INTRODUCTION
1.1. Pharmacognosy
The detail study of mdicines originated from natural sources is described as Pharmacognosy. According to American Society of Pharmacognosy “Pharmacognosy is 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” (Tyler, 1999). As practised today, pharmacognosy includes the extensive study of natural products from plants, bacteria, fungi and marine organisms, botanical dietary supplements as well as herbal remedies (Cardellina, 2002). Pharmacognosy can also be defined as “the scientific and systematized study of physical, chemical, structural and biological features of crude drugs as well as their history, method of cultivation, collection and preparation for the commercial purposes”(Gokhele et al., 2008). It is the science which provides infrastructure for the evolution of novel medicines. It is a long-established pharmaceutical science which has played an alternative role in finding, characterization, standardization and manufacturing of plant material as well as phytomedicines regarding their macroscopic, microscopic and biochemical characteristics (Kaplan, 2001; Kinghorn, 2002; Gokhele et al., 2008).
Pharmacognosy is the scientific study of crude drugs originated from four different natural sources namely plants, animals, minerals and metals. It is estimated that 90% of the crude drugs are originated from plant sources while the remaining are from other three sources (Joy et al., 1998). Pharmacognostic study of crude drugs involves five customary parameters i.e. the botanical, organoleptic, physical, chemical, and pharmacological para...
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...e of a modern multidisciplinary discipline that could serve to arouse the interesting medicinal sciences. Increased interest in the study of natural products in drug development, as well as rapidly altering investigation strategies are the driving forces, modernizing the pharmacognosy. Pharmacognosy, now a day focuses on finding novel and unique molecules and revealing unknown targets by studying such molecules in nature. It is now well understood that pharmacognosy is one of several scientific disciplines that have an inimitable strategic position in connecting biology with chemistry and even medicine. New and improved strategies regarding the selection of organism selection, bioassays techniques, isolation procedures, and structure elucidation are constantly devoloped based on the latest advancements in pharmacognosy (Bruhn & Bohlin, 1997; Claeson & Bohlin, 1997).
The improvement of medicine over the course of the human successes gave great convenience to the people of today. Science has cured and prevented many illnesses from occurring and is on its way to cure some of the most dreadful and harmful illnesses. As the world modernizes due to the industrialization, so does the ways of medicine. Some cures are approached by chance, some, through intense, scientific measures.
This paper discusses pharmacology and terminology related to “Pharmacology” which is the branch of medicine concerned with the uses, effects, and modes of action of drugs“ pharmacology. 2015. In Merriam-Webster.com. The study of different classes of drugs, routes of absorption, and drugs have effects on those consuming them. There are drugs that are necessary for illnesses and healing but, there are medicines that cause concern regarding interaction and harming the body.
Today, Johnson & Johnson is a pharmaceutical giant worth $71 billion. The company is listed on NYSE as JNJ with 2.83 billion shares outstanding with the value of $92.7 per share.
Did you know there was a time where infectious diseases like the common cold could kill you and your family? This was the elizabethan era probably the last time where sickness became the “grimm reaper” before modern medical advancements. With infectious diseases spreading and killing so many people doctors became desperate. Because these doctors knew very little about medicine, they were completely willing to try experimental treatments on their patients (Alchin). Sadly just about anybody with an infectious disease died. All the knowledge these doctors knew were based on: Humours, what brain function each internal organ controls, and how to protect themselves from it.
Hallucinogens are a class of drugs that share a vast history, and were used for spiritual and religious practices since the prime of early civilization. They are referenced in the Hindu holy book, Rig Veda, the healing rituals of the Aztecs of Pre-Columbian Mexico, and are often attributed to the illicit practices of those prosecuted during the Salem Witch Trials. The first synthetic hallucinogens were discovered by a Swiss chemist named Albert Hoffman in 1938, and were originally manufactured to psychiatrists to help their patients access repressed emotions. Other uses considered for early hallucinogens included ingestion by doctors to better understand schizophrenic patients, and as an antibiotic. Their recreational use peaked in the 1960s, but began to decline after they were declared illegal in 1966, except in Native American churches where hallucinogens continued to be used as a spiritual tool. Though their popularity is not as prevalent as it had been in the “hippie movement”, their use continues to be recorded within a minority of the high school and college aged population.
