“The history of the use of kanna, derived from a number of Sceletium species, is reviewed from 1610-1971, including fragments of history documenting European ships docking in the Cape to search for kanna…”
Biography
Dr. Nigel Gericke is a medical doctor, botanist and ethnopharmacologist, and has spent the last twenty-five years working on botanicals innovation and R&D with a special interest in psychoactive plants. He trained in traditional African medicine under number of senior African traditional healers, including the Tsonga healer, Ncindani Maswanganyi of Mbokota Village, Limpopo Province, South Africa from 1987-1989. Nigel has spent more than two decades researching Sceletium tortuosum, including ethnobotanical documentation in the field, directing interdisciplinary research including new crop development, neuropharmacology, pre-clinical and translational clinical research. Nigel is a peer-reviewer for Journal of Ethnopharmacology, co-author of two books, two chapters, and an author of 25 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals. Books: Ben-Erik Van Wyk, Bosch van Oudtshoorn, and Nigel Gericke. Medicinal Plants of South Africa (1997, Briza, ISBN 1875093095). Ben-Erik Van Wyk and Nigel Gericke. Peoples Plants – Useful Plants of Southern Africa (2000, Briza, ISBN 1875093192).
Kabbo’s !kwaiń Sceletium species – The past, present and future of Kanna.
“Clinical experience on Sceletium is summarised, from the first formal clinical case reports from 2001 documenting the use of tablets and capsules of milled kanna raw material to treat anxiety and depression, to the present use of Sceletium extract in psychiatric clinical practice.”
Transcript abstract
Part I
The history of the use of kanna, derived from a number of Sceletium species, is reviewed from 1610-1971, including fragments of history documenting European ships docking in the Cape to search for kanna as a substitute ginseng to trade in the Far East, to an ethnographic report from the 1700’s transcribed from //Kabbo, a Xam San “Bushman” released from the breakwater prison in Cape Town.
Part II
The ethnobotany, ethnopharmacology and pre-clinical research on a standardized extract of Sceletium is reviewed, from 1995 to 2017. In-vitro studies have demonstrated that the mesembrane-alkaloids of kanna, including mesembrine, mesembrenone and mesembrenol, are responsible for the psychoactivity of Sceletium, and have serotonin reuptake inhibitory (SRI) activity and phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitory activity. The effect of the standardized Sceletium extract on brain electrical activity has been studied in-vivo, demonstrating by discriminant analyses that the electropharmacogram of the Sceletium extract plots in close proximity to the plots of Ginkgo biloba, Rhodiola rosea, and also to the archetypal pharmaceutical research PDE4 inhibitor, rolipram, supporting the potential clinical applications of this Sceletium extract in managing anxiety, depression and enhancing cognitive function.
Part III
Clinical experience on Sceletium is summarised, from the first formal clinical case reports from 2001 documenting the use of tablets and capsules of milled kanna raw material to treat anxiety and depression, to the present use of Sceletium extract in psychiatric clinical practice.
The results of pilot randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical studies on the standardized Sceletium extract, Zembrin® are summarised, including:
i) A pharmaco-Magnetic Resonance Imaging study investigating the effect of the Sceletium extract on the response of the amygdala and related circuitry to fearful images.
ii) A clinical study investigating the effect of the extract on cognitive function domains using CNS Vital Signs, a computerized neurocognitive test battery.
iii) A clinical study on the effect of the Sceletium extract on brain electrical activity in response to cognitive and emotional challenges, and including psychometric tests and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale questionnaires.
Part IV
Different scenarios on future uses of kanna, and alkaloids derived from kanna, are contemplated, extrapolated from the present state of ethnopharmacological research and clinical studies and clinical practice experience, use as dietary supplements, recreational uses by the trance community, and via online ‘smartshops’,and from recent patent activity.
