Presenter: Neema Douglas
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Larry French
Tel: x6754, email: ndougl96@stlawu.edu

Poster Presentation

Aristolochia salvadorensis root samples were collected in a mixed forest fragment near El Impossible National Park, Ahuachapan, El Salvador. Plants from this specie are used by local healers to treat a variety of medical disorders. A. salvadorensis is a morphologically unique member of a very large and widespread genus. All Aristolochia species examined to date have been shown to contain a combination of aristolochic acids and lactams. Thus far, scrutiny of the acidic fraction of the total chloroform extractables reveals a complex mixture of aristolochic acids and lactams, two of which have been positively identified as aristolochic acids I and II. On going work is focused on the non-acidic fraction.