Leal M B, Elisabetsky E
Departamento de Farmacologia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
J Ethnopharmacol. 1996 Oct;54(1):37-40. doi: 10.1016/0378-8741(96)01448-1.
Psychotria viridis and P. carthagenensis are often discussed in relation to the hallucinogenic beverage Ayahuasca, used for religious, medicinal and social purposes. The significance of including Psychotria species in this beverage has been understood on the basis of substantial amounts of tryptamine alkaloids detected on leaves of both P. viridis and P. carthagenensis. Nevertheless, there is a long lasting debate over the identification of which Psychotria species are actually traditionally employed. We here report that a P. carthagenensis leaf ethanol extract was found to be devoid of alkaloids. The extract significantly decreased mice body temperature (350 and 500 mg/kg). Toxicity assessment revealed that the extract induced sedation and slight ptoses (75% of animals treated with 1000 mg/kg). Lethality was not observed within 48 h. The data indicate that P. carthagenensis does have bioactive compound(s), possibly active at the central nervous system, but unlikely to be tryptamine alkaloids as in the case of P. viridis. Therefore, if P. carthagenensis is indeed used by ayahuasqueros, its chemical and pharmacological significance have yet to be elucidated.
绿九节和卡塔赫纳九节常与用于宗教、药用和社交目的的致幻饮料死藤水联系在一起讨论。在绿九节和卡塔赫纳九节的叶子上检测到大量色胺生物碱，据此人们理解了在这种饮料中加入九节属植物的意义。然而，关于究竟哪些九节属植物实际上是传统上所使用的，一直存在长期的争论。我们在此报告，发现卡塔赫纳九节叶乙醇提取物不含生物碱。该提取物显著降低了小鼠体温（350和500毫克/千克）。毒性评估显示，该提取物诱导了镇静和轻微眼睑下垂（1000毫克/千克处理的动物中有75%出现此情况）。在48小时内未观察到致死性。数据表明，卡塔赫纳九节确实含有生物活性化合物，可能在中枢神经系统起作用，但不太可能像绿九节那样是色胺生物碱。因此，如果卡塔赫纳九节确实被死藤水巫师所使用，其化学和药理学意义还有待阐明。
