The document discusses the field of pharmacognosy, which is defined as the study of medicines derived from natural sources. Key areas of study in pharmacognosy include the botany, chemistry, and pharmacology of medicinal plants. Studies in pharmacognosy also focus on quality control, efficacy, and safety of herbal medicines. Issues addressed in pharmacognosy include a lack of studies proving traditional uses, uncertainties around active constituents, standardization challenges, and assessing quality and safety while considering herb and drug interactions.
The document discusses the field of pharmacognosy, which is defined as the study of medicines derived from natural sources. Key areas of study in pharmacognosy include the botany, chemistry, and pharmacology of medicinal plants. Studies in pharmacognosy also focus on quality control, efficacy, and safety of herbal medicines. Issues addressed in pharmacognosy include a lack of studies proving traditional uses, uncertainties around active constituents, standardization challenges, and assessing quality and safety while considering herb and drug interactions.
The document discusses the field of pharmacognosy, which is defined as the study of medicines derived from natural sources. Key areas of study in pharmacognosy include the botany, chemistry, and pharmacology of medicinal plants. Studies in pharmacognosy also focus on quality control, efficacy, and safety of herbal medicines. Issues addressed in pharmacognosy include a lack of studies proving traditional uses, uncertainties around active constituents, standardization challenges, and assessing quality and safety while considering herb and drug interactions.
The document discusses the field of pharmacognosy, which is defined as the study of medicines derived from natural sources. Key areas of study in pharmacognosy include the botany, chemistry, and pharmacology of medicinal plants. Studies in pharmacognosy also focus on quality control, efficacy, and safety of herbal medicines. Issues addressed in pharmacognosy include a lack of studies proving traditional uses, uncertainties around active constituents, standardization challenges, and assessing quality and safety while considering herb and drug interactions.
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PHARMACOGNOSY
By Bambang Prajogo E.W., Farmakognosy and Phytochemistry Departement, Faculty of Pharmacy, Unair
Pharmacognosy is the study of medicines from
natural sources. Derives from the Greek words pharmakon = drug gnosis = knowledge The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical and biological properties of drugs, drug substances or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources". The study of drugs from plants includes the subjects of botany, chemistry and pharmacology. Botany identification (taxonomy), genetics, and cultivation of plants. Chemical characterization isolation, identification and quantification of constituents in plant material. Pharmacology is the study of biological effect that the chemicals in medicinal plants have on cell cultures, animals and humans. From a practical perspective, studies in the field of pharmacognosy includes: Quality control identity, purity, consistency Efficacy therapeutic indication, clinical studies, pharmacological investigations Savety Adverse reactions, contraindications, precautions PHARMACOGNOSY TODAY Includes the study of the proper horticulture, harvesting and uses of the raw medicinals found in nature, identification or authentication of crude drugs (using macroscopical, microscopical, radiological or chemical methods), bio-pharmacological and clinical evaluations. Interdisciplinary broad spectrum of biological and even socio- scientific subjects: Botany Ethnobotany Marine biology Microbiology Herbal medicine Chemistry (phytochemistry) Pharmacology Pharmaceutics Clinical pharmacy and pharmacy practice related to the evaluation and clinical uses of medicines from natural sources, as well as their implications in health care management and public health. Academic contexts: study of pure, isolated substances of natural origin, the search for new drugs from natural sources (branch of the organic chemistry known as "natural product chemistry"). ISSUES IN PHARMACOGNOSY Lack of Studies Proving Traditional Uses United States : the use of herbal medicine has fallen out of use since the Second World War. Herbal studies in 20th Century having been published in languages other than English such as German, Dutch, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Farsi. In 1994 the US Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS "active ingredient" phytopharmaceuticals constituent synergy for their activities. ginsenosides or hypericin may not correlate with the strength of the herbs. poorly characterized or while well-characterized will rely upon the synergy of otherwise weak principles. In phytopharmaceutical or herbal medicine the active ingredient may be either unknown or may require cofactors in order to achieve therapeutic goals. standardization to a marker compound. companies use different markers, or different levels of the same markers, or different methods of testing for marker compounds. Many herbalists believe that the active ingredient in a plant is the plant itself STANDARDIZATION Providing processed plant material that meets a specified concentration of a specific marker constituent. Plant constituents have synergy and even active constituent concentrations may be misleading measures of potency if cofactors are not present. St. Johnswort is often standardized to the antiviral constituent hypericin hyperforin "active ingredient" for antidepressant use although there may be some 24 known possible constituents. A minority of chemicals used as standardization markers are known to be active constituents. Different compounds are chosen as "active ingredients" for different herbs, there is a chance that suppliers will get a substandard batch (low on the chemical markers) and mix it with a batch higher QUALITY Quality in crude drugs or plant medicines depends upon a variety of factors: genetically strong seed correct species maturity of the plant at harvest good soils air quality Climate organoleptic factors (intensity of color, flavor and odor) storage after collection is a factor worthy of study.
