Modern guanaco (Lama guanicoe, Camelidae) bezoars: An approach towards identification in the fossil record.

OBJECTIVE: Provide a frame of reference for the recognition and interpretation of bezoars recovered from archeological and paleontological sites. MATERIALS: 49 bezoars from extant guanaco (Lama guanicoe) were analyzed and compared with five objects previously identified as bezoars, recovered from Holocene archeological sites of the Argentine Pampas. METHODS: Size, shape, weight, external and internal features, and mineralogical composition were evaluated in both modern and archeological bezoars using nondestructive and destructive methods. RESULTS: Modern and archeological bezoars are formed by calcium phosphate and display great morphological variability linked to ante-mortem processes, taphonomic alterations, and anthropic activity. CONCLUSIONS: Morphometry, along with external and internal features and mineral composition, are useful tools for the identification and interpretation of bezoars in the fossil record. SIGNIFICANCE: This study offers new information on the etiology, mechanisms of formation, and means of interpreting the presence of bezoars, a common pathology in South American camelids, in the fossil record. LIMITATIONS: The features of fossil bezoars do not provide accurate identification of the animal that produced them. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH: Further analyses on modern bezoars belonging to other species of mammals are needed in order to enhance the interpretation of bezoars in the fossil record.

[Gastrointestinal bezoars]. / Bezoares gastrointestinales: mitos y realidades.

Gastrointestinal bezoars are a concretion of indigested material that can be found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and some animals. This material forms an intraluminal mass, more commonly located in the stomach. During a large period of history animal bezoars were considered antidotes to poisons and diseases. We report a historical overview since bezoars stones were thought to have medicinal properties. This magic conception was introduced in South America by Spanish conquerors. In Chile, bezoars are commonly found in a camelid named guanaco (Lama guanicoe). People at Central Chile and the Patagonia believed that bezoar stones had magical properties and they were traded at very high prices. In Santiago, during the eighteenth century the Jesuit apothecary sold preparations of bezoar stones. The human bezoars may be formed by non-digestible material like cellulose (phytobezoar), hair (trichobezoar), conglomerations of medications or his vehicles (pharmacobezoar or medication bezoar), milk and mucus component (lactobezoar) or other varieties of substances. This condition may be asymptomatic or can produce abdominal pain, ulceration, gastrointestinal bleeding, gastric outlet obstruction, perforation and mechanical intestinal obstruction. We report their classification, diagnostic modalities and treatment.

Bezoares gastrointestinales: mitos y realidades / Gastrointestinal bezoars

Gastrointestinal bezoars are a concretion of indigested material that can be found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and some animals. This material forms an intraluminal mass, more commonly located in the stomach. During a large period of history animal bezoars were considered antidotes to poisons and diseases. We report a historical overview since bezoars stones were thought to have medicinal properties. This magic conception was introduced in South America by Spanish conquerors. In Chile, bezoars are commonly found in a camelid named guanaco (Lama guanicoe). People at Central Chile and the Patagonia believed that bezoar stones had magical properties and they were traded at very high prices. In Santiago, during the eighteenth century the Jesuit apothecary sold preparations of bezoar stones. The human bezoars may be formed by non-digestible material like cellulose (phytobezoar), hair (trichobezoar), conglomerations of medications or his vehicles (pharmacobezoar or medication bezoar), milk and mucus component (lactobezoar) or other varieties of substances. This condition may be asymptomatic or can produce abdominal pain, ulceration, gastrointestinal bleeding, gastric outlet obstruction, perforation and mechanical intestinal obstruction. We report their classification, diagnostic modalities and treatment.