Pharmacognosy

nd 2

lecture

I. Introduction to Pharmacognosy
A brief history of natural products in medicine Value of natural drug products Production of natural drug products The role of natural products in drug discovery General principles of botany: morphology and systematics

Importance of plants in modern pharmacy and medicine

Types of drugs derived from plants: 1. herbal drugs (specific part of a medicinal plant)
Ex: the herb of St Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum) mild depression The leaves of Ginkgo biloba dementia Chamomile GI complaints

 2. Natural products, or compounds isolated from nature

Ex: Morphine (P. somniferum) Digoxin (D. lanata) Taxol (T. brevifolia) Quinine ( Cinchona spp.) Caffeine (Coffea arabica)

 3. Nutraceuticals (functional foods)

Ex: Garlic, ginger, turmeric Anthocyanin-flavonoid containing plants such as cocoa, red wine. Carotenoid-containing pants such as tomatoes, carrots.

Pharmacist are responsible

To ensure that the stocks of herbal medicines are obtained from reputable source of supply To not recommend any remedy where they have any reason to doubt its safety or quality (toxicity, drug interactions) Offer herbal medicines that is safe, and effective

I. The history of natural products in medicine

A great proportion of the natural products used as drugs The study of drugs used by traditional healers is an important object of pharmacognostical research Sumerians and Akkadians (3rd millennium BC)

Egyptians (Ebers papyrus, 1550 BC)

Ebers Papyrus treatment for cancer: recounting a "tumor against the god Xenus", it recommends "do thou nothing there against"

Authors of antiquity Hippocrates (460-377 BC)

The Father of Medicine

Hippocratic Oath ("To please no one will I prescribe a deadly drug") ("I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art")

Pedanius Dioscorides (40-80 AD)

De Materia Medica (600 medicinal plants)

Dioscorides De Materia Medica inArabic, Spain, 12th-13th century.

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus (AD 129 200/217)

was a prominent Roman physician and philosopher of Greek origin Galen performed anatomical dissections on living (vivisection) and dead animals,

The Islamic era Ibn Altabari (770850)

a Muslim hakim, Islamic scholar, physician and psyc hologist of Persian Jewish orZoroastrian descent, who produced the first encyclopedia of medici ne Firdous al-Hikmah was the first known encyclopedia of me dicine,. He was a pioneer of pediatrics and the field of child development.

Ibn Sina (980-1037)

Avicenna (Abitzianos)

His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine ( Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb)

The era of European exploration overseas (16th and 17th century)

The 18th century, Pharmacognosy

Linnaeus (naming and classifying plants) At the end of the 18th century, crude drugs were still being used as powders, simple extracts, or tinctures

The era of pure compounds

(In 1803, a new era in the history of medicine)

Isolation of morphine from opium Strychnine (1817) Quinine and caffeine (1820) Nicotine (1828) Atropine (1833) Cocaine (1855)

 In the 19th century, the chemical structures of many of the isolated compounds were determined
In the 20th century, the discovery of important drugs from the animal kingdom, particularly hormones and vitamins. microorganisms have become a very important source of drugs

Definitions
Pharmacognosy:
is multidisclipinary subject which comprises parts of botany, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology (Samuelsson, 1991). The subject of pharmacognosy deals with naturals products as drugs or for the production and discovery of a drug. It is used for those natural products such as plants or part of plants, extracts and exudates which are not pure compounds

 Ethnobotany:
It is a broad term referring to the study of plants by humans

Ethnomedicine:
It refers to the use of plants by humans as medicine

Traditional medicine:
It is the sum total of all non-mainstream medical practices, usually excluding so called western medicine