Promising assets of Southern Africa? Cyclopia genistoides and Hoodia gordonii

University of Szeged Faculty of Pharmacy Department of Pharmacognosy PROMISING ASSETS OF SOUTHERN AFRICA? CYCLOPIA GENISTOIDES AND HOODIA GORDONII Ph.D. Thesis

A broad review of commercially important southern African medicinal plants.

AIMS OF THE STUDY Commercially important indigenous medicinal plants of southern Africa are reviewed in the context of fundamental knowledge about their ethnobotany, phylogeny, genetics, taxonomy, biochemistry, chemical variation, reproductive biology and horticulture. The aim is to explore the rapidly increasing number of scientific publications and to investigate the need for further research...

Antidepressant-like effect of Hoodia gordonii in a forced swimming test in mice: evidence for involvement of the monoaminergic system

Hoodia gordonii is a plant species used traditionally in southern Africa to suppress appetite. Recently, it has been associated with a significant increase in blood pressure and pulse rate in women, suggesting sympathomimetic activity. The present study investigated the possible antidepressant-like effects of acute and repeated (15 days) administration of H. gordonii extract (25 and 50 mg/kg, p...

Sympathomimetic Activity of a Hoodia gordonii Product: A Possible Mechanism of Cardiovascular Side Effects

Hoodia gordonii, a popular appetite suppressant, is widely used as an ingredient in many food supplements despite the fact that supporting scientific evidence is scarce. Recently alarming side effects of H. gordonii products (increased blood pressure and elevated pulse rate) have been reported. The aim of our study was to elucidate the underlying mechanism of these symptoms. A H. gordonii-conta...

Identification and Differentiation between Hoodia gordonii (Masson) Sweet ex Decne., Opuntia ficus indica (L.) P. Miller, and Related Hoodia Species Using Microscopy and PCR

Identification and Differentiation between Hoodia gordonii (Masson) Sweet ex Decne., Opuntia ficus indica (L.) P. Miller, and Related Hoodia Species Using Microscopy and PCR Vaishali Joshi a; Natascha Techen a; Brian E. Scheffler b; Ikhlas A. Khan a a National Center for Natural Products, Research and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Pharmacognosy, School of Pharmacy,...