Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39909353›Full record

ArticleFitoterapia2025

Metabolomic, antibacterial, and ethnobotanical investigation of a Caribbean chew stick (bejuco de Indio), Gouania lupuloides (L.) Urb.

Ella Vardeman, Jood Abuali, Memory Elvin-Lewis, Walter H Lewis, Ina Vandebroek, Edward J Kennelly

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Fitoterapia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. UPLC-qToF-MSACS omega · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Ella VardemanDepartment of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., Bronx, NY 10468, USA; The Center for Plants, People and Culture, New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., The Bronx, NY 10458, USA; PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave., NY 10016, USA.
Jood AbualiDepartment of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., Bronx, NY 10468, USA.
Memory Elvin-LewisBiology Department, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Walter H LewisBiology Department, Washington University in St. Louis, 1 Brookings Dr., St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Ina VandebroekThe Center for Plants, People and Culture, New York Botanical Garden, 2900 Southern Blvd., The Bronx, NY 10458, USA; PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave., NY 10016, USA; Caribbean Centre for Research in Bioscience (CCRIB), The University of the West Indies, Mona, Kingston 7, Jamaica, West Indies.
Edward J KennellyDepartment of Biological Sciences, Lehman College, City University of New York, 250 Bedford Park Blvd. W., Bronx, NY 10468, USA; PhD Program in Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Ave., NY 10016, USA. Electronic address: edward.kennelly@lehman.cuny.edu.

Funding

Ethnopharmacology of plants used by Haitians in New York City forwomen’s healthF31AT011471 · NCCIH · CUNY GRADUATE SCH AND UNIV CTR · PI VARDEMAN, ELLA · 2022 to 2024
$131k
NCCIH NIH HHS F31 AT011471
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Gouania lupuloides (L.) Urb. (Rhamnaceae), a medicinal plant commonly used in the Caribbean for dental health, is known as chew stick (chewstick) or bejuco de Indio. Few studies have assessed its chemistry and biological activity. The overall aim of this research is to understand the phytochemistry and antibacterial activity of Gouania lupuloides, as well as its continued cultural use. Authenticated Gouania lupuloides samples collected in Jamaica were extracted, subjected to solvent-solvent partitioning, and evaluated for inhibitory activity against pathogenic oral bacteria. Commercial Caribbean samples of bejuco de Indio available in the United States were compared chemically to known Gouania lupuloides samples through targeted and untargeted UPLC-QTOF-MS analysis. Ethnobotanical fieldwork in rural and urban Jamaica demonstrated the ongoing cultural use of Gouania lupuloides as a natural toothbrush, and in the preservation of traditional fermented beverages. Antibacterial assays demonstrated that triterpenes from Gouania lupuloides, including ceanothic acid, had activity against several of the tested oral pathogens, such as Actinomyces viscosus, Prevotella intermedia, and Peptostreptococcus micros. Principal component analysis indicates that at least one of the chew stick samples sold as bejuco de Indio was chemically distinct from Gouania lupuloides type specimens. Presence of ceanothic acid was used to characterize a chemical fingerprint typical of Gouania lupuloides to aid in the chemotaxonomic identification of unknown chew sticks. Additionally, antibacterial ceanothic acid was present in similar relative abundance in all samples identified as Gouania lupuloides, further supporting its traditional use for oral health and hygiene.

Indexed as

Anti-Bacterial AgentsTriterpenesCaribbean RegionEthnobotanyHumansMetabolomicsMolecular StructurePhytochemicalsPlants, MedicinalAnti-Bacterial AgentsPhytochemicalsTriterpenesCeanothic acidEthnobotanyGouania lupuloidesOral healthRhamnaceae

Identifiers

PMID39909353
PMCPMC12207755

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.