Important Poisonous Plants in Tibetan Ethnomedicine

Toxins

Lijuan Ma²  Ronghui Gu²  Li Tang²  Ze-E Chen²  Rong Di¹  Chunlin Long² 

[1] Department of Plant Biology and Pathology, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA; E-Mail:;College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China; E-Mails:

关键词: poisonous plants;    Tibetan ethnomedicine;    toxins;    aconitine;    strychnine;    scopolamine;    anisodamine;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins7010138

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Tibetan ethnomedicine is famous worldwide, both for its high effectiveness and unique cultural background. Many poisonous plants have been widely used to treat disorders in the Tibetan medicinal system. In the present review article, some representative poisonous plant species are introduced in terms of their significance in traditional Tibetan medicinal practices. They are Aconitum pendulum, Strychnos nux-vomica, Datura stramonium and Anisodus tanguticus, for which the toxic chemical constituents, bioactivities and pharmacological functions are reviewed herein. The most important toxins include aconitine, strychnine, scopolamine, and anisodamine. These toxic plants are still currently in use for pain-reduction and other purposes by Tibetan healers after processing.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.