John T Arnason

University of Ottawa · Department of Biology

Traditionally the role of phytochemistry in the ethnopharmacology of North and Central America has been to characterize plant materials so that they can be produced reproducibly for commercial use or to identify active principles in unstudied traditional medicines for drug discovery. With new decolonial objectives coming from Indigenous communities...

An ethnopharmacological metanalysis was conducted with a large database available on antidiabetic activities of plant foods and medicines from the northern boreal forest, which are traditionally used by the indigenous Cree of James Bay, Quebec, Canada. The objective was to determine which bioassays are closely associated with the traditional knowle...

Antipredation strategies contribute to the lifetime reproductive success of organisms, particularly in more vulnerable life stages that look to survive until reproduction. In insects, eggs and larval stages are often immobile or unable to rapidly flee and hide from predators. Understanding what alternative antipredation strategies they use, but als...

This review describes an Indigenous led project by Q’eqchi’ Maya healers of Belize to strengthen and improve traditional botanical healing. Goals of the project were to conserve medicinal plant knowledge, leading to ethnobotanical studies, and to conserve the plants themselves, by creating a community ethnobotanical garden. A total of 169 medicinal...

This review summarizes +25 years of intradisciplinary and cross-cultural research — from landscape-scale ethnobiology and agroecology to ethnobotany and biochemistry/chemical ecology. The breadth and continuity of this research is both rare and notable.

A novel botanical dietary supplement, formulated as a chewable tablet containing a defined mixture of Souroubea spp. vine and Platanus spp. Bark, was tested as a canine anxiolytic for thunderstorm noise-induced stress (noise aversion). The tablet contained five highly stable triterpenes and delivered 10 mg of the active ingredient betulinic acid (B...

Historical ethnobotanies of indigenous peoples of the North American prairies reveal treatment of many painful conditions by Echinacea spp. Recent evidence suggests a pharmacological basis for such use as the bioactivity of E. angustifolia and E. purpurea is mediated, in part, through activation of the endocannabinoid system (ECS). Whereas the cann...

Antipredation strategies are important for the survival and fitness of animals, especially in more vulnerable life stages. In insects, eggs and early juvenile stages are often either immobile or unable to rapidly flee and hide when facing predators. Understanding what alternative antipredation strategies they use, but also how those change over dev...

Recent research demonstrates that Echinacea possesses cannabimimetic activity with potential applications beyond common contemporary uses for relief of cold and flu symptoms. In this study, we investigated the in vitro inhibitory effect of root extracts of Echinacea purpurea and Echinacea angustifolia on fatty acid amide hydrolase, the main enzyme...

The Maya employed the k'an |K'AN| glyph in Late Classic (~750 CE) hieroglyphs on murals and polychrome pottery as an adjective meaning precious, yellow. On cacao drinking vessels, the k'an glyph was suggested as a descriptor for a flavoring ingredient, allspice, Pimenta dioica (L.) Merr. (Myrtaceae). However, our previous consensus ethnobotanical f...

Extraction of plants for drug discovery, ethnopharmacology or application as nutraceuticals and natural health products (NHPs; also known as dietary supplements, phytomedicines and complementary and alternative medicines) is described for scientists new to the field. Primary identification and handling of plant material for extraction is a key firs...

Geophagy, the intentional consumption of earth materials, has been recorded in humans and other animals. It has been hypothesized that geophagy is an adaptive behavior, and that clay minerals commonly found in eaten soil can provide protection from toxins and/or supplement micronutrients. To test these hypotheses, we monitored chimpanzee geophagy u...

Background: Souroubea sympetala Gilg. is a neotropical vine native to Central America, investigated as part of a targeted study of the plant family Marcgraviaceae. Our previous research showed that extract of S. sympetala leaf and small branch extract had anxiolytic effects in animals and acts as an agonist for the GABAA receptor at the benzodiazep...

Paleolimnology uses sedimentary biomarkers as proxies to reconstruct long-term changes in environmental conditions from lake sediment cores. This work describes an untargeted metabolomics-based approach and uniquely applies it to the field of paleolimnology to identify novel sediment biomarkers to track long-term patterns in treeline dynamics. We i...

Maize is a highly relevant source of diverse phytochemicals. While these active compounds with nutraceutical and defensive properties, and their germplasm sources have been elucidated for maize, especially those related to phenolic compounds, some compounds such as hydroxycinnamic acid amides (HCAAs) are poorly studied. In this investigation, the d...

Synthesis of 50 analogues of the natural insecticide synergists, dillapiol and sesamol, is reported. These were evaluated as potential insecticide synergists based on their inhibition of human CYP3A4. The most potent inhibitors have a relatively large hydrophobic substituent at either position 5 or 6 of these molecules. For example, 5-(benzyloxy)-6...

Background The Cree of Eeyou Istchee (James Bay area of northern Quebec) suffer from a high rate of diabetes and its complications partly due to the introduction of the western lifestyle within their culture. As part of a search for alternative medicine based on traditional practice, this project evaluates the biological activity of Picea mariana (...

