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243 results
  • Habenular nucleus, zebrafish
  • Cartilage, trabecular bone and bone marrow in a mouse femur
  • Human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification
  • Thinking together. Neurons
  • Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment
  • Viburnum japonicum Spreng. Caprifoliaceae Distribution: Evergreen Shrub. Distribution: Japan and Taiwan. No medicinal uses. The fruit is a 'famine food' eaten when all else fails. As other seeds/fruits of Viburnum species are listed as poisonous, and none are listed as 'edible', one can assume that the seeds/fruits of V. japonicum are also toxic. It does not appear vulnerable to pests or molluscs which may be due to irioid glycosides that are present in this genus produced as a defence against herbivores, fungi and bacteria. They have a bitter taste. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • NK T-cell lymphoma is a highly aggressive cancer of a specific type of immune cell called lymphoid cells, and is associated with the Epstein Barr virus (glandular fever). In later stages of the disease, the lymphoma can spread to the lymph nodes, as in this case.
  • Valeriana pyrenaica L. Valerianaceae Distribution: Pyrenees. It has no medical use. Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • HeLa cell, immortal human epithelial cancer cell line, SEM
  • Breast cancer cell, SEM
  • GABAergic and Glutamatergic neurons in the zebrafish brain
  • Eucomis comosa (Houtt.)H.R.Wehrh. Hyacinthaceae Pineapple flower. From the Greek eu comis meaning 'good hair' referring to the tuft of leaves on top of the flowers. Comosa being Latin for 'with a tuft' referring to the same thing. Used in South African 'muthi' medicine. Enemas of Eucomis autumnalis are used in Africa to treat low backache, to aid postoperative recovery and to speed the healing of fractures. Decoctions are taken for the treatment of everything from hangovers to syphilis. The active ingredients include homisoflavones, which have anti-inflammatory and antispasmodic activity (van Wyk et al, 2000) Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Atropa belladonna L. Solanaceae. Deadly nightshade. Dwale. Morella, Solatrum, Hound's berries, Uva lupina, Cucubalus, Solanum lethale. Atropa derives from Atropos the oldest of the three Fates of Greek mythology who cut the thread of Life (her sisters Clotho and Lachesis spun and measured the thread, respectively). belladonna, literally, means 'beautiful lady' and was the Italian name for it. Folklore has it that Italian ladies put drops from the plant or the fruits in their eyes to make themselves doe-eyed, myopic and beautiful. However, this is not supported by the 16th and 17th century literature, where no mention is ever made of dilated pupils (or any of the effects of parasympathetic blockade). Tournefort (1719) says 'The Italians named this plant Belladonna, which in their language signifies a beautiful woman, because the ladies use it much in the composition of their Fucus [rouge or deceit or cosmetic] or face paint.' Parkinson says that the Italian ladies use the distilled juice as a fucus '... peradventure [perhaps] to take away their high colour and make them looke paler.' I think it more likely that they absorbed atropine through their skin and were slightly 'stoned' and disinhibited, which made them beautiful ladies in the eyes of Italian males. Distribution: Europe, North Africa, western Asia. Culpeper (1650) writes: 'Solanum. Nightshade: very cold and dry, binding … dangerous given inwardly … outwardly it helps the shingles, St Antonie's Fire [erysipelas] and other hot inflammation.' Most of the 16th, 17th and 18th century herbals recommend it topically for breast cancers. Poisonous plants were regarded as 'cold' plants as an excess of them caused death and the body became cold. They were regarded as opposing the hot humour which kept us warm and alive. Poultices of Belladonna leaves are still recommended for muscle strain in cyclists, by herbalists. Gerard (1633) writes that it: 'causeth sleep, troubleth the mind, bringeth madnesse if a few of the berries be inwardly taken, but if more be taken they also kill...'. He was also aware that the alkaloids could be absorbed through the skin for he notes that a poultice of the leaves applied to the forehead, induces sleep, and relieves headache. The whole plant contains the anticholinergic alkaloid atropine, which blocks the peripheral actions of acetylcholine in the parasympathetic nervous system. Atropine is a racemic mixture of d- and l- hyoscyamine. Atropine, dropped into the eyes, blocks the acetylcholine receptors of the pupil so it no longer constricts on exposure to bright light - so enabling an ophthalmologist to examine the retina with an ophthalmoscope. Atropine speeds up the heart rate, reduces salivation and sweating, reduces gut motility, inhibits the vertigo of sea sickness, and is used to block the acetylcholine receptors to prevent the effects of organophosphorous and other nerve gas poisons. It is still has important uses in medicine. Atropine poisoning takes three or for days to wear off, and the hallucinations experienced by its use are described as unpleasant. We have to be content with 'madness', 'frenzie' and 'idle and vain imaginations' in the early herbals to describe the hallucinations of atropine and related alkaloids as the word 'hallucination' in the sense of a perception for which there is no external stimulus, was not used in English until 1646 (Sir T. Browne, 1646). It is a restricted herbal medicine which can only be sold in premises which are registered pharmacies and by or under the supervision of a pharmacist (UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)). Photographed in the Medicinal Garden of the Royal College of Physicians, London.
  • Neurons or nerve cells are the core components of the brain and spinal cord of the central nervous system (CNS), and of the ganglia of the peripheral nervous system (PNS) controlling many motor and sensory functions of the body.
  • Human heart (mitral valve) tissue displaying calcification
  • Raynaud's Phenomenon
  • Human tongue
  • Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment
  • Animal flight muscle mitochondria
  • Bacterial microbiome mapping, bioartistic experiment
  • Breast cancer cell spheroid treated with doxorubicin, SEM
  • Acanthus dioscoridis L. Acanthaceae. Distribution: Iran, Iraq, southern Turkey. Herbaceous perennial flowering plant. Named for Pedanius Dioscorides of Anazarbus, 1st century Greek physician and herbalist whose book, De Materia Medica, was the main source of herbal medicinal information for the next 1,600 years. He describes some 500 plants and their medicinal properties. His manuscript was copied and annotated over the centuries, and the earliest Greek text in existence is the illustrated Juliana Anicia Codex dated 512CE (Beck, 2005). The first English translation was made around 1650 by John Goodyear and published by Robert T. Gunther in 1934
  • Breast cancer cell spheroid treated with doxorubicin, SEM
  • Pancreatic cancer cells grown in culture, SEM
  • Glutamatergic neurons in the zebrafish forebrain
  • Breast cancer cell spheroid, SEM
  • Kidney stone
  • Knautia macedonica Griseb. Dipsacaceae. Distribution: Macedonia. This honours the brothers Knaut, both physicians and botanists: Christof Knaut (also Knauth, 1638–94) and his brother Christian Knaut (1654–1716). The plant was traditionally used as a compress in its native Balkans to relieve dermatitis and itching. This use is a local survival of what was once a widespread application of this plant and its relations, and is an example of the doctrine of signatures in which the therapeutic benefit of a plant is suggested by some aspect of its anatomy
  • Raynaud's Phenomenon
  • Misreplication of DNA in human fibroblast nucleus