RESUMO
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.
Assuntos
Bezoares/história , Camelídeos Americanos , Animais , Argentina , Fósseis , História Antiga , HumanosRESUMO
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.
Assuntos
Bezoares/história , Gastroenteropatias/história , Animais , Chile , Cultura , História do Século XVI , História do Século XVII , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XXI , História Medieval , HumanosRESUMO
Bezoar stones, once used as universal antidotes and panaceas, but currently regarded as costly and useless medicines of the past, are a major milestone in the history of toxicology. Arabic physicians had been using bezoars in medicine from the 8th century onwards. In the 16th century, the Portuguese controlled bezoar trade from India, and the Portuguese doctors Garcia de Orta, Amatus Lusitanus, and Cristobal Acosta introduced the medicinal use of Oriental bezoars to European medical literature. Some criticism aside, leading European doctors prescribed bezoars mainly as powerful antidotes. Five bezoars that now adorn the Távora Sequeira Pinto Collection in Oporto testify to the allure and glory of bezoars at the height of their golden age, when they equalled the splendour of gems and noble minerals that dominated the Eastern and Western lithotherapy.The end of the 18th century marked the end of ancient panaceas. This article focuses on the therapeutic and apotropaic use of bezoars.
Assuntos
Antídotos/história , Bezoares/história , Antídotos/uso terapêutico , Comércio , Europa (Continente) , História do Século XV , História do Século XVI , História do Século XVII , História do Século XVIII , História Antiga , História Medieval , Índia , Pérsia , PortugalRESUMO
Bezoar is a concretion found in gastrointestinal tract. The word "bezoar" is derived from the Arabic 'padzahr', and means antidote. Animal bezoars were widely used in medicine until the 18th century. Article presents European medieval and modern tradition about bezoar as an antidote. Ancient literary sources are compared with the medieval and modern medical and magical texts.
Assuntos
Antídotos/história , Bezoares/história , Animais , Europa (Continente) , História do Século XVIII , História do Século XIX , História do Século XX , História do Século XXI , História Medieval , Humanos , Magia/históriaRESUMO
The word "bezoar" is derived from the Arabic "bazahr" or "badzehr", which means antidote or counter-poison; animal bezoars were widely used in medicine until the 18th century. Trichobezoars (hair), phytobezoars (vegetable matter) or combinations of both (trichophytobezoars) may be found in the gastrointestinal tract of humans. While the prevalence of bezoars in humans is low, mortality rates may be as high as 30% if they remain untreated, mainly through gastrointestinal bleeding, destruction or perforation. Endoscopic treatment of gastric bezoars has made inroads into the traditional treatment of bezoars by surgical removal.
