Scientists Search Costa Rica’s Arenal for Medicine

Scientists Search Costa Rica’s Arenal for Medicine

The Flanks of the Arenal Volcano May Be Harboring Life-Saving Medicinal Plants.

Scientists are on a treasure hunt in Arenal, searching through the national park’s plants, fungi, and lichens for the medicines of tomorrow. Among their findings, the experts believe that they have discovered antibiotic uses for one of the park’s lichens, a valuable find as the average body is susceptible to building immunity to mainstream antibiotics if used too often. The new discovery, and the continued search for more to come, will hopefully make Costa Rica Lands and national parks an important base for the pharmeceutical industry.

The National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio) set out on a mission to find new uses for Costa Rica’s plants. Scientists hoped that Arenal National Park’s diverse environment would be the perfect base to search for medicinal plants, and their instincts have proven true: lichens, an association of two to three organisms that work together as one, live all throughout the park. Of the 100 lichens found so far, the scientists believe that one may serve as a new antibiotic.

Antibiotics are primarily used to kill bacterial infections, however widespread antibiotic usage has led to many bacteria building up a tolerance to the medicine. Arenal’s lichen, should it prove to be an effective antibiotic, is different from traditional antibiotics, and bacteria would not be able to fight its effects. “In trials, a new kind of antibiotic activity has been detected in this lichen,” Giselle Tamayo, scientific coordinator for INBio, explained. For these reasons, this is, of course, a very promising plant.

Lichens are common in rocky ecosystems, like that of volcanic Arenal. After an eruption, lichens move in and begin to eat into a rock’s surface, thus permitting the accumulation of dust and the build up of several substances vital to lichen survival, including nitrogen. After scientists identify an as-yet untested lichen, it is delivered to the INBio labs and submitted to two rigorous tests.

The first test extracts all the different components of each lichen, using substances like ethanol to separate them without any damage to their basic makeup. The second test isolates and cultivates each microfungi that has grown within the lichen (up to four per plant). The fungi are cultivate and submitted to other tests, in order to determine whether they secrete various helpful substances. The secretions are then compared to a medical database, and scientists determine whether their components can be used to create new medicines. “Of the approximately 3,000 fungi that we’ve obtained, we’ve sent around 20,000 samples to Harvard,” Tamayo added.

In addition to this lichen, INBio’s scientists are also on the hunt for other plant life that may be used in illness and disease treatment. Such investigations have been underway in Arenal since 2006; scientists are also searching through Guanacaste, the Caribbean, and the Central Pacific. Once a possible plant has been identified, the Costa Rican scientists work hand-in-hand with researchers from the University of Michigan and Harvard University; both universities are general coordinators of the project and will conduct final tests on any possible plant-based treatment.

INBio scientists are also on the lookout for other useful applications of local plantlife. Among their discoveries, a now-patented enzyme was found - the enzyme softens cotton fibers during its production, thus making the fabric softer without damaging its strength or durability. The enzyme is distributed by the U.S. company Verenium under the commercial name of Cottonase.

Written by Erin Raub