From: morris/arla johnson (megao@sk.sympatico.ca)
Date: Mon May 04 1998 - 01:37:08 MDT
The report of angiostatin and endostatin points out that great science
is still 90% perspiration after the 10% inspiration passes.
I also have some good news. Not of the same significance but still
useful. The lowly buffaloberry of which we are growing about 100,000
of as field shelterbelts may harbour a worthy addition to the
cocktail of drugs available to aids carriers. For those of us in south
Saskatchewan Canada who live in yearly fear of running dryland farms in
an area not usually suited to being very productive it really makes the
day when something we can grow well and think of as worthless is found
to have enough potential value to become a mainstay to pay the bills
for the inputs we need to use to grow the ordinary crops everybody
takes for granted.
What do you people think..Should I contract with aids carriers to
sell them the leaves at so much a tree? They would get a signed and
numbered tree certificate with a picture of their tagged and numbered
"rent-a-tree". Each november they'd get the year's leaf production
and any fruit born as well.
This would be much like what some horse owners do to keep afloat.
They raise horses and stable them all winter to collect horse urine from
which Ayerst Pharmaceuticals extracts the base materials for
contaceptives and chemically related drugs.
Without the added value from the drugs many of the horse farmers
wouldn't be producing the simple everyday farm products people
take for granted.
Goes to prove, the most useful things can come from abscure beginnings?
Chem Pharm Bull (Tokyo) 1996 Aug;44(8):1436-1439
New hydrolyzable tannins, shephagenins A and B, from Shepherdia argentea as
HIV-1 reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
Yoshida T, Ito H, Hatano T, Kurata M, Nakanishi T, Inada A, Murata H, Inatomi
Y, Matsuura N, Ono K, Nakane H, Noda M, Lang FA, Murata J
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama University, Japan.
Two new hydrolyzable tannins, shephagenins A and B, were isolated along with
hippophaenin A and strictinin from the leaf extract of Shepherdia argentea,
which showed a remarkable inhibitory activity against human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV)-1 reverse transcriptase. Their structures, having a gluconic acid
core, have been elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic and chemical methods.
The inhibitory effect of the leaf extract on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase was
found to be due to tannins, and their activities were stronger than that of
(-)-epigallocatechin gallate as a positive control.
PMID: 8795264, UI: 96387794
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Trees and shrubs for wildlife habitat plantings
Buffaloberry (Shepherdia argentea Nutt.)
Buffaloberry is native of the southern parts of western Canada and is found growing naturally in
river valleys and around sloughs. Although it prefers moist well drained sites, it will tolerate
some spring flooding and is drought hardy. Buffaloberry is tolerant to saline and alkaline soils.
Buffaloberry is a bushy,tall shrub that grows to height of 4 to 5 metres. This shrub species
suckers and forms a dense irregular hedge. The lateral branches have sharp spines at the tip and
are formed at right angles to the main branch. The leaves are silvery on both sides. The small
yellow flowers, appearing in late June or early July, are borne in clusters along stems. The
buffaloberry produces male and female flowers on seperate plants; only the female plants bear
fruit. Fruit ripens in July and August and varies from scarlet to orange in colour.
Uses for Wildlife
The fruit is an important winter food for game birds and other species - such as waxwings - that
remain for the winter. The buffaloberry's suckering habit creates excellent edge cover and also
assures continuation of the species. The shrub is of minor importance as a browse species.
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