Price Joseph A
Department of Pathology, OSU-COM, Tulsa, OK 74107-1898, USA.
J Intercult Ethnopharmacol. 2016 May 4;5(3):219-25. doi: 10.5455/jice.20160421070136. eCollection 2016 Jun-Aug.
At least seven North American tribes specifically mention the use of Eryngium (typically roots) as an anti-snake venom therapy. As snake envenomation is an endemic, life-threatening medical risk, is there a scientific basis for the Native American ethnomedicine? Could this be demonstrated in an assay amenable to mechanistic evaluation and high throughput screening for later isolation and possible evaluation as a source for a lead drug?
Proteases, mainly metalloproteases, are thought to be the main pathological agents in most American snake venoms. Water extracts of four plant parts of Eryngium yuccifolium were tested for enzyme inhibition in three highly sensitive in vitro protease assays, with multiple venoms.
Interestingly, activity was found in all plant parts, not just the roots, in the general protease assay, also in the most specific assay for collagenases, but less so for elastases where enzymatic activity was low, and against five species of American snake venoms. Inhibition spared the activity of a mammalian elastase, suggesting it has some specificity. In dose response assays, inhibitory activity in extracts of Eryngium was noticeably more effective than randomly chosen plants and comparable to some others.
All data shown here are consistent with pharmacological inhibition of proteases in at least selected venoms of common venomous snakes by Eryngium extracts. Moreover, as the genus is widely distributed in America, the ethnological practice of using this plant as an anti-snake venom treatment is supportable, may have been common, and suggests further bioactivity and phytochemical studies are warranted.
至少有七个北美部落特别提到使用刺芹属植物（通常是根部）作为抗蛇毒疗法。由于蛇咬伤是一种地方性的、危及生命的医疗风险，美洲原住民民族医学是否有科学依据？这能否在一种适合进行机制评估和高通量筛选的分析方法中得到证明，以便日后分离并可能作为先导药物来源进行评估？
蛋白酶，主要是金属蛋白酶，被认为是大多数美洲蛇毒中的主要致病因子。在三种高度敏感的体外蛋白酶分析方法中，用多种蛇毒对刺叶刺芹四个植物部位的水提取物进行了酶抑制测试。
有趣的是，在一般蛋白酶分析中，所有植物部位都发现了活性，不仅是根部，在最特异的胶原酶分析中也是如此，但在弹性蛋白酶分析中活性较低，且对五种美洲蛇毒都有活性。该抑制作用不影响哺乳动物弹性蛋白酶的活性，表明它具有一定的特异性。在剂量反应分析中，刺芹提取物的抑制活性明显比随机选择的植物更有效，且与其他一些植物相当。
此处所示的所有数据均与刺芹提取物对至少某些常见毒蛇毒液中的蛋白酶具有药理抑制作用一致。此外，由于该属植物在美国广泛分布，将这种植物用作抗蛇毒治疗的民族学实践是有依据的，可能曾经很普遍，这表明有必要进一步开展生物活性和植物化学研究。
