Experimental Plant Science Final

Chapter 16

1. How can high amounts of caffeine affect a fetus?

It can stunt the growth 

2. What are some benefits of caffeine from studies?

Can prevent headaches

3. List some effects of caffeine.

Increase BP, HR, and respiration

4. Why would plants, which do not possess a nervous system, have evolved neurologically active compounds? 

It acts as a deterrent 

5.  Where is coffee native to and what plant is it primarily produced from?

Ethiopia 

Caffea arabica

6. When was coffee roasted and brewed into a drink?

1200 AD

7. During what time period did coffee spread from Ethiopia?

1700s

8. Who is the leading export of coffee?

Brazil 

9. How is coffee traditionally grown? How is coffee grown to produce a greater yield?

Traditionally shade grown but there is a higher yield in sun grown trees

10. What is the ecological concern of coffee trees?

Deforestation

11. What is the world’s most consumed beverage after water?

Tea 

12. What is the binomial of tea?

Camellia sinensis

13. Where is tea native to?

SE Asia 

India and China

14. In what plant is tea produced from?

Small trees and shrubs

15. How much fermentation is involved with green, Oolong, black, white, and herbal tea?

Green: None, but steamed

Oolong: Partial

Black: Full

White: none, no steaming

Herbal: generally from other plant species

16. What is a health benefit of green tea consumption?

It has been linked to lower cancer

17. Caffeine and theophylline are both what?

Stimulants 

18. What does theophylline do to the body?

Relaxes bronchial muscles in asthmatics 

19. What is the mythology of theobroma cacao in Aztec mythology?

The cacao was given to them after their creation from maize; used seeds as small coins

20. How was “chocolatl” made?

From roasted and ground bean with chili peppers an other spices

21. Who and when was sugar added cocoa butter and sugar to theobroma cacao?

In 1850 by an English company

22. How is chocolate made?

It is made from roasted, fermented seeds of the theobroma cacao tree 

23. Where is Theobroma cacao native to?

To neotropics

24. How much theobromine is contained in the seeds? What class of secondary plant compound is in?

2%

Alkaloid 

25. Where is theobromine also found?

In tea leaves and kola tree

26. What organ does theobromine stimulate? What is another use?

Stimulates the heart and works as a diuretic

27. What is phenethylamine? 

A dopamine releasing-agent

28. What is phenethylamine linked to in the brain?

Serotonin-levels

29. What happens when it is consumed orally? 

It is rapidly metabolized

30. What is Anandamide? What does it do?

Cannabinoid neurotransmitter. It activates some of the same receptors as THC

31. What are the possible health benefits of dark chocolate?

• Flavanols have antioxidant properties

• My improve insulin sensitivity and reduce BP

32. What happens to flavanols when they are processed?

More flavanols are lost 

33. Describe the process of making chocolate.

• Beans are roasted, cracked, and opened releasing cotyledons (nibs)

• Nibs are crushed to produce choc. Liquor: baking chocolate 

• Cocoa butter (lipids) used for soaps and cosmetics 

34. Where is half of cocoa worldwide grown?

West Africa

35. What seeds does coca-cola use?

W. African cola tree

36. What are the two cardiac stimulants in coca-cola?

Caffeine and kolanin

Chapter 19

1. What year dates back to when neanderthals were buried with medicinal plants?

60k ya

2. When was the  sumerian tablet of medicinal plants made?

4k years ago 

3. What was snakeroot used for in ancient times vs today?

Was used as sedative, but now for BP and schizophrenia 

4. Who is the father of medicine? What did he propose?

Hippocrates: He proposed that illness was naturally occuring and not supernatural 

5. What was used as a contraceptive?

Giant fennel

6. How many medicinal plants were in the dioscorides? How long was it the western standard?

600 plants

1500 years

7. What revived herbalism?

Renaissance and printing press

8. What is the doctrine of signatures/features of plants?

It corresponds to a human part (no scientific basis)

If a plant looked like a certain feature it must treat it

9. What plant produces morphine? 

Opium poppy

10. What plant produces salicylic acid? Is it still being obtained by plants?

Willow trees but is now synthetic 

11. What percentage of U.S. pharmaceuticals have plant derived active ingredients?

25%

12. What percentage of rural populations rely on herbal medicine as only health care? What countries has this been established in?

