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XV.—The Harmala Alkaloids in Malaria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 September 2014

J. A. Gunn  and
D. G. Marshall
J. A. Gunn
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
D. G. Marshall
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Extract

In two former contributions to this Society I described the pharmacological actions of harmaline and harmine, the two alkaloids found in the seeds of Peganum harmala. In regard to harmaline I came to the following conclusions:— “It differs from most alkaloids in that it does not exert, to the same extent as they do, a selective action on one kind of tissue. It attacks not only highly specialised tissues such as voluntary muscle, muscle of the heart, blood-vessels and uterus, and cells of the central nervous system, but also less highly differentiated cells, such as pigment cells, protozoa (Raab), and ciliated epithelium (Jacobson).

Type
Proceedings
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh , Volume 40 , 1921 , pp. 140 - 149
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1920

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References

page 140 note * Gunn, , Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., xlvii, 1909, pp. 245–272Google Scholar.

page 140 note † Gunn, ibid., xlviii, 1911, pp. 83–96.

page 144 note * Since the above was written, my friend Mr Hilton-Simpson has kindly shown me the unpublished notes recently collected by him on the native medicines used by the inhabitants of Shawia, in Algeria. Of special interest in connection with this communication are the observations he has made on the uses of Peganum harmala, of which observations the following is an extract:—

“Seeds of Peganum harmala are collected in summer and can be kept for four years, but not longer, because after that they deteriorate, These serve for a variety of treatments and are the best remedy for syphilis. The seeds are ground to a very fine powder and made into pills with honey, and one pill is taken night and morning for fifteen days, when a cure is affected: a purge, preferably castor oil, is taken before the treatment, begins. This 'harmel powder intoxicates like alcohol, and is so strong that the seeds have to be soaked in water to weaken them for women's use, and they are then given unpowdered. In mild cases a little of the harmel powder is placed under the tongue once daily for forty days.

“The whole plant is sometimes used. It is washed in cold water, cut up, and boiled in water for two to three hours, and the liquid bottled. This is used as a sole beverage for syphilis.

“Harmel is also used for ‘fever’; usually the patient fumigates himself with the smoke of the burning seeds. It is also used as an ointment for septic wounds.”

It is interesting to find that the plant from which the alkaloids harmaline and harmine are obtained is held in such high repute as a curative agent. It is possible that, especially if given over a long period and in large doses, it may have some value in the treatment of syphilis. It is also possible that in large doses it will produce a kind of intoxication in man, seeing that it has been found to produce a pronounced stimulation of the cerebrum in the lower animals. That it will have an antiseptic action is almost certain.