SENSING NEUROACTIVE AGENTS IN HAWAIIAN PLANTS

There is a world-wide interest in screening terrestrial and marine pla nts for components having medicinal properties or prototypes for ratio nal drug design. Hawaiian plants represent a special rich source becau se many species that grow in Hawaii grow nowhere else. Conventional an alytical techniques are of limited utility in this connection because the demonstration of the desired medicinal activity must precede the i dentification and isolation of the responsible agent. This situation i s particularly apparent in the case of neuromodulatory agents whose ef fect may manifest itself through very diverse modes of action. In this paper, we describe a relatively uncomplicated screening system, deriv ed from biosensor technology, which combines neural tissue as the targ et material with the electrochemical detection to monitor and quantify neuromodulatory activity. It will be seen that the effects of the neu roactive agents in some Hawaiian plant materials can be demonstrated a nd evaluated for relative potency.