Disputas: Sekou Bah

Prøveforelesning

Bedømmelseskomité

Professor Lars Bohlin, Det Farmaceutisk Fakultet, Uppsala universitet, Sverige
Professor Thrina Loennechen, Institutt for Farmasi, Universitet i Tromsø, Norge
Professor Karl Egil Malterud, Farmasøytisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo, Norge

Sammendrag

The use of natural products as medicines is as ancient as human civilization and, for a long time the mineral, plant and animal products were the only sources of drugs. In Mali as in most African countries, 80% of the population use traditional medicine for the treatment of their illnesses. The traditional healers hold the knowledge of this tradition and thus play a critical role in research on medicinal plants. The aim of the present thesis was to identify plants used against schistosomiasis (Bilharzias) and to identify substances in the plants with antischistosomal potential. The results of the thesis have showed that plants used by traditional healers to treat schistosomiasis contain cystatins which inhibit cysteine proteases of Schistosoma mansoni (infective agent of schistosomiasis). This is the first report about cystatins and the possible antischistosomal activities of these peptides in the investigated plants. Cystatins have potential in pharmaceutical development for the treatment of several diseases (cancer, inflammatory condition, viral and protozoal infections) as well as a transgenic potential in crop defense. Moreover, some of the plants investigated exhibited activities that could indicate antimalarial and antiepileptic properties. 11% of the drugs considered as basic and essential by the WHO (World Health Organization) are exclusively of plant origin. Results presented in this thesis suggest that the search for active pharmacological entities in plants is worthwhile and could focus on therapeutic regimes practiced locally. Important new compounds could emerge from such investigations and traditional medicines could be improved.

Kontaktperson

For mer informasjon, kontakt Karen Marie Ulshagen.