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THE DRUGS USED IN
ANCIENT TIMES,
INVARIABLY, WERE THE EXTRACTS OF PLANTS OR ANIMAL PRODUCTS, WITH A
FEW
INORGANIC SALTS. IN INDIA, THE AYURVEDIC SYSTEM OF
MEDICINE,
DEVELOPED EVEN BEFORE 1000 BC, USED EXTENSIVELY
MEDICINES
FROM PLANTS. THE EARLIEST CHINESE RECORDS
GAVE
DESCRIPTIONS OF DISEASES BUT NOT MEDICINES.
CHINESE
BELIEVED THAT ILLNESS WAS A GODLY PUNISHMENT WHICH
WAS
TREATED BY PRAYERS AND OFFERINGS. THE EARLIEST
RECORDED
CHINESE PRESCRIPTIONS OF NATURAL PRODUCTS AS DRUGS DATED BACK TO
ABOUT 500 BC.
THE EARLIER EXAMPLES OF WESTERN MEDICINE HAD THE INFLUENCE OF PLANT MEDICINES USED IN ANCIENT TIMES. CURRENT EXAMPLES ARE, THE USE OF THE CARDIAC GLYCOSIDES FROM THE PURPLE FOXGLOVE, DIGITALIS PURPUREA,MORPHINE AND OPIATES FROM POPPY,PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM, RESERPINE FROM RAUvOLFIA SERPENTINA AND QUININE FROM CINCHONA OFFICINALIS. MORE RECENTLY VINCRISTINE FROM CATHARANTHUS ROSEUS AND TAXOL FROM TAXUS BACCATA WERE INTRODUCED AS DRUGS FOR THE TREATMENT OF CANCER.
ARTEMISININ IS AN ACTIVE ANTIMALARIAL COMPOUND
ISOLATED FROM ARTEMISIA ANNUA. THIS
PLANT
HAS BEEN IN USE IN CHINA AS
AN
ANTIMALARIAL AGENT UNDER THE NAME
QINGHAOSER.
A NEW STANDARDIZED PREPARATION, ARTIMETHER, A
STRUCTURAL
MODIFICATION OF ARTEMESININ, HAS BEEN RECENTLY BEEN
INTRODUCED
FOR THE TREATMENT OF DRUG-RESISTANT MALARIA.
NATURAL PRODUCTS HAVE ALSO BEEN USED AS AGRO-CHEMICALS TO CONTROL PESTS ON CROPS. THE PYRETHROIDS ISOLATED FROM THE FLOWERS OF CHRYSANTHEMUM CINERARIFOLIUM HAVE BEEN KNOWN AS INSECTICIDES SINCE AT LEAST 200 YEARS.NEEM (AZADIRACHTA INDICA SEEDS) IS RECENTLY EMERGED AS ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE PESTICIDE. AZADIRACHTIN IS THE ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. ROTENONE FROM DERRIS ELLIPTICA ROOT AND NICOTINE FROM NICOTIANA TABACUM WERE AT ONE TIME EXTENSIVELY USED AS INSECTICIDE. HOWEVER, THEIR USE IS RELEGATED WITH THE ADVENT OF THE INTRODUCTION OF SYNTHETIC PESTICIDES DURING 1940’S.
MICROORGANISMS HAVE BEEN EXTENSIVELY
SCREENED
FOR ANTIBIOTICS SINCE THE DISCOVERY
OF
PENCILLIN FROM PENCILLIUM NOTATUM BY ALEXANDER
FLEMING.
GRIESOFULVIN AND CEPHALOSPORIN-C ARE THE
ANTIBIOTICS
DEVELOPED FROM SOME FUNGAL STRAINS.
