Fatal poisoning of pregnant women by peganum harmala L.: A case reports

Ghizlane, El Aidouni; Merbouh, Manal; Ines, Haddad Arhoun; Diyas, Soufiane; Lezreg, Moussa; Bkiyar, Houssam; Housni, Brahim

doi:10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102649

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Neurological, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular symptoms accounted for 34.4%, 31.9%, and 15.8% of the cases of poisoning, respectively. Following the consumption of P. harmala seeds, patients apply to the clinic with complaints such as visual and auditory hallucinations, locomotor ataxia, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and agitation (88)(89)(90)(91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96). Some cases of poisoning by P. harmala are listed in Table 3.…”

Section: Human Toxicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytochemical, Pharmacological, and Toxicological Studies on Peganum harmala L.: An Overview of the Last Decade

GÖKKAYA,

RENDA,

SUBAŞ

et al. 2023

Clinical and Experimental Health Sciences

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Objective: Plants have been used to treat ailments since the dawn of humanity. The use of medicinal plants for various purposes such as preventing diseases, treating diseases and supporting medical treatment is increasing day by day. On the other hand, medicinal plants are important sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. It has been demonstrated that Peganum harmala L. and the phytochemicals it contains have a wide variety of pharmacological activities. P. harmala and its active ingredients can be an important resource for the pharmaceutical industry. In this review, the phytochemistry, pharmacological effects, clinical studies, and toxicity of P. harmala are discussed under the current information. Methods: Studies on P. harmala were searched using Pubmed, Scopus, Science Direct databases, and Google Scholar search engine. As a result of the searches, 96 articles were included in the study. Results: The main group of secondary metabolites responsible for the biological activities of P. harmala is alkaloids. The plant and its isolated secondary plant compounds have been shown to have many pharmacological actions, counting antiamnestic, anticancer, antidepressant, antiinflammatory, cardiovascular, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, and vasodilator activities. Studies evaluating the plant's clinical effects have been carried out in recent years. However, it has been recorded in the literature that the use of P. harmala causes poisoning with symptoms such as neurosensory symptoms, visual hallucination, bradycardia, hypotension, agitation, tremor, ataxia, and vomiting. Conclusion: Considering the pharmacological effects, the number of studies on the efficacy and safety of P. harmala and its secondary metabolites should be increased.

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Section: Human Toxicitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Phytochemical, Pharmacological, and Toxicological Studies on Peganum harmala L.: An Overview of the Last Decade

GÖKKAYA,

RENDA,

SUBAŞ

et al. 2023

Clinical and Experimental Health Sciences

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“…The corresponding concentrations were much lower in rats treated with a low P. harmala dose (15 mg/kg), with harmaline and harmine being barely detectable in plasma. This suggests a non-linear dose-response, making it difficult to extrapolate these results to human ingestion of P. harmala; there is a case report of fatal toxicity due to P. harmala ingestion (Ghizlane, 2021), whereas a study from Morocco indicated a 6% fatality rate in a series of 200 cases of poisoning marked by neurological, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular signs (Achour, 2012). We cannot attribute these effects to β-carbolines per se.…”

Section: The Physiological Relevance Of Mao Inhibition; the Case Of A...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibition by Plant-Derived β-Carbolines; Implications for the Psychopharmacology of Tobacco and Ayahuasca

2022

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The monoamine oxidases (MAOs) are flavin-containing amine oxidoreductases responsible for metabolism of many biogenic amine molecules in the brain and peripheral tissues. Whereas serotonin is the preferred substrate of MAO-A, phenylethylamine is metabolized by MAO-B, and dopamine and tyramine are nearly ambivalent with respect to the two isozymes. β-Carboline alkaloids such as harmine, harman(e), and norharman(e) are MAO inhibitors present in many plant materials, including foodstuffs, medicinal plants, and intoxicants, notably in tobacco (Nicotiana spp.) and in Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine used in the Amazonian ayahuasca brew. The β-carbolines present in B. caapi may have effects on neurogenesis and intrinsic antidepressant properties, in addition to potentiating the bioavailability of the hallucinogen N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is often present in admixture plants of ayahuasca such as Psychotria viridis. Tobacco also contains physiologically relevant concentrations of β-carbolines, which potentially contribute to its psychopharmacology. However, in both cases, the threshold of MAO inhibition sufficient to interact with biogenic amine neurotransmission remains to be established. An important class of antidepressant medications provoke a complete and irreversible inhibition of MAO-A/B, and such complete inhibition is almost unattainable with reversible and competitive inhibitors such as β-carbolines. However, the preclinical and clinical observations with synthetic MAO inhibitors present a background for obtaining a better understanding of the polypharmacologies of tobacco and ayahuasca. Furthermore, MAO inhibitors of diverse structures are present in a wide variety of medicinal plants, but their pharmacological relevance in many instances remains to be established.

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Alkaloids from the entheogenic plant Peganum harmala

et al. 2023

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Entheogenic natural products (e.g., psylocybin and dimethyltryptamine) are emerging as effective therapeutics to treat debilitating mood disorders that are unresponsive to conventional treatment. The detailed evaluation of psychotropic plants will conceivably lead to the discovery of structurally distinct entheogens that may offer improved or complementary medicinal properties to the classic entheogens. The plant Peganum harmala has a rich history in traditional medicine, with consumption inducing a host of central nervous system (CNS) symptoms, including hallucinations. Given alkaloids are uniquely capable of altering the CNS physiology owing to their ability to cross the blood–brain barrier, the natural product(s) responsible for the entheogenic properties are likely hidden in its structurally diverse alkaloid profile. Herein, an overview of the 160 alkaloids isolated from P. harmala is provided. Remarkably, bioactivity data is scarce, limited to inhibition of monoamine oxidases and cholinesterases in a few cases, with the majority having no reported bioactivity at all. As none of the classic entheogens have been detected in P. harmala, this collection of alkaloids provides a useful reference point in the search of structurally unique entheogens.

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Fatal poisoning of pregnant women by peganum harmala L.: A case reports

Cited by 3 publications

References 7 publications

Phytochemical, Pharmacological, and Toxicological Studies on Peganum harmala L.: An Overview of the Last Decade

Phytochemical, Pharmacological, and Toxicological Studies on Peganum harmala L.: An Overview of the Last Decade

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibition by Plant-Derived β-Carbolines; Implications for the Psychopharmacology of Tobacco and Ayahuasca

Alkaloids from the entheogenic plant Peganum harmala

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