New research suggests that South African daffodils may be a future cure for depression.
Scientists at the University of Copenhagen have previously documented that substances from the South African plant species Crinum and Cyrtanthus – akin to snowdrops and daffodils – have an effect on the mechanisms in the brain that are involved in depression.
This research has now yielded further results, since a team based at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences has recently shown how several South African daffodils contain plant compounds whose characteristics enable them to negotiate the defensive blood-brain barrier, which is the biggest challenge in medical treatment of diseases of the brain.
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"Several of our plant compounds can probably be smuggled past the brain's effective barrier proteins," said associate professor Birger Brodin in a statement.
"We examined various compounds for their influence on the transporter proteins in the brain. This study was made in a genetically-modified cell model of the blood-brain barrier that contains high levels of the transporter P-glycoprotein.
"Our results are promising, and several of the chemical compounds studied should therefore be tested further, as candidates for long-term drug development."
Defensive proteins pump drugs out of the cells just as quickly as they are pumped in, which makes the blood vessels of the brain impenetrable for most compounds.
However, compounds that manage to 'trick' this line of defence could be vital to drug development.
The results of the study have been published in the Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology.
It will nonetheless be a long time before any possible new drug reaches our pharmacy shelves.
"This is the first stage of a lengthy process, so it will take some time before we can determine which of the plant compounds can be used in further drug development," says Brodin.