This award will support collaborative research between Dr. Paul Cox, Brigham Young University and Dr. Lars Bohlin, University of Uppsala, Sweden. The principal objective of the joint work is to perform a comprehensive pharmacological screen of the medicinal plants of Samoa. The Polynesians have significantly exploited their island plants for the development of an indigenous system of ethnopharmacology. In this joint project, the U.S. team headed by Dr. Cox will be responsible for interviewing Samoan healers, recording their plant lore, collecting and identifying all medicinal plants used by them, and for the preparation of crude extracts. The Swedish team headed by Bohlin will examine the extracts for pharmacological activity using both in vivo and in __ ____ __ vitro general and specific screens. Crude extracts showing _____ pharmacological activity will be fractionated, and specific fractions responsible for the activity will be isolated. The Swedish team will also prepare extracts for future structural determination. This international and interdisciplinary collaboration should provide a model for future ethnopharmacological investigations and may potentially result in the discovery of new compounds with novel pharmacological activity.