Contact:::
Srikanth@orgachemlab.com MORE RECENTLY SCREENING HAS BEEN BASED ON BIOCHEMICAL ASSAYS – SUCH AS ENZYME INHIBITORS AND RECEPTOR-LIGAND BINDING ASSAYS. WITH THE INCREASING AVAILABILITY OF HUMAN RECEPTORS FROM MOLECULAR CLONING, EXTRACTS AND COMPOUNDS CAN BE TESTED FOR THEIR BINDING DIRECTLY TO THE PROTEINS. THERE ARE ESTIMATED TO BE AT LEAST 2,50,000 SPECIES OF HIGHER PLANTS AND MOST OF THESE HAVE NOT BEEN TESTED FOR BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY. AS PER AN ESTIMATE OF WORLD WIDE FUND (WWF) FOR NATURE . AT LEAST 50,000 SPECIES ARE BEING LOST ANNUALLY BY DESTRUCTION OF NATURAL TROPICAL FORESTS. MORE EFFORTS ARE NECESSARY TO PRESERVE BIODIVERSITY. IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES LIKE USA, UK, AND GERMANY ETC. THERE IS AN INCREASE IN THE INTEREST OF TRADITIONAL PLANT MEDICINES, DUE TO LESSER SIDE EFFECTS. THEREFORE, EFFORTS SHOULD BE MADE TO EXTRACT CRUDE PRODUCTS FROM PLANTS BY A SYSTEMATIC PROTOCOL METHODS, SUBJECT THEM TO BIO-ACTIVITY GUIDED ISOLATION, ISOLATE PURE PRODUCTS AND ESTABLISH THEIR ACTIVITY. THE PURE PRODUCTS MAY BE USEFUL AS DRUGS AFTER TOXICOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES OR THEIR STRUCTURE MAY SERVE AS A LEAD STRUCTURES TO DEVELOP NEW THERAUPEUTICALLY ACTIVE MOLECULES.
IN 1991, 42 NEW AGENTS WERE INTRODUCED TO
MEDICAL PRACTICE OF WHICH 16 WERE NATURAL
PRODUCTS OR WERE DERIVED FROM NATURAL
PRODUCTS.
SIMILARLY IN 1992, 43 NEW CHEMICAL ENTITIES
WERE
INTRODUCED AND 18 AMONG THEM WERE NATURAL
PRODUCTS
OR THEIR DERIVATIVES WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF
TECHNIQUES
OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY, AN EMERGING AREA
OF
BIOTECHNOLOGY, THERE HAS BEEN INCREASE IN THE
INTEREST
IN THE USE OF NATURALLY
THUS NATURAL PRODUCTS WILL CONTINUE TO
BE
IMPORTANT IN THE THREE AREAS OF DRUG DISCOVERY: ROUTES
TO DRUG
DISCOVERY FROM NATURAL PRODUCTS:
SOME OF THE PLANTS WHICH YIELDED ACTIVE PRINCIPLES FROM MEDICINAL PLANTS BASED ON TRADITIONAL MEDICINE ARE : --- AN AYURVEDIC PLANT FROM INDIA, MAKANDI (COLEUS FORSKOLII) YIELDED FORSKOLIN. IT HAS ACTION TO ACTIVATE ADENYLATE CYCLASE AND HAS POTENTIAL AS CARDIOTONIC AND IN THE TREATMENT OF GLAUCOMA. --- A PLANT, HIMALANTHUS NATANS USED IN SAMOA ,TO TREAT VIRAL DISEASES, YELLOW FEVER YIELDED AN ACTIVE PRINCIPLE PHORBOL ESTER, PROSTRATIN. IT WAS FOUND TO HAVE ANTI-HIV ACTIVITY. ---- LEAVES OF PREMNA
SCHIMPERI
FROM ETHIOPIA YIELDED A DITERPENE – 12 – OXO – 10 BETA, 17
ALPHA, 19 ALPHA, 20 ALPHA – CLERODA – 3-BETA (16) - DIEN – 15 –
OIC
ACID AS ACTIVE PRINCIPLE. THIS COMPOUND HAS
ANTI
BACTERIAL ACTIVITY AGAINST GRAM– POSITIVE
PATHOGENIC
BACTERIA. SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES OF THE DISCOVERY OF
ACTIVE
NATURAL PRODUCTS FROM ETHNOBOTANICAL CONSIDERATIONS
ARE
MANY. BIOASSAY – GUIDED ISOLATION OF NATURAL PRODUCTS. THE EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH OF SETTING UP BIOASSAYS AND SCREENING LARGE NUMBER OF EXTRACTS (COMPOUNDS) IS FAVOURED BY MANY PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES. MANY OF THESE BIOASSAYS ARE BASED ON ENZYMES OR ISOLATED CELL LINES . IN MOST CASES THE BIOASSAYS ARE AUTOMATED WHEREIN LARGE NUMBER OF COMPOUNDS EXTRACTS COULD BE ASSAYED IN SHORT TIME. SOME SUCCESSFUL EXAMPLES ARE : --- ISOLATION OF YUEHCHUKENE AS AN ANTI-IMPLANTATION COMPOUND FROM MURRAYA PANICULATA --- FROM THE RESIN OF AN AFRICAN SPECIES COMMIPHORA, A TRITERPENE MANSUNBINONE WAS ISOLATED WITH ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY. CHEMOTAXONOMIC
