeh YT et al. Food Chem Toxicol. 2016 Nov;97:336-345.
  9. Zhu M et al J Cancer. 2017 Jan 15;8(2):240-248.
  10. Lai KC et al, Int J Oncol. 2017 Sep;51(3):832-840.
  11. Gasparotto Junior A et al. J Ethnopharmacol. 2009 Apr 21;122(3):517-22.
  12. Gasparotto Junior A et al. J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Mar 24;134(2):210-5.
  13. Barboza LN et al, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2014; 2014:958291.
  14. Gasparotto Junior A et al J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Mar 24;134(2):363-72. (2011a)
  15. Kim GC et al,.Food Nutr Res. 2017 Jun 14;61(1):1339555.

 

Antimicrobial Endophytes in Echinacea, Olive and Manuka

On By HerbBlurbIn Antibiotic Resistance, Antifungal, Dermal Health, Herbal Medicine, Immunity, Organic Medicine, Plant MedicineLeave a comment

While plants are being extensively explored for new therapeutic properties and pharmacological activities, the communities of live fungi and bacteria known as endophytes that live between living plant cells, are also now being regarded as having many useful potential medicinal applications. Ironically, in recent years it is these microorganisms associated with plants rather than plants themselves, which seem to be receive much research interest.

Endophytes are microorganisms that live within a plant for at least part of their life cycles, without causing apparent disease or infections in the plant. Different endophytes seem to have affinities for particular plants, with which they have distinctive and cherished but complex interactions while each of them grows. They are for instance known to sometimes enhance host growth and nutrient gain, improve the plant’s ability to tolerate various types of stressors, and enhance the its resistance to insects and pests. The rrelationships that these bacteria and fungal communities have with their host plant varies from symbiotic to parasitic, to bordering on pathogenic.
Some very unusual and valuable bioactive substances are sometimes produced by these endophytes, such as alkaloids, phenolic acids, quinones, steroids, saponins, tannins, and terpenoids, and these are increasingly being recognized as sources of novel compounds which may help to maintain or solve not only the plant’s health challenges, but can also have applications in human and animal health problems.
Over the past few decades, some highly medicinal compounds produced by endophytic microbes lead to novel drug development. These include Taxol (paclitaxol), a complex diterpene alkaloid produced by the endophyte Metarhizium anisopliae found in the bark of the Pacific Yew (Taxus brevifolia) tree, and one of the most promising anticancer agents ever developed. Also streptomycin, an antibiotic produced from the bacterial endophyte Streptomyces.

Other endophytes possess antibacterial activities which may be useful in treating various infections, and in a world where antibiotic resistance is becoming a major public health threat, these are obviously of great interest. Exploring and bioprospecting these for potential antimicrobial compounds may well yield valuable new natural products or drugs to help in the fight against resistant organisms(1,2,3,4).

It now seems that bacterial communities colonizing Echinacea purpurea contribute to its well-known immune enhancing activity(5). American researchers have reported that Echinacea’s stimulating activity on monocytes (a type of white blood cell involved in engulfing and destroying harmful microbes), could be solely if not partially accounted for by the activities and prevalence of Proteobacteria, a family of bacteria found in the bacterial community associated with this medicinal plant.
A screen of 151 different endophytic bacteria isolated from three different compartments of Echinacea purpurea, revealed that several bacteria isolated from the roots are strong inhibitors of Burkholderia cepacia complex bacteria, a serious threat particularly in immune-compromised cystic fibrosis patients(6). One of these bacterial strains also showed antimicrobial effects against Acinetobacter baumannii, a pathogenic bacteria mainly associated with hospital-acquired infections, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, also increasingly incriminated in hospital infections(7). Interestingly, the type of bacteria and their antimicrobial effects varied considerably, according to which part of the plant (root, stem, leaves etc) they were associated with. This has resemblances to different plant parts of Echinacea having different phytochemical and thus pharmacological activities, such as Echinacea roots being richest in alkylamides and thus anti-inflammatory activities.

Endophytic fungi including Penicillium commune and Penicillium canescens (related to the Penicillium notatum mould from which the first antibiotic penicillin originated), have also been isolated from the leaves of olive (Olea europaea) trees, and several of these have also shown antibacterial as well as antifungal activities in recent work(8).

Finally, a rich endophyte community has recently been identified by Lincoln University researchers for the New Zealand native plant Manuka (Leptospermum scoparium). A total of 192 culturable bacteria were recovered from leaves, stems and roots, including some showing activity against the bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae(9), otherwise known by Kiwifruit growers as Psa. With Psa being a serious risk to the health of the Kiwifruit vine, it could be that these endophytic bacteria found within Manuka will make a useful contribution to ensuring the future health of the Kiwifruit industry.
While very few of all of the world’s plants have had their complete complement of endophytes studied, these are just three well established medicinal plants from which some highly active cohabitating bacteria and fungi have been sourced. Undoubtedly this area of research will receive much more attention due to growing concerns about antibiotic resistance, as there would seem to be a huge opportunity to find new and interesting endophytes among the wealth of different plants growing not only in soil, but also in waterways and oceans.
Refs:
1. Alvin A et al, Microbiol Res 2014; 169(7-8)L483-495.
2. Martinez-Klimova E et al, Biochem Pharmacol 2016; Oct 27.
3. Kealey C et al, Biotechnol Lett 2017; Mar 8 (epub ahead of print)
4. Tanwar A et al, Microbiol Path 2016;101:76-82
5. Haron MH et al, Planta Med 2016; 82(14):1258-1265.
6. Chiellini C et al, Microbiol Res 2017; 196:34-43.
7. Presta L et al, Res Microbiol 2017; 168(3):293-305.
8. Malhadas C et al, World J Microbiol Biotechnol 2017; 33(3):46.
9. Wicaksono WA et al, PLoS One 2016; 11(9):e0163717.