Guaco

Guaco is a mixture of two Mikania species, M. glomerata (Sprengel) and M. laevigata (Schutz Bip ex baker). Both plants have significant activity against inflammation. It is probably the case that these two plants are used interchangeably in what makes up Guaco but they are now thought to have different compositions.

The main component in these plants is coumarin but there are at least a number of other compounds in aqueous extracts which need careful examination. Coumarin has potent anti-inflammatory properties. A mouse model based on paw edema, pleurisy and degranulation of peritoneal mast cell was used to examine the efficacy of both plants (della Pasqua et al., 2019). Examination of an aqueous extract from both plants showed that M. laevigata contained ten times more coumarin than the M. glomerata. It is clear from the difference in performance of the two plant extracts that Guaco needs to be more rigorously controlled as both are very different in behaviour with regards to inflammation. Both plant extracts can reduce paw edema when induced by carrageenan and by compound 48/80. Neither could prevent mast cell degranulation either but the differences relate to their amelioration of pleurisy and leukocyte migration. M. glomerata is not as potent as M. laevigata in minimisng the compromising effects of inflammation which raises a flag on the differences between the two plant extracts.

Other species of Mikania  such as the Mile-A Minute Vine produce extracts which are used as insecticides. This genus certainly supplies some interesting compounds of great benefit.

References

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p class=”Head”>Della pasqua, C.S.P., Iwamoto, R.D., Antunes, E., Borghi, A.A., Sawaya, A.C.H.F. Landucci, E.C.T. (2019) Pharmacological study of anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extracts of Mikania glomerata (Spreng.) and Mikania laevigata(Sch. Bip. ex Baker). J. Ethnopharmacology. 231 pp. 50-56 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2018.11.012