Using a quantitative ethnobotanical methodology, we identified 107 plant species belonging to 49 families used by Q’eqchi’ Maya healers in the treatment of symptoms from 14 usage categories related to inflammation. The families with the largest number of medicinal species were Piperaceae, Araceae, Asteraceae, Fabaceae, and Adiantaceae with five or...

A new anti-anxiety dietary supplement was developed for the animal health market, by combining 2 triterpene containing botanicals, Souroubea sympetala (Marcgraviaceae) with Platanus occidentalis (Platanaceae) A validated method for a quality control of the botanical blend was achieved using HPLC-APCI-MS. The method resulted in the detection and qua...

Objectives A novel anxiolytic natural health product (NHP) containing Souroubea sympetala and Platanus occidentalis is available for the companion animal market and is currently being developed for clinical evaluation. Addressing the risk of potential NHP–drug interactions, this study investigated S. sympetala and P. occidentalis plant extracts, an...

How can immobile life stages such as eggs protect themselves against physical and biological threats? One protective adaptation that has evolved to help them survive is egg coloration. In this thesis, I begin by reviewing the studies looking at the adaptive insect egg coloration and distinguish what is known based on scientific evidence versus unte...

One of the main challenges for the 21st century is ensuring global food security. Today, maize is the largest staple crop produced worldwide. Postharvest primary insect pests, especially the maize weevil (Sitophilus zeamais) and the large grain borer (Prostephanus truncatus) cause food-grain losses during storage up to 40% of total production, main...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Because of the recent increase in type 2 diabetes and the need for complementary treatments in remote communities in many parts of the world, we undertook a study of treatments for diabetic symptoms used by traditional Q'eqchi' Maya healers of Belize. We used quantitative ethnobotany to rank culturally important tax...

Geophagy, the deliberate consumption of earth materials, is common among humans and animals. However, its etiology and function(s) remain poorly understood. The major hypotheses about its adaptive functions are the supplementation of essential elements and the protection against temporary and chronic gastrointestinal (GI) distress. Because much les...

Perturbations to extravillous trophoblast (EVT) cell migration and invasion are associated with the development of placenta-mediated diseases. Phytochemicals found in the lowbush blueberry plant (Vaccinium angustifolium) have been shown to influence cell migration and invasion in models of tumorigenesis and noncancerous, healthy cells, however neve...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The Maya have traditionally used copal, Protium copal, as incense during ceremonies since pre-Columbian times. Anecdotally, copal (when burned as incense), is thought to elicit mentally uplifting and calming effects. The main objective of this study was to determine whether the incense elicits anxiolytic-like behavi...

Separation anxiety and noise aversion are common behavioral problems in dogs. They elicit fear responses such as cowering, seeking out the owner, and attempting to escape. This can result in property damage, injury to the dog, and disruption of the owner-pet bond, possibly leading to pet abandonment or euthanasia. A novel botanical anxiolytic produ...

Cancer cells are reported to have elevated levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are highly dependent on cellular defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. Numerous nutraceuticals and natural polyphenolic compounds have a wide range of abilities to alter cellular redox states with potential implications in various diseases. Furthermore, th...

As part of our ongoing research into botanical therapies for anxiety disorders, the neotropical vine Souroubea sympetala was chosen for study as a phytochemical discovery strategy focusing on rare Central American plant families. When orally administered to male Sprague-Dawley rats, the crude plant extract, its ethyl acetate fraction, supercritical...

Rhodiola rosea is a plant with adaptogenic qualities used by Inuit populations of Nunavik, Quebec (Canada) for general mental and physical rejuvenation. Previous studies have demonstrated that the Canadian populations of R. rosea significantly attenuate the expression of learned fear and anxiety-like behaviors in rodent models. In order to further...

Blueberry leaves (Vaccinium spp. L.) are used as a natural health product and traditional medicine for health maintenance in type-2 diabetes. In this study, seven blueberry species available to northern communities in North America and one used by the Lukomir Highlanders in Europe were assessed for phytochemical content and antidiabetic activity us...

Mountain ash ( Sorbus decora and S. americana ) is used by the Cree Nation of the James Bay region of Quebec (Eeyou Istchee) as traditional medicine. Its potential as an antidiabetic medicine is thought to vary across its geographical range, yet little is known about the factors that affect its antioxidant capacity. Here, we examined metabolite gen...

Supplementary Tables 1, 2, 3

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Larix laricina, a native tree of North America, is a highly respected medicinal plant used for generations by Indigenous Peoples across its range, including the Cree of northern Québec who use the bark to treat symptoms of diabetes. This study investigates the antioxidant capacity and bioavailability of active const...

The capacity of the traditional anxiolytic plant, Souroubea sympetala, and its bioactive principle, betulinic acid (BA), to lower cortisol levels in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, was investigated. Effects at the level of the cortisol-producing interrenal cells were investigated using an in vitro head kidney preparation. Head kidney tissue inc...

Dandelion extracts have been studied extensively in recent years for its anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory activity. Recent work from our lab, with in-vitro systems, shows the anti-cancer potential of an aqueous dandelion root extract (DRE) in several cancer cell models, with no toxicity to non-cancer cells. In this study, we examined the cance...

