Pharmacognosy
Eyael Tewelde
June, 2022
Definition
• It is derived from the Greek
Pharmakon 'a drug' and
gignosco 'to acquire a knowledge of’
Pharmacognosy – knowledge of drugs
• Branch of PHARMACY which Studies 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
Brief History
It is as old as mankind (use of medicinal plants)
• Evidences on Egyptian Papyrus, Sumerian clay Tablets, Ge’ez
scripts….
• Discorides (40-90 A.D.) - ‘Materia Medica’
• J.A. Schmidt (1759–1809) – coined the term in ‘Lehrbuch der
Materia Medica’
Scope
• evolved from being a descriptive botanical subject to one having
a more chemical focus embracing a broad spectrum of
disciplines.
• Includes botany, zoology, ecology, ethnobotany, marine biology,
microbiology, herbal medicine, chemistry, biotechnology,
phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, clinical
pharmacy, pharmacy practice, etc…
• Pharmacognosy has grown into a meta-discipline devoted to
natural biomedical agents and their functional properties.
Crude drugs
Crude drug vs natural product
• A crude drug is a natural product which has not been subjected
to any treatment, perhaps, to a simple process of preservation
such as drying, whereas the term ‘natural product’ embraces
from crude drugs to, herbal preparations to pure compounds.
• Crude drugs include
• Entire organisms
• Parts of organisms
• Extracts or exudates
• Minerals
Nomniclature of crude drugs
International Plant Index (IPNI): www.ipni.org
• Plants International Code of Zoological
Nomenclature: www.iczn.org
Rosmarinus officinalis L.
Genus Author(s)
species Family
Viola abyssinica Steud. Ex Oliv (Violaceae)
Animals
Homo sapiens Linneaus, 1758
Classifications
• There are a number of classification systems
1. Alphabetical classification
2. Taxonomical classification
3. Morphological classification
4. Pharmacological classification
5. Chemical classification
6. Chemotaxonomical classification
7. Serotaxonomical classification
Official, unofficial and non-official drugs
• Official drugs – in pharmacopeias/national formularies
• Un-official – appear in a former documentation but not on the
current one
• Non-official – never appeared in a formulary/pharmacopeia
Types of preparations from plants
➢Decoctions
➢Hot infusions
➢Cold infusions
➢Tisanes
➢Tinctures
➢Macerates
➢Fresh juices
➢Pastes or powders
➢Topicals
➢Inhalants
Factors affecting crude drug quality
➢Deterioration
• Can happen
• At the time of harvesting
• Post harvesting
• Drying, storage, packaging, transportation
➢Main factors of deterioration are
• Moisture
• Light
• Oxygen
• Temprature
➢Adultration or Debasement
• Addittion and/or substitution of the original drug with other
substance(s) which is (are) either void or inferior in therapeutic or
chemical properties
• Accidental or intentional
Types of adultrants
✓Substitution with inferior commercial varities
Eucalyptus camadulensis to adulterate Eucalyptus globulus
Arabian Senna (Cassia angustifolia), dog Senna (Cassia obovata) and avaram
(Cassia auriculata) to adulterate
Senna (Cassia senna);
✓Adulteration by Artificially Manufactured Substitutes
e.g. paraffin wax after yellow coloration substituted
for bees wax ;artificial invert sugar for honey.
✓Substitution by Exhausted Drugs
Here the same plant material is mixed which is having no
active medicinal components as they have already been extracted
out.
Ginger, clove powder
✓Substitution by Superficially Similar but Cheaper Natural
Substances
e.g. leaves of species - Ailanthus are substituted for
belladonna, senna, mint etc.; Leaves of Phytolacca and Scopolia
for belladona; Leaves of Xanthium for stramonium
✓Adulteration by Addition of Worthless Heavy Materials
A large mass of stone mixed with Liquorice root, pieces of
limestone are found in asafoetida
✓Addition of Synthetic Principles
Sometimes to fortify inferior natural products, synthetic principles are
added
e.g. adding citral to oil of lemon;
benzyl benzoate to balsam of Peru etc.
✓Usage of Vegetative Matter from the Same Plant
This is done by mixing adventitious matters or naturally occurring with the
drug in excessive amount or parts of plant other than that which constitutes the
drugs.
For example liver warts and epiphytes growing in bark portion are mixed with
Cascara or Cinchona
Evaluation of crude drugs
1. Physical/morphological
2. Microscopic
3. Pharmacologic
4. Chemical
Contribution of natural products in drug discovery:
• can be used as drugs by their own right, i.e., in unmodified state
(e.g.,morphine from Papaver somniferum).
• provide chemical ‘‘building blocks’’ used to synthesize more
complex molecules (e.g., bile acids for the synthesis of oral
contraceptives).
• Can be used as pharmacophores that lead to a synthesis of novel
analogs (avermectins-ivermectin)
• Indicate new modes of pharmacological action (e.g.discovery of
cannabinoid receptors following study of cannabis ).
Steps in the scientific analysis of
drugs from natural resources
1. Selection of plant material
How?
Random Vs Ethnobotanical?
2. Taxonomic identification
Why? By whom?
3. Litrature survey
Why?, How?
Sources
• PubMed, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, Google
Scholar
4. Collection of plant material
Where? When? How?
5. Design of appropriate extraction, separation, and isolation
methods
How?
6. Biological activity Testing
• Older strategies:
• Focus on chemistry of compounds from natural sources, but not on
activity.
• Straightforward isolation and identification of compounds from
natural sources followed by biological activity testing (mainly in vivo
).
• Chemotaxonomic investigation.
• Selection of organisms primarily based on ethnopharmacological
information, folkloric reputations, or traditional uses.
• Modern strategies:
• Bioassay-guided (mainly in vitro ) isolation and identification of
active ‘‘lead’’ compounds from natural sources.
• Production of natural products libraries.
• Production of active compounds in cell or tissue culture, genetic
manipulation, natural combinatorial chemistry, etc.
• More focused on bioactivity.
• Introduction of the concepts of dereplication, chemical
fingerprinting, and metabolomics.
• Selection of organisms based on ethnopharmacological information,
folkloric reputations, or traditional uses, and also those randomly
selected.
Biomass
Extract
Biological activity test
Active lead
compound Fraction
Pure compound