In modern times certain constituents are identified and measured.
HPLC, GC, UV/VIS, AAS are used to identify species, measure bacteriological contamination, assess potency and eventually creating Certificates of Analysis for the material. In Germany, the Commission E has produced a book of German legal-medical regulations which includes quality standards SAFETY "safe" potential dangers to considering the safety of crude drug a dangerous unknown. USDA scientist estimates the dangers of herbal medicine relative to other dangers in the United States as follows: Herbs 1 in 1,000,000 Supplements 1 in 1,000,000 Poisonous Mushrooms 1 in 100,000 NSAID's 1 in 10,000 Hospital Surgery 1 in 10,000 Car Accident 1 in 5,000 Improper Use of Medication 1 in 2,000 Angiogram 1 in 1,000 Alcohol 1 in 500 Cigarettes 1 in 500 Properly Prescribed Medications 1 in 333 Medical Mishap 1 in 250 Iatrogenic Hospital Infection 1 in 80 Bypass Surgery 1 in 20 In a 19 year analysis of poison control in the U.S.: 44.6% due to pharmaceuticals 2.4% due to plants (includes exposure to poison ivy, children eating houseplants and allergic responses). The vast majority did not involve herbal medicines. 8% of all hospital admissions are due to adverse reactions to synthetic drugs. Deaths or hospitalizations due to herbs are so rare that they're hard to find. The U.S. National Poison Control Centers does not even have a category in their database for adverse reactions to herbs. Hepatoxicity where perhaps the strongest case against some herbs lies the statistic show that over 80% of cases of fulminant hepatic failure were due to poisoning by freely available non-prescription NSAID's. Not one case was due to ingestion of medicinal herbs. Poisonous plants : Which have limited medicinal use are available only to trained practitioners (Aconite, Arnica, Belladonna, Bryonia, Datura, Gelsemium, Henbane, Male Fern, Phytolacca, Podophyllum, and Veratrum) Secondly, are herbs with powerful actions, often causing nausea, sweating vomiting, Third are plants with specific toxicity like hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids like Comfrey or Petasites. There are other plant medicines which require caution or can interact with medications including St. Johnswort or grapefruit. HERB AND DRUG INTERACTIONS Herbs and drugs have been combined for centuries in Asia and Europe The disrupted relationship between traditional herbal medicine and pharmaceutical allopathic medicine in the United States Herbal safety show cases that may lack the appropriate pharmacokinetics to produce the adverse results inferred. A study of herb drug interactions indicated that the vast majority of drug interactions occurred in four classes of drugs with narrow therapeutic windows, the chief class being blood thinners, but also including protease inhibitors, cardiac glycosides and certain antibiotics like cyclosporin. Antioxidants interfere with chemotherapy St. Johnswort counteracts immunosupressive drugs and interfere with digoxin and protease inhibitors. Ginkgo biloba may have anti-platelet effects, although the results are not clear as it also contains flavanoids that improve blood function. Constituents of garlic, peppermint and milk thistle have been shown to have effects on the CYP3A4 enzymes in vitro. Many herbs that are listed as "potentiating" merely have an additive effect, and including laxative herbs as antagonistic to anti-diarrheal medications is tautological. CONFUSION OF CONSTITUENTS WITH WHOLE PRODUCTS Crude drug constituents may have an opposite, moderating or enhancing effect. When any constituent is isolated it does not follow that its actions represent the whole herb. Ephedra has constituents that increase the heart rate and constituents that decrease it. The drug ephedrine only used the constituents that increased the heart rate and had side effects absent from the traditional preparation of the herb. Studies done Without Proper Identification of Assay of Plant Materials
Decline in pharmacognosy education herbal research be
