William N. Setzer
Pharmaceuticals from Zimbabwean Traditional Herbal Medicine
The long term objectives of this project is discovery of new anti-infective and antitumor
agents using traditional Zimbabwean ethnopharmacology as a guide. This project will involve
collection of plant materials which already have a history of applications in the traditional
medicine
of the Ndebele people from Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. We will concentrate on plants which
show
promise for anti-infective activity (i.e., those used traditionally for treatment of wounds, skin
diseases, venereal disease, infections, etc.), but which have not been examined phytochemically.
Plant materials will be extracted and the crude extracts screened for biological activity
(antimicrobial and cytotoxic). Extracts which show promising bioactivity will be subjected to
activity-directed chromatographic separation in order to isolate and purify the active
components.
The active materials will be identified using spectroscopic and crystallographic techniques. This
research provides an excellent opportunity to identify novel phytochemical agents which could
serve
to combat emerging infectious diseases, opportunistic or drug resistant microorganisms and
tumors.
An especially attractive feature of this project is the interdisciplinary and interinstitutional
character of the research. The proposed research involves an unprecidented collaboration
between
investigators from all three institutions of higher education in Huntsville, Alabama: the
historically
black/Seventh Day Adventist Oakwood College, historically black Alabama A & M University,
and
the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The collaboration provides opportunities for
interaction
between faculty members and student researchers, and allows greater access to different
facilities
from the three participating campuses. In addition, the collaboration with the University of
Zimbabwe brings unique access to the phytochemical and ethnobotanical riches of
Matabeleland,
Zimbabwe. This research project provides excellent hands-on experiences for undergraduate
students from three different institutions which already have a tradition in quality undergraduate
scientific education.
