16th century text shows that ginkgo seeds can fight skin infections

Inspired by a centuries-old text on traditional Chinese medicine, a young researcher discovered that ginkgo seeds might prove useful in the treatment of acne, psoriasis, dermatitis and dermatitis. 39; eczema.

A few years ago, a microbiologist and an Anglo-Saxon scholar decided to test a recipe from an old English medical textbook, Bald's Leechbook. Following the instructions as closely as possible, they ended up with a potion that kills the superbug MRSA.

Currently, a student from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Maryland has turned to the past to take advantage of the wisdom of the past. A student at Emory University, Xinyi (Xena) Huang was looking for a subject for her master's thesis in biology. When a ginkgo tree caught her eye, she remembered that the tree had roots, so to speak, in traditional Chinese medicine, so she decided to conduct an investigation. This led to the writing of a 16th century text on traditional Chinese medicine, Ben Cao Gang Mu, dating back to the 16th century, which is a comprehensive collection written by Li Shi-zhen. Which, coincidentally, would have belonged to one of the collections of the school library.

"You can feel the story in it," she says. "The paper is so yellow, lean and fragile that I was afraid to break the pages by turning them."

And so, a study was born … and just published in Frontiers in Microbiology. Huang is the main author.

The ginkgo tree, renowned for its fan-shaped leaves and considered one of the oldest tree species on the planet, has been the subject of much research for its use in medicine, but mainly for its leaves.

In a volume entitled "Grains, Vegetables, Fruits", Huang discovered 17 traditional uses of the ginkgo seed and 8 of those described for skin disorders. Li Shi-Zhen explained how to prepare a ground seed paste that was then applied locally to the affected area.

Huang collected ginkgo samples for testing purposes and followed the instructions in the text as closely as possible. Then, with Cassandra Quave, lead author of the journal and adjunct professor at the Emory Center for Human Health Research and the Department of Dermatology of the Faculty of Medicine, conducted microbial experiments on 12 different bacterial strains.

The results showed that different parts of the ginkgo seed exhibited antibacterial activity on three of the strains tested: Cutibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes. These pathogens can cause skin infections such as acne, psoriasis, dermatitis and eczema.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate the antibacterial activity of ginkgo seeds on skin pathogens," says Quave. "This paper is just one more example of what we still need to learn about the pharmacological potential of complex plant chemistry."

As Huang points out, the findings are still at a "baseline phase of reference" because the extracts have not yet been tested and there are still significant hurdles to overcome. Among the most important, one of the most important compounds in the seed appears to exhibit skin toxicity.

Even in this case, Huang said, "It's always a pleasure for me to learn that this ancient story in the Ben Cao Gang Mu seems to be real."

"As a student pharmacist," she adds, "it gives me a better idea of ​​the value of using ancient herbal remedies to guide modern research."

One more reason why we should never underestimate the power of plants … or our ancestors, who have discovered this for centuries.