CONSIDERATIONS: PROGRAMM FOR FURTHER ACTION FOR THE DISCOVERY OF NEW CHEMICAL ENTITIES FROM PLANTS 1. EXTRACTION OF
CRUDE
PRODUCTS FROM PLANTS FOUND IN
THE
FOREST. 2. EXTRACTION OF
THE DRIED
PLANT MATERIAL BY THE ACCEPTED PROTOCOL WHICH
INCLUDE
ONE OF THE OPTIONS: Contact :: orgachemweb@gmail.com 3. BIOASSAY DIRECTED
CHROMATOGRAPHY
AND ISOLATION OF ACTIVE CONSTITUENTS
A) THE EXTRACTS WILL
BE SUBJECTED
TO A SERIES OF BIOCHEMICAL AND
PHARMACOLOGICAL
ACTIVITY Contact ::
orgachemweb@gmail.com SUCH
A
SYSTEMATIC STUDY BASED ON ETHNOBOTANICAL CONSIDERATIONS MAY LEAD
TO THE DISCOVERY OF NEW DRUGS FROM PLANTS. NAMES OF THE PLANT MEDICINAL USE 1. Ougenia
dalbergoides
:
Aqueous extract of the bark mixed with 2. Sida
aculeta
:
Whole plant for nervous 3. Lagerstromia
parviflora
:
Leaf to cure boils. 4. Zanthoxylum
rhetesa
:
non-conventional timber for furniture 5. Term`inalia alata : Timber 6. Terminalia
balerica
:
Fruits for the treatment of Jaundice. 7. Lonicera
malabarica
:
Aqueous extract of the bark to control 8. Bredelia
retusa
:
Aqueous extract of the bark for stomach 9. Evodia
Lunn-ankenda
:
Aqueous extract of the bark to improve 10. Flugia
virosa
:
Fruits are eaten by birds. Some people 11. Mallotus
philippenis
:
Fruit coat yields very popular dye called 12. Solanum
nigrum
:
For sugar complaints, to treat diabetic. 13.Asparagus racemous : Tubers as to treat general debility, as tonic (Satavari,Pilli thegalu,) like Ginseng. 14. Andrographis
paniculata
:
Leaf, whole plant for jaundice, liver tonic 15. Centella
asiatica
:
Whole creeper to improve memory. 16. Rauwolfia
serpentina
:
To treat hypertension, Snake bite. 17. Eclipta
alba
:
To treat liver malfunction and jaundice. 18.Priva
Leprostachya
:
Whole plant to cure boils. 19. Plumbago
Zeylancia
:
To improve digestion's; to treat skin 20.Cipadessa
bacifera
:
Fish-poison. It is related to Azadirachta
21. Acacia
Pinnata
:
Bark fiber as garland to children suffering 22. Odina Wodier
:
To wounds the bark powder is applied to heal it.
23. Anogesisus
latifolia
:
Small bark piece kept in mouth and 24. Costus
speciosus
:
Tubers boiled and eaten to relieve from 25. Dalbergia
lanceolara
:
Tribals while collecting honey, chew the 26. Phyllanthus
reticulata
:
Whole plant is used in the treatment of jaundice
27. Tinospora
cordifolia
:
Stems to treat malaria; to treat dysentery of 28. Bryophylla species
:
To treat boils. 29. Hemidescus
indicus
:
Whole plant and Stems as tonic. 30. Cisampelos
pereira
:
Diuretic. 31. Gnetum
Ula
:
When the stems of this climber is cut, 32.
Unidentified
:
To women after delivery, food is served in
33. Litsea
decanensis
:
Bark powder as substitute to jiggat in 34. Ardisia
solanacea
:
Tenders leaves are consumed to supress 35. Heynea trijuga: Wood durable. Closely related (Mala) to neem .May have insecticidal activity. 36. Caesaria
tomentosa
:
Fruits , fish-poison. 37. Raphidophora
pertusa
:
Leaf is widely used to wrap meat. May have 38. Randia
malabarica
:
Fish - poison; suggests insecticidal 39. Stecularia
Urens
:
Gum extracted by Girijans to sell 40. Pavetta
indica
:
for jaundice. 41. Gardenia
latifolia
:
Aqueous extract of the bark for stomach 42. Celastrus
paniculata
:
Seed oil to improve memory.
SOME OF THE PLANTS
WHICH ARE
WELL KNOWN AS MEDICINALS IN TRIBAL AREA BUT LACKS BOTANICAL
IDENTIFICATION. Botanical identification is necessary before the collection of plants. Paridhonda
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information
contact: ORGACHEM LABORATORIES
Contact :: orgachemweb@gmail.com
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