75%

China, India, and other countries

13. What is Echinacea used for?

Antidote for bites and stings, cure infectious disease, tooth-ache plant, smoke a remedy for headaches

14. List the secondary plant products.

Alkaloids and glycosides 

15. How many Alkaloids have been identified and which family is it dominant in?

3000 identified

Dominant in Fabaceae, Solanaceae, and Rubiaceae family

16. What are the effects of Cardioactive glycosides and saponins?

Effects heart contraction 

Progesterone precursor and cortisone 

17. What are Digitalis glycosides used for?

To slow heartbeat with increased blood pump

Remedy for fluid accumulation from congestive heart failure 

18. What does the inner bark of Salix (willow) contain? What is it composed of?

Salicin

Glycoside of salicylic acid

19. What is the synthetic form of salicin? What are its effects? 

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid)

Anti-inflammatory, analgesic 

Reduces risk of second heart attack 

20. What is used as treatment for malaria?

Fever bark tree (Rubiaceae) which produces alkaloid quinine

The synthetic form is chloroquine

21. What is Artemisinin used for?

A terpene that is also toxic to malaria parasite

22. What plant is reserpine from? What does it treat?

Snakeroot 

One of the first tranquilizers for schizophrenia and hypertension

23. What have gymnosperms been used for? How long?

Decongestant and CNS stimulant similar to adrenaline

24. What are the synthetic compounds that gymnosperms have been found in?

Decongestants, weight control supplements, and energy boosters

25. What is pseudoephedrine a starting reactant for? Why is it sold in small quantities?

Methamphetamine

It’s sold in small amounts since people can form methamphetamine with pseudoephedrine

26. Abuse of products containing Ephedra extracts led to increased concerns about unregulated marketing of herbal remedies. Should increased regulation occur?

27. What is the source of vinblastine and vincristine? What does it treat?

Madagascar periwinkle

It treats various leukemias and lymphomas 

28. What are the chemotherapeutic agents?

Blocks spindle formation

29. What is Pacific Yew, Taxus brevifolia?

Chemotherapeutic terpene taxol isolated from bark

30. What steps can be taken to ensure that useful plant species will be preserved?

31. Define medicine.

The science or practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease

32. What percentage of people in the US use alternative medicine?

40%

33. What is the difference between testing clinical prescriptions and dietary supplements?

Testing is not needed for dietary supplements

34. What is st. John’s wort used for and where?

As a treatment for depression in Germany

Thought to raise serotonin levels

35. What is Ginkgo used for?

Improvements dementia symptoms via increased blood flow

Anticoagulant; increased bleed risks

36. Who used plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region?

Melvin Gilmore

37. What effects does Echinacea have?

Antidote for bites and stings, cure infectious disease, tooth-ache plant, smoke remedy for headaches

38. What may be able to help the symptoms of benign prostate enlargement?

Saw Palmetto

Chapter 20

1. What are the most widely used psychoactive substances used in the US?

Caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine

2. What do psychoactive drug effects depend on?

• Pharmacology of drug

• Biology of individual

• Psychology of individual

• Cultural setting 

3. What effect does psychoactive drugs have on neurons?

Mimicking, amplifying, or blocking neurotransmitters

4. What are psychoactive drugs classified as?

Stimulants, depressant, or hallucinogens

5. Define Narcotic? What secondary compound is it mainly? 

Technically a depressant, but now used as any ‘dangerously addictive’ psychoactive compound

Mostly alkaloids (THC a phenolic)

6. What is the primary component of the “reward circuit?” Out of how many neurotransmitters?

Dopamine

1 of 100 neurotransmitters

7. What does cocaine block?

Blocks the return of dopamine to ventral tegmental area 

8. What inhibits dopamine productions?

Opiates 

9. How is the tolerance of dopamine form?

Chronically elevated dopamine leads to the inhibition of dopamine production in ventral tegmental area

10. What is the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

Milky latex rich in alkaloids that are CNS depressants

11. Where is it native to?

Middle East

12. Describe what occurred in the opium wars.

British and US ships smuggled opium from India to China. China destroys opium. Britain retaliates with the 1st and 2nd war. Creates addictive culture that ends with communist revolution

13. Opium alkaloids include what? What does it provide?

Morphine and codeine 

Main drug for intense pain

Provides euphoric sensation, respiratory depressant

14. What is heroin?

A chemical modification of morphine, and much more addictive 

15. Where is heroin legally produced?

India

16. What are other semisynthetic forms of heroin?

Oxycodone and hydrocodone

17. What is a synthetic form of heroin?

Fentanyl

18. What is Kava (Piper methysticum)?

CNS depressant 

19. What is the cultural aspect of the root of Kava?

Made into social, sacred, and medicinal beverage of South Pacific

20. What is Kava linked to?

Liver toxicity link found in US and Europe (FDA ban)

21. What is alcohol?

CNS depressant

22. Describe the transportation of alcohol in the blood and its effects.

Small molecules that are easily carried from the blood to the brain: may affect many neurotransmitter systems

