PDF
(Download)
|
- Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
| Date:
06-15-2012 | HC# 031244-450
|
Re: Review of Traditional and Scientifically Substantiated Applications of Boneset
Hensel
A, Maas M, Sendker J, et. al. Eupatorium
perfoliatum L.: phytochemistry, traditional use and current applications. J Ethnopharmacol. December 8,
2011;138(3):641-651.
A
perennial North American herb, boneset (Eupatorium
perfoliatum) was used by Native Americans long before European
colonization. Leaves and flowering parts were used in North American
traditional medicine primarily to treat fever and cause sweating. Many tribes knew
about boneset, using it for colds and fevers. It was also called feverwort by
Europeans.* The Chippewa and Cherokee used it as an antirheumatic. Early European
settlers adopted Native American uses, adding treatment of malaria, yellow
fever, dengue fever, and influenza. Boneset was grown as a substitute for
quinine (Cinchona spp.). Early in the
US, it was used for rheumatism, gout, and arthritis. In the late 19th
century, it was widely used mostly in colds with fever and in rheumatism by the
Eclectic and Physiomedicalist physicians. It appeared in the US Pharmacopeia until
1900 and the National Formulary until 1945. Current European use includes
homeopathic treatments for colds, flu, and liver and biliary diseases
associated with fever and rheumatism. A 1985 monograph by the former German Federal
Office for Drugs and Medicinal Products, Commission D, indicates its homeopathic
use. It appears in the German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia (HAB 2010).
There
are about 38 Eupatorium spp. Europe's
one indigenous species is hemp agrimony (E.
cannabinum). Boneset for medicinal use mostly originates in North America; however,
it is now also cultivated in Europe. Pharmacognostic and analytical differences
between boneset and hemp agrimony are of concern, especially because of potentially
hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids in hemp agrimony and other Eupatorium which are absent in boneset. The
German Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia does not provide a definitive identification
method; other literature describes an identification and fingerprinting method
by capillary zone electrophoresis. One of the authors has described a validated
high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method to verify boneset identity
and quality.
Whether
or not dried boneset leaves and flowers contain volatile essential oils (EOs) remains
unsettled, with different studies reporting different results. The authors say
the data indicate boneset accumulates only small quantities of EOs, with
inconsistent composition, and a broad analysis is needed to consider variables like
seed material, growth conditions, harvest time, etc. Profuse trichomes and EO
glands on leaves seem to indicate that EOs are produced, but may not persist
after harvest and drying.
Many
flavonoids, e.g., kaempferol and quercetin, and methylated flavonoid aglycones,
inclulding eupafolin, are found in dried boneset. Eupafolin has
anti-inflammatory effects in vivo, inhibiting transcription nuclear factor-kappa
B (NF-κB). Several sesquiterpene lactones (STLs) and related compounds, including
euperfolid, have been reported with an exocyclic methylene group. Many STLs
with this structure have anti-inflammatory effects in vitro, also inhibiting
NF-κB. Eupafolin and euperfolid likely contribute to the potent anti-inflammatory
effects of boneset reported in vitro for homeopathic extracts and in vivo for other
extracts, validating its traditional use in inflammatory conditions. Boneset
extracts and fractions, especially those with flavonoids and protocatechuic
acid as dominant compounds, also have strong antioxidant properties.
Many
triterpenes and sterols; caffeic acid derivatives; fatty acids and fatty
alcohols; and some polysaccharides have been reported in boneset extracts and
fractions. A fructan found by enzymatic assay of a hot water extract is thought
to be inulin-like, chemotaxonomically typical of the Asteraceae plant family.
Two polysaccharides, characterized as 4-O-methyl-glucurono-xylans,
increased in vitro phagocytosis of human granulocytes by 30% over untreated
controls. In vivo studies using the carbon clearance test also showed increased
phagocytosis. An STL, usually eufoliatin, increased phagocytosis in vitro. Other
studies report contradictory results. Only one non-placebo-controlled open
trial, on 53 patients with colds, has been conducted using boneset. One group took
a homeopathic preparation; the other, aspirin. Outcomes did not differ. In
trials reporting benefits against colds, homeopathic boneset extracts were
combined with other extracts. None of the studies reported applied Good
Clinical Practice (GCP) protocols. Constituents accounting for a proposed
immunostimulatory effect and claimed efficacy of homeopathic boneset cold
remedies remain unclear. Polysaccharides such as those reported, for example,
are not normally extracted by virtue of their strong cell wall association, and
would occur in insignificant amounts in commercial or traditional remedies.
Reported immunostimulation could be caused by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-depletion
of polysaccharides before testing.
Boneset
extracts are strongly active against Plasmodium
falciparum, the protozoan causing malaria, validating another traditional
use. An unusual dimeric guaianolide was most active.
Finally,
a lack of cytotoxic effects has been reported.
—Mariann
Garner-Wizard
* The common name boneset comes from a
characterization of severe fevers as "bone-breaking."
|