The juice of fresh leaves of Boerhaavia diffusa (Ayurvedic "Punarnava") likely contain opioids

[Plants Benefactor]

It's maybe interesting!!!

The juice of fresh leaves of Boerhaavia diffusa (Ayurvedic "Punarnava") likely contain opioids and has very low toxicity.

Alrticle url: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10904173

Сitations of the article:

"The decoction or juice of leaves of Boerhaavia diffusa L. (Nyctaginaceae) is used in Martinican folk medicine for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. In the present investigation we studied the acute oral (p.o.) toxicity of a crude extract obtained from a lyophilized decoction (DE) and from the juice (JE) of fresh leaves. We observed no signs of toxicity up to the dose of 5000 mg/kg (p.o.) in mice."

"The DE and JE of B. diffusa were assessed in standard rodent models of algesia. In the acetic acid-induced abdominal writhing in mice, pre-treatment of the animals with the non-selective opioid antagonist naloxone (5 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly reversed the analgesic effect of morphine and JE but not that of DE. These data show that the active antinociceptive principle of B. diffusa is present mainly in the juice of fresh leaves and has a significant antinociceptive effect when assessed in these pain models. The mechanism underlying this analgesic effect of fresh leaves of B. diffusa remains unknown, but seems to be related to interaction with the opioid system."

[kleinerkiffer84]

Very interesting, thank you!
More and more natural compounds are found, who probably contain opioid like substances
I've never heared about this plant, but now it seems I've got another thing, to put on my ToDo list.
I will keep this plant in mind and hopefully will do some further research soon.

[Attic]

Boeravinones G and H are two rotenoids isolated from B. diffusa.A quinolone alkaloid, lunamarine, isolated from B. diffusa has shown some in vitro anticancer, antiestrogenic, immunomodulatory, and anti-amoebic activity (particularly against Entamoeba histolytica). The plant contains a protein called BDP-30, presumably a ribosome-inactivating protein.