In the ancient and medieval time, antipyretic agents were only found in willow bark and in cinchona bark [2]. Willow bark was used as a pain reliever [3]. People were advised to chew on the bark in order to relieve pain and fever [3]. Cinchona bark was used for increasing appetite, however people also used it for common cold and fever [4]. When the cinchona tree started to decrease in the 1880s, people started to look for other alternatives [2]. During the 1880s, antipyretics agents were developed, which were acetanilide and phenacetin [2]. These properties of acetaminophen were discovered by accident [2]. It occurred when the molecule acetanilide was added to a patient’s prescription [2]. By this time, this drug had been synthesized via the reduction of p-nitorphenol [2]. However the drug acetaminophen was still not used medically for another 20 years [2]. In 1893, acetaminophen was found in the urine sample of an individual who had taken phenacetin [2]. This drug was concentrated into an odorless, white, crystalline compound that was found to have a bitter taste [2]. Acetaminophen was discovered to be a metabolite of acetanilide, however the discovery was ignored at that time [2]. It was later on that acetaminophen was found to have pain and fever relieving properties
The multiple use of plants used for nourishment, medicinal purposes and practical use were ignored by Lewis and Clark during their monumental trek across the United States. Rather than consider the Native Indian’s use of native plants they persisted on using Dr. Rush’s Thunderbolt pills that probably caused more problems than the condition that inflicted them. Many modern day cultures continue to ignore native remedies and have come to depend on synthetic pharmaceutical drug production. In recent years the wealth of indigenous knowledge has been acknowledged revealing the use of native plants and the importance it had in the survival of indigenous people.. Pharmaceutical companies have utilized the immense knowledge of the indigenous people and their use of natural plants. The application of natural plant species have revealed the main reasons mankind has survived into present day. Following is a few of the plants, their application and their specific purposes.
The Influence of Medieval Medicine on Modern Medicine The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much so that it remained in history for so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, the modern idea of society taking responsibility for its poor with public health care was established.
Throughout many generations the success of medicine has been dog-eared throughout history, from penicillin being created through colonized bacteria on an agar plate to chemotherapy being used to combat the ailments of cancer, we as a society rely a great deal on the effectiveness of medicine. Due to this realization one can agree that it is imperative that the medications that are being distributed and placed on the pharmaceutical market are tested and analyzed at all angles and perspectives to ensure they work effectively and successfully resulting in moderate to no side effects. The progressive industry of medicine has greatly increased since the early nineties thanks to the advancement in medical technology making
Since the dawn of man, humans have dreaded the suffering caused by injuries and disease. For our benefit, we have enhanced the practices of Medicine and its techniques, but before such ideas existed; the risk of recovery was extremely traumatic and at times fatal. We have abandoned several of the medical procedures used in ancient times since intrepid scientists and physicians sought methods. Although medicine was not always a science, instead it was magic, thus god were trusted for a few techniques more than actual logic. Therefore, the history of medicine has been disturbing and dangerous, but a good number of its practices today used in a more modern way, is quite beneficial to humanity.
N, Ranganathan, and I. J. Kuppast. "A Review on Alternatives to Animal Testing Methods in Drug Development." Ebscohost. N.p., 16 Oct. 2012. Web. 13 Nov. 2013.
Pauly, S. (2011, February). News from ABC: changes and challenges. Analytical & Bioanalytical Chemistry. pp. 1003-1004. doi:10.1007/s00216-010-4459-0.
Stanley, Janet E., Stanley J. Watson, and John A. Benson. Marijuana and Medicine: Assessing the Science Base. Washington D.C.: National Academy P, 1999.
Traditional herbal medicine comes from many different areas of the world (Indian, Chinese, African, Western, Native American herbs, Ayurvedic and other indigenous medicines) and in most all of them they are still b...
Molecular pharmacology deals with the biochemical and biophysical characteristics of interactions between molecules of different substances and those of the cell. In other words, it is molecular biology applied to pharmacologic and toxicologic questions. The methods of molecular pharmacology include precise mathematical, physical, chemical and molecular biological techniques to understand how cells respond to hormones or pharmacologic agents, and how chemical structure correlates with biological activity of various