Cynomorium coccineum, known to the Muslim world as "tarthuth," has been harvested from the deserts of north Africa and the Middle East for thousands of years. Arabs and Bedouins eat the interior portions of fresh young stems, prepare infusions of older stems to treat colic or stomach ulcers, or dry and pulverize the plant for use as a spice or condiment with meat dishes [36]. Medicinal uses of tarthuth can be traced to Al-Kindi, Al-Razi (Rhazes), Ibn Masawayh, Ibn Wahshiya, and Maimonides but the plant became known to Europeans only in the 16th century. A group called the Knights Hospitaller of St. John operated a hospital in Jerusalem and learned of the medicinal qualities of tarthuth from local Muslim physicians. When the Crusaders lost Jerusalem to the Muslims, they moved to the island of Malta where Cynomorium was also native. The site where the "Maltese Mushroom" grew (Fungus Rock) was thereafter vigorously guarded and thieves were imprisoned or made galley slaves. The "treasure of drugs," as the Arabs called it, was used for a variety of purposes, including treating apoplexy, venereal disease, high blood pressure, vomiting, irregular menstrual periods and as a contraceptive and toothpaste.
Modern biomedical and phytochemical research on Cynomorium coccineum has demonstrated a variety of activities from plant extracts. Effects of Cynomorium extracts on mammalian reproductive cells modulation of pituitary gonadotrophins [37] as well as changes in testicular development [38] and epididymal sperm patterns [39] in rats. Cynomorium songaricum, known in Chinese medicine as "suo yang," has been shown to contain triterpenes with HIV protease inhibitory activity [40,41]. Interest in herbal medicines is growing at a rapid pace, and attention has been focused upon Cynomorium as evidenced by its availability via hundreds of distributors advertising (via the internet) herbal remedies for kidney and intestinal ailments as well as for impotence. Although it is not at present clear how many original distributors of the plant exist, and whether plant material being marketed as Cynomorium is actually this plant, what is clear is that it is not being cultivated, thus authentic herbal preparations must be obtained from wild populations. Very little information exists on the cultivation of Cynomorium [25] and certainly commercial suppliers are not practicing sustainable harvest by cultivating this obligate holoparasite. There is evidence that overexploitation of this plant has resulted in localized extinction [42]. For these reasons, we here raise concerns for the conservation of both species of Cynomorium and strongly voice the need to develop cultivation methodologies. Given the potential and actual biomedical applications of extracts from this plant, and conservation concerns given extensive harvesting from wild populations, information on its phylogenetic position within angiosperms is timely. Further molecular work will likely illuminate its closest relatives within Saxifragales. These taxa should then become the subject of phytochemical analyses to determine whether they also contain compounds of biomedical interest. Cultivation of photosynthetic plants would be more straightforward than the holoparasite, thus possibly relieving some of the pressure to harvest this more sensitive species from the wild.
sumber dari: biomedsearch.com
No comments:
Post a Comment