TOXIC PLANTS: THE ROLE OF A PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANIST AS A SUPPORT OF THE EAD (EMERGENCY ALERT DEPARTMENT) HOSPITAL

Plants has always represented a source of food, medicine, cosmetics, dyes, flavourings and more for man. In the course of history and the centuries, the man has also identified a group of plants, the poisonous plants, which can also be a valid food, drug or other. In general, people have little knowledge about the potential toxicity of the plants. A great confidence in natural products usually prevails considering them able to solve any health problem and that in any case allow us to live better. Unfortunately, it is not always the case. It has recently been noted an increase in the number of cases of poisoning due to the careless use of plants, considered mistakenly as safe and harmless (1, 2). The Poison Control Center of Milan for over 40 years responds 24h to the problems of poisoning and/or exposures of private citizens, hospital doctors, teachers, etc., providing answers and advice to 65-70% of cases occurring in Italy (3). The poisoning and/or exposures monitored due to plant material are about 1000 per year (1). A close cooperation between botanists and the medical staff of the Hospital Poison Center is essential to provide an effective information service to medical staff and to help in the prevention and management of the deleterious effects of toxic plant on human health. The first and mandatory point is a rapid identification of the poisonous plant. The cases of poisoning due to ingestion of wild plants are those that most need the expertise of a botanist, since it is not possible to know in advance which will be the botanical specimen to examine: we can have only some parts of fresh plant, or just fragments of cooked plant or still it is necessary to examine the outcome of vomiting. It is also crucial to know the season in which the poisoning occurs, in order to correlate it with the plant ontogeny, and, equally important to know the geographical location: the Italian territory from North to South has very different climatic zones and habitats. Usually, the poisonings that occur in the early spring are mainly due to the different morphology that the plant has in the juvenile stage rather than when it is fully developed (such as late spring and summer). In the early spring the plant has not yet completed its growth and it looks completely different from what we assume, and only, once it becomes adult with flowers, it presents the same morphology, that is usually described in the books of Botany. This contribution will present and discuss some most frequently occurring together with unusual cases.. In conclusion it should be emphasized that both public and health professionals should be trained in the identification of potentially toxic plants. However, the poisonous plants are very useful to man, especially from in the pharmaceutical field since they contain highly poisonous secondary metabolites, which can profitably be used to prepare drugs sometimes even lifesaving. 1) M.L. Colombo, F. Assisi, T. Della Puppa, P. Moro, F.M. Sesana, M. Bissoli, R. Borghini, S. Perego, G. Galasso, E. Banfi, F. Davanzo (2009) J. Pharm. Sci. & Res. 2: 123-136 2) M.L. Colombo (2014) J. Pharmacovigilance in press 3) N. Mucci, Alessi M., Binetti R., Magliocchi M.G. (2006) Ann. Ist. Super. Sanità, 42, 268-276