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Erythrocyte Morphology

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Andy Battaglia:
This is a fascinating discussion. I will be very interested in seeing the direction this takes.

This is the first I have heard about the herb, schisandra and its uses for hepatitis. The only herb usually mentioned is milk thistle, which has a well documented body of anecdotal evidence and which has also withstood rigorous testing designed to find some harmful effects. Ironically, the only effect found in studies is that milk thistle is a mild laxative in large doses, something most people could benefit from. Concerning schisandra, I found this passage at http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/GetContent.aspx?token=e0498803-7f62-4563-8d47-5fe33da65dd4&chunkiid=21719


--- Quote ---Schisandra has long been used in the traditional medicines of Russia and China for a wide variety of conditions including asthma, coughs, and other respiratory ailments, diarrhea, insomnia, impotence, and kidney problems. Hunters and athletes have used schisandra in the belief that it will increase endurance and combat fatigue under physical stress.

More recently, schisandra has been studied for potential liver-protective effects.
...Animal studies suggest schisandra may protect the liver from toxic damage, improve liver function, and stimulate liver cell regrowth. 1–6 These findings led to its use in human trials for treating hepatitis. In a poorly designed and reported Chinese study of 189 people with hepatitis B, those given schisandra reportedly improved more rapidly than those given vitamins and liver extracts.
--- End quote ---

Schisandra may prove to be one more alternative in fighting hepatitis in cotrast to the very harsh combo drugs currently being used. I do know thals who have had some good success using high doses of milk thistle to control hepatitis.

phyrefly:
I believe Schisandra is mentioned in China's oldest herbal, the Pen Tsao Kang Mu Jing (even though its author would likely not add the [jing, 'classic'] to its title). Bay Star Vine, Schisandra glabra is endemic to the U.S., with only a few populations surviving in Arkansas (Crowley's Ridge), Tennessee, Georgia and Florida, where it is endangered and protected. Over-harvesting and land-clearing is the culprit. The great (and therefore, underpaid) French botanist-explorer, Michaux first named the plant, and attempted to establish it in his frontier garden at Ten Mile Station, South Carolina. The most northerly location was one plant in an eastern county in Kentucky. Chinese source of Schisandra berries are available. Unfortunately, it is a waste of time trying to germinate them. They are sterile. A Canadian nursery sells the plants, thus what we have here is an example of capitalism taking advantage of American's disgraceful naivety of its plant heritage. The active constituents of Schisandra are remarkable, and may come more into play as this thread develops. See Pubmed for further info.

Active constituents of Milk thistle, Silybum marianum were studied in an exquisite work published in the Italian journal Phytoterapia. It seems that one compound actually helps to direct protein synthesis inside the cell nucleus. Yet it is not an antiviral, if there is such a thing. Yes, it has withstood the tests of time. It was used medicinally well before the time of Christ.

Those interested in delving further into the pharmacodynamics of both Schisandra and Silybum would do well to use a more powerful combined key-word search at pubmed: keyword[AND]keyword. Example: 'kuppfer[AND]silibinin' (Kuppfer cells of liver + silibinin, a constituent of Silybum that directs synthesis in the cell nucleus).
 
In reference to red and gray kangaroos, it should be mentioned that their ability to withstand drought areas coincides with certain tick habitats and morphology and pigmentation of the body of ticks. Thus, wallabies, kangaroos....Macropodidae translates to 'large legged' and ironically there is a retired scientist who flags for a certain paralysis-causing tick in the hills above Sidney, Australia. There is a video of a dog bitten by one of these ticks on the Net. It appears as if it had polio. What would be of interest is to document what ticks are being found on these kangaroos in close proximity to humans, and by default, studies on erythrocyte morphology of both tick and host. To the concept of acylation/de-acylation can be added erythrocyte osmotic fragility:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

Osmotic Fragility  11263725

G6PD  7599974

mustho:
This is interesting topic, morphology of thalassemia in relationship with infectious agents. One hypothesis of thalassemia evolution itself is evolutionary gift or change of malaria. However this hypothesis is weak that is because in South America malaria is highly prevalent where as thalassemia is not that prominent in ethnic population there.
The relationship of malaria and erythrocyte is well studied, as part of its life cycle complete in erythrocytes due to glycophorin receptors in erythrocytes, where malaria can recognize. However certain minor blood groups are resistant to malaria some species. I think erythrocytes have some receptors which is recognized by these ticks or insects may be.

Canadian_Family:
 ??? :huh

I am totally lost, what are we talking.......

floWer:
 :rotfl

That makes the two of us

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