(June 25, 2012) PHARMACEUTICAL
RESEARCH Scientists have discovered that plant compounds from a South African
flower may in time be used to treat diseases originating in the brain –
including depression. At the University of Copenhagen, a number of these
substances have now been tested in a laboratory model of the blood-brain barrier.
The promising results have been published in the Journal of Pharmacy and
Pharmacology.
Scientists
at the University of Copenhagen have previously documented that substances from
the South African plant species Crinum and Cyrtanthus – akin to snowdrops and
daffodils – have an effect on the mechanisms in the brain that are involved in
depression. This research has now yielded further results, since a team based
at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has recently shown how several
South African daffodils contain plant compounds whose characteristics enable
them to negotiate the defensive blood-brain barrier that is a key challenge in
all new drug development.