Category: Plants & Medicine

How three ubiquitous and well-studied natural products derived from plants can protect the skin against gamma radiation during radiotherapy.

Melanoma is an especially aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer that can be difficult to treat. Recently, researchers discovered a compound within pine tree bark that might be able to combat the disease.

Extracts of the herb have already fired the interest of drug laboratories as they contain hundreds of compounds, including intriguing molecules called diterpenoids which are believed to ease inflammation and immune response.

Australian researchers published findings this week on a newly-discovered plant compound that destroys cancer cells, but leaves healthy cells unharmed. They found it in possibly the last place you‘d look for a cancer cure: the family of plants that brings us cancer‘s number-one culprit, tobacco.

Researchers created from plant waste a novel nanotube, one that is much more flexible than rigid carbon nanotubes currently used. The researchers say the lignin nanotubes – about 500 times smaller than a human eyelash – can deliver DNA directly into the nucleus of human cells in tissue culture, where this DNA could then correct genetic conditions.

Agavins, derived from the agave plant that‘s used to make tequila, were found in mouse studies to trigger insulin production and lower blood sugar, as well as help obese mice lose weight.

But while polysaccharide-K – a protein extract from the trametes versicolor fungus, or turkey tail – is already being used to boost the immune system of cancer patients in some countries including Japan, research into all fungi is still in its infancy and more trials are needed.

Researchers looking at the constituents of Baphia nitida, the hard-wooded African tree from which camwood is extracted, found its inclusion in ointments for wound care could ensure good wound healing and treatment of abscesses in animal studies.

A chemical that's found in fruits and vegetables from strawberries to cucumbers appears to stop memory loss that accompanies Alzheimer's disease in mice