Don't Love Gout? Try Horopito Pepper Tree or Winter Bark

[Keith Taylor]

I’ve just read some interesting research about new candidates for anti-inflammatory gout medicines. I nearly got put-off by the title: “Sesquiterpene dialdehydes inhibit MSU crystal-induced superoxide production by infiltrating neutrophils in an in vivo model of gouty inflammation”

I’m glad I persevered.

The authors note:

Gout is an extremely painful and recurring form of inflammatory arthritis causing high morbidity and loss of quality of life. […] The current therapies available for treating gout are limited and often poorly tolerated due to acute gastrointestinal and renal side effects including diarrhea and vomiting

So perhaps we’re looking at an alternative to colchicine? I think so, but this is advanced science we’re talking about here. Yet another opportunity to improve my cellular biology vocabulary!

Apparently, it’s all about neutrophils. These are most of the white blood cells I often refer to when trying to explain the inflammatory gout pain process. We need these little buggers to fight infection, but when they get out of control, we get gout. It’s a simplistic explanation, but think in terms of police attending your house robbery. Yes, we want one or two to come round and nab the perps. We don’t want them sitting in our living room inviting all their colleagues round for a bash-the-burglar party.

Neutrophil comes from the Latin word “neuter” meaning “neither,” and the Greek word “philein” meaning “to
love.” (thanks to http://www.medfriendly.com/neutrophil-neutropenia.html) We don’t hate neutrophils because they fight invaders in our bodies. But we don’t love them either, because when they swarm to a gouty joint, we cry with pain.

The process is complicated, but my understanding is this. When white blood cells see uric acid crystals (or any other invader), they start to engulf them (phagocytosis). They also send out signals to attract more white blood cells. Some white blood cells (macrophages) grow and divide to make more white blood cells. Scientists refer to “respiratory burst,” where neutrophils, macrophages and whatever else throw a wild party. At that party, they release toxic oxygen radicals and hydrogen peroxide.

Colchicine slows the party by stopping white blood cells from dividing and multiplying. Though made in the lab, colchicine originally derives from the crocus. This latest research indicates that there might be new plant-based remedies for reducing inflammation and gout pain. In my further reading, I see that the report makes direct reference to Indocin (indomethacin) and other NSAIDs. Perhaps new plant-based remedies can replace colchicine and NSAIDs? It’s early days, but the results look promising.

In the report, the authors describe how extracts from two common plants can reduce inflammation. This is in mice, so we will have to wait to see how it translates to humans. The plants are Horopito Pepper Tree (Pseudowintera colorata) and Winter Bark (Drymis winteri). Horopito is a native medicinal plant in New Zealand, and Winter Bark is a native medicinal plant in South America.

I will have to paraphrase the report’s conclusions, and hope that my current level of understanding is sufficient to make it plain, without misleading.

In summary, the plant extracts have the ability to inhibit respiratory burst in the lab. In real life (mice only for now) this results in lower inflammation, and reduced macrophage activation. [That’s the actions of NSAIDs combined with the actions of colchicine]. Inhibiting actual inflammation together with inhibiting spread of inflammation identifies these plant extracts as promising candidates for new treatment for gout and other autoimmune inflammatory diseases.

[Keith Taylor]

Hmmmm. Some of the authors of the Horopito/Winter Bark report have also released another gout study with more explanations of cellular biology in gout.

I think I need to review my layman’s explanation of the inflammatory gout process and how to inhibit it. There are all sorts of scientific phrases that are a little headache-inducing, so I need to study “Colchicine suppresses neutrophil superoxide production in a murine model of gouty arthritis: a rationale for use of low-dose colchicine – a gouty story of mice and colchicine.

One thing’s for certain – there are some diligent researchers looking at better understanding of the gout pain process, and new ways to treat it. As gout sufferers, have we ever had it so good?

[Author]

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