Intro to pharmacognosy

• Pharmacognosy is a highly specialized science that deals with the biologic, biochemical and economic features of natural drugs and their constituents.
• Pharmacognosy deals with plant and animal constituents.
• Ancient civilizations used parts of plants and animals to concoct various potions to eliminate pain, control suffering and counteract diseases.
• The history of Pharmacognosy includes the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus, the Cuneiform tablets of Pharmaceutics, Galenicals, and the Chinese Materia Medica.
• Galen (Claudius Galenus) described methods of preparing formulas containing plant and animal drugs, known as Galenicals.
• Pen Tsao Kang Mu, also known as Chinese Materia Medica by Li Shih-Chen, is a Chinese herbal medicine from the 1500s.
• Chemical classification of drugs is based on the active constituents that are present, it is the preferred method of classification.
• Pharmacologic/Therapeutic classification of drugs is based on the effect on the body, for example, cardiac glycosides are inotropic, anthraquinones are cathartic, and opioid alkaloids are narcotic.
• Some families have new and old names, for example, Labiatae is also known as Lamiaceae, Cruciferae is also known as Brassicaceae, and Compositae is also known as Asteraceae.
• Examples of chemical classifications include carbohydrates, glycosides, alkaloids, resins, tannins, etc.
• Plants belonging in the family Solanaceae contain constituents of similar structure and effect, specifically they have the tropane ring and have generally anticholinergic action.
• Ayurveda, based in India, is based on the balance of basic elements.
• J.A. Schmidt, from Austria, used the term “pharmacognosy” before Seydler in a book entitled Lehrbuch der Materia Medica.
• C.A. Seydler introduced the term “pharmacognosy”, “pharmakon” drug, and “gnosis” knowledge.
• Fluckiger defined pharmacognosy as the simultaneous application of various scientific disciplines with the object of acquiring knowledge of drugs from every point of view.
• The first Pharmacopoeias were the Ricettario Fiorentino from Italy, the Pharmacopoiea of Nuremberg from Germany, and the Pharmacopoiea Londiniensis from the UK.
• Taxonomic classification of drugs is based on accepted systems of botanical classification such as Phylogeny.
• To avoid insect attacks, the simplest method is to expose the drug to 65 o C, fumigation with methyl bromide is another method, and a drop of chloroform or carbon tetrachloride can be added.
• Quality in drug evaluation is the intrinsic value of the drug; it is the amount of medicinal principles or active constituents present in a drug sample.
• Adulteration in drugs is the debasement of an article that renders it poorer in quality; it can be caused by sophistication, admixture, spoilage, deterioration, inferiority, or substitution.
• Morphologic classification of drugs is based on the part of the plant/animal represented such as roots, leaves, organs/glands; examples include leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, etc.
• Evaluation consists of qualitative and quantitative assays.
• Garbling is the removal of extraneous matter such as other plant parts, dirt, contaminants, and the like; it is the final step in preparation of crude drugs and the final step in crude drug preparation (excluding packaging).
• Cascara sagrada is cured with MgO to reduce bitterness and the sweating of vanilla is used to develop the expected vanillic odor.
• Types of Evaluation include Organoleptic Evaluation, Microscopic Evaluation, Pharmacologic Evaluation, Chemical Evaluation, and Physical Evaluation.
• Drug Evaluation consists of bioassays, which use living animals or excised organs to evaluate the effects of drugs.
• Purity in drugs is the absence of impurities.
• Drugs can be classified based on the active constituents that are present; this is the preferred method of classification.
• Further developments in pharmacognosy include substances such as Morphine (Serturner), Quinine (Pelletier, Caventou), Salicin (Buchner), Curare (Bernard), Benzylpenicillin (Florey and Fleming), Artemisinin (Tu), and Avermectins (Campbell, Omura).
• Natural substances without molecular modification that comprise whole plants and herbs and anatomic parts/excisions are known as Natural substances.
• Pharmacognosy is the study of biological, biochemical, and economic features of drugs of biological and natural origin.
• Biologic features of pharmacognosy include botanical sources, history, distribution, collection etc.
• Naturalized plant is a plant that grows in foreign land, other than their native homes.
• Natural products chemistry is the chemistry related to drugs of natural origin, including plants.
• Drug Biosynthesis or Biogenesis is the process where plants produce compounds that can be considered as active constituents.
• Marc is the undissolved portion of the drug that remains after extraction.
• Extractive is a product of extraction process.
• Primary metabolites are products from organisms (plants) that they need to survive, such as carbohydrates and lipids.
• Crude drug refers to vegetable or animal drugs that consist of natural substances only undergoing collection and drying.
• Health foods are products of natural origin, which without therapeutic effect are used in self-treatment of diseases.