Pharmacological and toxicological insights to the South African Amaryllidaceae

The plant family Amaryllidaceae is of provenance in the South African region which is known to harbor about a third of the global complement of around 1000 species. It has widespread usage in the traditional medicinal practices of the indigenous peoples of the region. As a consequence and given its unique alkaloid principles, its members have provided a viable platform for phytochemical based drug discovery. The medicinal potential of the family has been realized through the commercialization of galanthamine as an Alzheimer's drug due to its potent and selective inhibitory activity against the enzyme acetylcholinesterase. Further promising chemotherapeutic candidates of the family reside with the phenanthridone class of alkaloids such as pancratistatin which exhibit potent and cell line specific antiproliferative properties with significant potential for clinical development. Despite these interesting medicinal attributes, plants of the Amaryllidaceae are known to be poisonous and several of them have been classified as such. This survey taking into consideration Amaryllidaceae plants native to South Africa aims to strike a balance between the medicinal potential of the family on one hand and its adverse and toxic effects on the other.