PCOG 1

• Pharmacognosy is the study of crude drugs obtained from plants, animals, microbes, and mineral kingdoms
• A drug is defined as a substance recognized by an official pharmacopeia or formulary, intended for use in diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease
• Crude drugs are plants or animals, or their parts, subjected only to drying or making them into slices or peeling in some cases
• Plant sources for drugs include entire plants, parts of plants like leaves, pods, seeds, rhizomes, and barks, and plant exudates like gums, resins, and oils
• Animal sources for drugs include entire animals, glandular products, extracts, fish liver oils, musk, beeswax, hormones, enzymes, and antitoxins
• Microbial sources for drugs include antibiotics produced by microorganisms like Actinomycin, Amphotericin, and Aspergillate fungi producing Penicillin
• Mineral sources for drugs include Kaolin, chalk, diatomite, and bhasmas of Ayurveda, as well as various silicates, sulfur, and iodine
• Organized drugs consist of direct parts of plants with cellular tissues, while unorganized drugs are prepared by intermediary physical processes and do not contain cellular tissue
• Evaluation of plant drugs ensures identity, quality, and purity, with methods like organoleptic, microscopical, chemical, physical, biologic, and instrumental evaluation
• Preparation of drugs for the commercial market involves collection, harvesting, drying, garbling, packing, and storage of crude drugs
• General classifications of crude drugs include carbohydrates, glycosides, tannins, lipids, volatile oils, resins, alkaloids, hormones, enzymes
• Phytochemical biosynthesis involves the biosynthetic pathways in plants that form chemical compounds giving plant and animal drugs their therapeutic properties
• Metabolic pathways in plants involve primary plant metabolites that are simple in structure and secondary plant metabolites that are potent in action and associated with pharmacological effects
• Phytochemicals like Colchicine from Colchicum autumnale and anti-mitotics like Vinca Alkaloids and Taxanes have plant sources and pharmacological actions
• Ancient man's development of pharmacy parallels the development of man, learning from instinct and observation to benefit others with medicinal applications
• Pharmacy in Ancient Babylonia:

  • Dates back to around 2600 B.C.
  • Referred to as the Jewel of ancient Mesopotamia and the Cradle of Civilization
  • Earliest known record of pharmacy
• Pharmacy in Ancient China:

  • Stems from Shen Nung (~2000 BC), an emperor who investigated the medicinal value of herbs
  • Wrote the first Pen T-Sao (native herbal) recording 365 drugs
  • Medicinal plants include Podophyllum, Rhubarb, Ginseng, Stramonium, Cinnamon bark, Ma huang or Ephedra
• Days of the Papyrus Ebers:

  • Egyptian medicine dates back to about 2900 B.C.
  • Papyrus Ebers (1500 B.C.) is the best known and most important pharmaceutical record
  • Pharmacy in Egypt was conducted by gatherers and preparers of drugs and "Chiefs of fabrication" or head pharmacists
• Theophrastus – Father of Botany:

  • About 300 B.C.
  • Among the greatest early Greek philosophers and natural scientists
  • Holds a Belladonna in his portrait; behind him are pomegranate blooms, senna, and manuscript scrolls
• The Royal Toxicologist – Mithridates VI:

  • King of Pontus (about 100 B.C.)
  • Made the art of poisoning, as well as preventing and counteracting poisoning, subjects of intensive study
  • Used himself and prisoners as "guinea pigs"
  • Famed formula "Mithridatum" of alleged panantidotal powers
• Terra Sigillata – An Early "Trademarked" Drug:

  • Meaning "Sealed Earth"
  • Originated on the Mediterranean island of Lemnos before 500 B.C.
  • Clay tablet impressed with an official seal by priestesses and sun-dried
• Dioscorides – A Scientist Looks at Drugs:

  • Pedanios Dioscorides (1st century A.D.)
  • His texts were considered basic science as late as the 16th century
• Galen – Experimenter in Drug Compounding:

  • Taught both Pharmacy and Medicine in Rome
  • 130-200 A.D.
  • Originator of the formula for cold cream
• Damian and Cosmas – Pharmacy's Patron Saints:

  • Damian was the apothecary and Cosmas was the physician
  • Twin brothers of Arabian descent and devout Christians
  • Died in the year 303 by martyrdom
  • Patron saints of Pharmacy and Medicine
• Monastic Pharmacy:

  • Middle Ages (5th to 12th centuries)
• First Apothecary Shops:

  • Arabs separated the arts of apothecary and physician in Bagdad late in the 8th century
• Avicenna – The "Persian Galen":

  • Contributor during the Arabian Era
  • Ibn Sina, Persian (~980-1037 A.D.), called Avicenna by the western world
  • Pharmacist, poet, physician, philosopher, and diplomat
• Separation of Pharmacy and Medicine:

  • Public pharmacies began to appear in Europe in the 17th Century
  • In about 1240 AD, pharmacy was separated from medicine in Sicily and Southern Italy
• The First Official Pharacopeia:

  • Originated in Florence
  • The Nuovo Receptario, published in 1498, became the legal standard
  • Result of a collaboration of the Guild of Apothecaries and the Medicinal Society
• The Society of Apothecaries of London:

  • King James I granted a charter in 1617 forming the "Master, Wardens and Society of the Art and Mystery of the Apothecaries of the City of London"
  • First organization of pharmacists in the Anglo-Saxon world
• Louis Hebert, Apothecary to New France (Canada):

  • Young Parisian Apothecary who helped build New France's first settlement in 1605
  • Cultivated native drug plants and supervised gardens
  • Examined specimens of drug plants offered by Micmac Indians
• Governor who Healed the Sick:

  • John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
  • Made available the "art and mystery" of the apothecary for his citizens
• The Marshall Apothecary:

  • Christopher Marshall, Irish immigrant who established an apothecary shop in Philadelphia in 1729
  • Managed by granddaughter Elizabeth, America's first woman pharmacist
• First Hospital in Colonial America:

  • Colonial America's first hospital was established in Philadelphia in 1751
  • Hospital Pharmacy began operations in 1752
• Scheele – Greatest of the Pharmacists-Chemists:

  • Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Swedish chemist who discovered numerous organic compounds
• Sertürner– First of the Alkaloid Chemists:

  • Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Sertürner, German chemist who discovered morphine and recognized alkaloids
• Caventou, Pelletier and Quinne:

  • French pharmacists who isolated various compounds from plants
• American Pharmacy Builds its Foundations:

  • Protest meeting held in Philadelphia in 1821 led to the formation of The Philadelphia College of Pharmacy
• The Shakers and Medicinal Herbs:

  • United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, known as the Shakers, cultivated medicinal herbs
• The American Pharmaceutical Association:

  • Convention of representative pharmacists in Philadelphia in 1852 led to the formation of the American Pharmaceutical Association