done on plants that have not been botanically identified. Echinacea has been "debunked" in studies where no attempt had been made to ensure that the species was proper, the correct part of the plant had been used or that a standard dosage had been used. Inaccurate spelling of herb names is not uncommon in medical literature as all herbalists can attest, but more frequently there is a complete failure to use proper scientific nomenclature for botanicals. Without a validated description of a herb by its binomial name, the identity of the herb cannot be established. Studies Done with Non-Inert Placebos The loss of knowledge about the effects of plant materials clinical trials being done with plant material designated as "placebo" when in fact it is not inert. The placebo was chosen to match the color, aroma or flavor of an herb when color, aroma or flavor may be correlated with biochemical constituents of similar activity. Example : yellow color correlates with the presence of berberine, an antimicrobial compound found in plants ranging from goldenseal to phellodendron to yellow root Standards for Random Clinical Trials The Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) group came up with standards for random clinical trials (RTC) of herbs in 1996, revised in 2002. The tittle/abstract should include the Latin binomial for the plant species from which the herbal medicine originated, the part of the plant, and the type of preparation. The description must include the herbal medicinal product name, manufacturer, plant part used, type of preparation, source and authentication of the herbal material, pharmaceutical quality, dosage regimen and qualitative testing (purity). Also, reporting of the rationale for the control/placebo used in the trial is recommended. Report of an RCT of an herbal medicinal product comprising crude herbal material leaves, stems, root) prepared as a tea or decoction does not require reporting of the "type and concentration of solvent used and the plant to plant extract ratio". with these exceptions, all information outlined in these recommendations are suggested to be reported for all herbal medicine interventions RCTs of herbal medicine interventions report any concomitant medication, herbal medicinal product, or other CAM use; how the product used in the trial generalizes to products used in self-care and/or in clinical practice. Indexing Issues and Megastudies
With the rise of megastudies and the advent of
computerized researching The purported interaction effects are well-known side effects of phenelzine alone Significant by tertiary analyses are deemed to be validated real effects Loss of Species One major source of species loss is the rate of habitat destruction. Plant, animal and microbial species are themselves the sources for some of today's most important medicines and make up a significant proportion of the total pharmacopoeia. Scientists have analysed the chemistry of less than 1% of known rainforest plants for biologically active substances even smaller percentages of known animals, fungi and microbes. A high proportion of nonnative species seen as invasive (kudzu, Japanese knotweed, mimosa, lonicera, St. Johnswort and purple loosestrife) be harvested for the domestic herbal medicine market. Traditional Chinese Medicine crude drugs of plant and animal origin are used with increasing demand. Sustainable Sources of Plant and Animal Drugs As species face loss of habitat or overharvesting, there have been new issues to deal with in sourcing crude drugs. These include changes to the herb from farming practices, substitution of species or other plants altogether, adulteration and cross-pollination issues. Pills and capsules are the preferred method of ingesting medication as they are cheaper and more available than traditional The farming of medicinal species has difficulties : One solution is to farm medicinal animals and plants as a way of guaranteeing supplies as well as protecting endangered species. Farming alone can never resolve conservation concerns, as government authorities and those who use Chinese medicine realise. One alternative to farming involves replacing medical ingredients from threatened species with manufactured chemical compounds. Most TCM uses compounds which may act synergistically. Tauro ursodeoxycholic acid, the active ingredient of bear bile, can be synthesised and is used by some Western doctors to treat gallstones, but many TCM consumers reject it as being inferior to the natural substance from wild animals. Thank you