Background: Goji berry (Lycium barbarum) has been used as traditional Chinese medicine and a functional food in China. Goji tea may interact with drugs such as warfarin by inhibiting the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C9, and this study was undertaken to characterize the effect of Goji products on CYP2C9/19-, CYP2D6 *1/*10-, CYP3A4/5/7-, CYP19-, and flavi...

- Phylometabolomics can be performed by either NMR or UPLC-MS-QTOF by exporting data to open source algorithms - NMR +’s for this study: minimal sample prep, reproducible multi-site analysis, scalable, non-destructive sampling - UPLC-MS-QTOF +’s for this study: separation, fast carbon count/elemental composition with smaller quantities of scarce me...

Sorbus decora and Sorbus americana are used traditionally as medicine by the Eeyou Istchee Cree First Nation of the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada. Because the ethanol extracts of the bark and the isolated terpenes of these plants have shown promising in vivo antidiabetic effects, an analytical method was developed and validated by RP-HPLC-ELSD...

Ethnopharmacological relevance: The medicinal plant, Piper amalago L. (Piperaceae), is used traditionally by Q'eqchi' Maya healers for the treatment of "susto,"a culture-bound syndrome. Previous research suggests that susto symptoms may be a manifestation of anxiety. The objectives were to characterize the effect of ethanolic extract of P. amalago...

The etiology of placenta mediated diseases, including preeclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), remain unclear. However, the pathophysiology of these diseases has been shown to include elements of heightened immune response, abnormal cellular differentiation and function, metabolic dysregulation, and genetic abnormalities. In ma...

Metabolomics methods used to determine taxonomic identity and quality control of natural health product/dietary supplements were compared using a “model” collection of 42 Vaccinium L. species with international origins. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-quadrupole time of flight (UPLC-MS-QTOF) and nuclear magnetic resonance...

The etiology of placenta mediated diseases, including preeclampsia (PE) and intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), remain unclear. However, the pathophysiology of these diseases has been shown to include elements of heightened immune response, abnormal cellular differentiation and function, metabolic dysregulation, and genetic abnormalities. In ma...

Microbial biofilms readily form on many surfaces in nature including plant surfaces. In order to coordinate the formation of these biofilms, microorganisms use a cell-to-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS). As formation of biofilms on vascular plants may not be advantageous to the hosts, plants have developed inhibitors to interfer...

Bioassay-guided fractionation of the crude extract (80% EtOH) of the leaves of Cestrum schlechtendahlii, a plant used by Q'eqchi' Maya healers for treatment of athlete's foot, resulted in the isolation and identification of two spirostanol saponins (1 and 2). Structure elucidation by MS, 1D-NMR, and 2D-NMR spectroscopic methods identified them to b...

The eriophyid mite Aceria rhodiolae (G. Canestrini) is known to induce galls on the flowers and leaves of roseroot, Rhodiola rosea L., in subarctic and alpine regions of Europe. After discovering galls on the inflorescences of roseroot in Nunavik (Québec), northeastern Canada, we examined the mites extracted from the galls and compared them with sp...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess safety of the traditional antidiabetic extracts of either S. purpurea or its lead active principle, morroniside at the transcriptional level. The overarching objective was to profile and validate transcriptional changes in the cytochrome P450 family of genes, in response to treatment with S. purpure...

Background: This aim of this study is to report upon traditional knowledge and use of wild medicinal plants by the Highlanders of Lukomir, Bjelašnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The Highlanders are an indigenous community of approximately 60 transhumant pastoralist families who speak Bosnian (Bosanski) and inhabit a highly biodiverse region of E...

The traditional medicinal plant, Labrador tea ( Rhododendron groenlandicum (Oeder) Kron & Judd; Ericaceae), present in the pharmacopoeia of the Cree of Eeyou Istchee, has shown glitazone-like activity in the 3T3-L1 adipogenesis bioassay. This activity has been attributed to phenolic compounds, which have been shown to vary in this plant as a functi...

Ethnopharmacological importance The use of medicinal plants for treatment, cure and prevention of diseases has been described by many people since time immemorial. Because of this use, commercial and scientific interests have emerged, making it necessary to realize ethnobotanical surveys of medicinal plants species, which is important for subseque...

Purpose: The Cree of Eeyou Istchee in Northern Quebec identified Sarracenia purpurea L. as an important plant for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. Traditionally the plant is used as a decoction (boiling water extract) of the leaf, however, in order to study the extract in a laboratory setting, an 80% ethanol extract was used. In this study, the p...

We evaluated and compared the antidiabetic potential and molecular mechanisms of 17 Cree plants' ethanol extracts (EE) and hot water extracts (HWE) on glucose homeostasis in vitro and used metabolomics to seek links with the content of specific phytochemicals. Several EE of medical plants stimulated muscle glucose uptake and inhibited hepatic G6Pas...

The order Ericales, sensu APG III, belongs to the Asterids. It comprises around 25 families and 347 genera distributed in 4 clades: Balsaminoids, Polemonioids, Primuloids and Ericoids. Their species are widely distributed in arctic, temperate and tropical regions. A comparison between phylogenetic and chemical data for Ericales demonstrated a low c...