23. What is the binomial of marijuana?

Cannabis sativa 

24. What is one of the oldest cultivated plants? What are some components?

Marijuana 

Medicine, fiber, oil and seed 

25. Where is marijuana originate from? What is a source that comes from it? 

From central asia 

Resin source of THC

26. What influenced the amount of THC in Cannabis?

Species, sexes, growing environment, and plant parts

27. What does THC bind to with marijuana? What does it mimic?

Binds with several cannabinoid receptors in CNS

Mimics anandamide and endocannabinoids naturally produced in the body

28. What are the medical uses of marijuana? 

Reducing nausea during chemotherapy, lowering intraocular pressure for treatment of glaucoma, reducing muscle spasm in multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s, and spinal cord injury patients :-

29. What does Peyote come from? 

Comes from cactus Lophophora williamsii

30. Who used peyote, and why were they no longer allowed to use it? 

It was used by indigenous peoples of now SW USA and NW Mexico for 3k years

North America church use occurs but supreme court upheld state’s right to outlaw

31. What plants are included in the nightshade family?

Henbane, jimsownweed, mandrake, and atropine 

32. What were nightshades supposedly used for in the middle ages?

Part of positions by witches and sorcerers

33. What are the effects of atropine? 

Antispasmodic, heart stimulant, bronchodilator 

34. What is the binomial of coca? Where is it extracted?

Erythroxylum coca

Cocaine alkaloid extracted from coca plants form andes mountains of south america for over 3k years

35. What is cocaine and crack?

A powerful stimulate 

Crack is purified cocaine by boiling in ether

36. What are the effects of cocaine and crack?

Leads to short euphoria and is highly addictive and can lead to sudden death 

37. What is the family of tobacco? 

Solanaceae

38. What secondary compound is nicotine? 

Alkaloid

39. What percentage of people with lung cancer is due to smoking?

90%

40. Explain the experiment Portugal did with the decriminalization of drugs.

Drugs were still illegal, but the penalty was similar to a parking ticket with enhanced drug-treatment programs. They did see a trend of less users

Chapter 21

1. What is the active ingredient in toxic plants?

Alkaloids and glycosides

2. What is a curare? 

Arrow poison of neotropics, variety of preparations, sued as muscle relaxant during surgery

3. What is Strychnine? What is it used as?

CNS stimulant 

Rodent poison 

4. What are two common N.A. poisonous plants? Who did it kill?

Poison hemlock

Water hemlock

Killed socrates

5. What is N.A. poisonous plants confused with? 

Wild carrot and parsnip 

6. What component does milkweed have that is poisonous to livestock and children?

Cardiac glycosides 

7. What animal is immune to the toxicity of milkweeds?

Monarch butterflies

8. Which group of people use milkweed pods for food? How do they prepare it so it is not toxic?

Omaha indians 

Cooking it makes it non-toxic

9. Which plant attracts children but is fatal with 2 seeds?

Yews with red arils

Not a fruit 

Gymnosperm 

10. What is castor bean (Ricinus communis)?

Not a ture bean, member of the spurge family

11. What is Castor Bean used as?

Oil and safe laxative 

12. How many seeds of Castor Bean are fatal? 

3 seeds

13. What makes Castor Bean toxic?

Toxic protein ricin disables ribosomes

14. What does snakeroot cause in cattle?

Involunataru muscular effect 

15. What does photodermititis cause?

Skin irritant activated by light 

16. What does St. John’s Wort cause in sheep?

Big Head in sheep 

17. What does allelopathy cause? Why? 

Inhibition of planth growth by plants 

Less competition of resources 

18. What is a mechanical injury example?

Stinging nettle hairs release histamine-like compound causing dermatitis

19. Pyrethrum from ground chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium is what?

Garden dust and used for flea collars 

20. Rotenone from tuba root has what effect?

Paralyze fish and as an insecticide

21. What are some plant allergies? What happens to induce the allergy?

Pollen, contact dermatitis, and food allergies

Foreign subatnace (antigen) induces antibody production 

22. Explain the process of allergic reactions.

Involve IgE which do not circulate in blood; attach to mast cells lining respiratory tract, skin, and intestines. Histamines released from mast cells cause symptoms 

23. What is allergic rhinitis? How much of the population is affected by allergic rhinitis? 

Causes inflammation in the nostrils

10-30% 

24. What plants cause allergic rhinitis? 

Ragweeds 

25. Are ragweeds wind or insects pollinated? 

Wind pollinated

26. What is an extreme response to food allergies? 

anaphylaxis 

Swelling of respiratory tissue

Drop in bp

Cardiac arrest

27. Common plant allergens examples.

Peanuts

Wheat

Tree nuts

Strawberries 

28. What is the immediate treatmentment for allergies?

Epinephrine (adrenaline) reduces allergic response