Role of Pharmacognosy in various systems of medicine

Role of Pharmacognosy in Allopathy (Modern medicine)
Role of Pharmacognosy in Ayurveda
Role of Pharmacognosy in Unani System of Medicine
Role of Pharmacognosy in Siddha System of Medicine
Role of Pharmacognosy in Homeopathy
Role of Pharmacognosy in Chinese Medicine System

1. Role of Pharmacognosy
in various systems of medicine
Dr. M. Ramaiah,
M.Pharm., Ph.D., IPDRA, DICT (USA)
Professor & Head, Department of Pharmacognosy
Hindu College of Pharmacy, Guntur, A.P., India

2. Contents:
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Allopathy (Modern medicine)
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Ayurveda
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Unani System of Medicine
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Siddha System of Medicine
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Homeopathy
▸Role of Pharmacognosy in Chinese Medicine System





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3. Introduction
The word “pharmacognosy” is a combination of the Greek words pharmakon
and gnosis: “drug” and “knowledge”.
The first use of the term is found in the Lehrbuch der Materia Medica, which
was published in Vienna in 1811.
As most drugs of that time were crude preparations of plant and animal origin,
pharmacognosy from its beginnings has been associated with natural product
drugs.
Pharmacognosy is defined as an interdisciplinary science at the interface of
chemistry and biology, charged with the application of natural products research
to medicine.
As such, it incorporates elements of analytical chemistry, biochemistry, ecology,
microbiology, molecular biology, organic chemistry, taxonomy, and related
disciplines.
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4. Role of Pharmacognosy in Allopathy
(Modern medicine)
Drugs of natural origin constitute the backbone of the modern pharmacopoeias.
The history of the origin of modern drugs is related in large part to the discovery
of drugs from nature, and natural products are a major source of modern drug
prototypes and pharmacological probes.
The first pure natural product drug prototypes were identified through the
investigation of vascular plants [e.g., atropine, digitoxin, ephedrine, morphine,
quinine, and salicylic acid ] and terrestrial animals [e.g., epinephrine and various
hormones].
Moreover, plants continue to be important sources of new drugs [e.g.,
artemisinin, galanthamine, paclitaxel].
Microbial sources started to contribute significant numbers of drugs and drug
prototypes in the middle of the 20th century, and marine organisms (primarily
animals and their associated microbes) have also begun to make significant
contributions to medicine in recent years.

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5. Natural Product-Related Drugs in Prescription Medicine
The importance of natural products in medicine is evident from an analysis of the
number of natural product drugs and drugs derived from natural products that
are included in the World Health Organization Model List of Essential Medicines.
The 13th revision includes nearly 300 distinct drugs considered to be basic to the
practice of medicine, including about 210 small-molecule therapeutic agents [18].
The latter include 44 unmodified natural products, 25 semisynthetic
derivatives of natural products, and over 70 synthetic drugs based on natural
product pharmacophores or synthetic mimics of natural products.
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7. ▸During the period 1981-2002, of the 1031 new chemical entities approved by U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, 50 were natural products (4.8%), 240 were semi-
synthetic derivatives of natural products (23.3%), and 144 were synthetic compounds
based on a natural product pharmacophore (14.0%) [19].
▸An additional 97 new chemical entities (9.4%) were synthetic compounds that mimic
natural substrates for the drug target, or that were designed with knowledge gained
from natural products.
▸Drugs derived from natural products (directly or indirectly) constitute roughly half of
prescription medicines, and it seems likely that this will continue to be the case in the
future, as about half of the new chemical entities entering the development pipeline are
natural products or related compounds.

Conclusion:
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8. Role of Pharmacognosy in Traditional Systems of Medicine
(Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy &
Chinese systems of medicine)
About 80 percent of the world population still rely and use the medicines of these
traditional systems.
Traditional Chinese medicine in China, Unani system in Greece, Ayurvedic
system in India, Amachi in Tibet or more recently Homoeopathy in Germany are
these systems of medicine which were once practiced only in the respective areas
or subcontinents of the world, are now popularly practiced all over the world.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is already taking much interest in
indigenous systems of medicine and coming forward to exploit the scientific
validity of the medicines used since traditions.
On the contrary to Allopathy, traditional medicines are much more preferred for
being safe and without harmful effects and comparatively much cheaper than
that of allopathic medicines.

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9. Role of Pharmacognosy in Ayurveda
In India, the Ayurvedic system of medicine developed an extensive use of
medicines from plants dating from at least 1000 B.C. Western medicine
continues to show the influence of ancient practices.
For example, cardiac glycosides from Digitalis purpurea, morphine
from Papaver somniferum, reserpine from Rauwolfia species, and
quinine from Cinchona species and artemisinin, an active antimalarial
compound from Artemisia annua, etc., show the influence of traditional medicine
in Western medicine.
The most important aspect of Pharmacognosy in Ayurveda is to identify
correctly the crude drugs. Based on their anatomical characters provide the
correct identification of species
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10. Ayurvedic herbs are described and classified according to five major
properties:
rasa (taste),
guna (physicochemical properties),
veerya (potency),
vipaka (postdigestive effect) and
prabhava (unique effect of the drug).
As the digestive process begins, the food or drug is acted upon by
the agnis (various digestive juices) and enzymes.

Identification, characterization, pharmacognostic studies are helpful in
standardization of many Ayurvedic drugs and formulation as mentioned in
Ayurvedic Pharmacopeias.
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11. Role of Pharmacognosy in Unani System of Medicine
Unani-tibb or Unani Medicine is a form of traditional medicine practiced in
Middle- East and South-Asian countries.
Unani system of medicine is originated in Greece by the Greek philosopher,
physician Hippocrates , who freed medicine from the realm of superstition and
magic, and gave it the status of science.
The theoretical framework of Unani medicine is based on the teachings of
Hippocrates.
In India, Arabs introduced Unani system of medicine, and soon it enriched in
India.
When Mongols ravaged Persian and central Asian cities, scholars and
physicians of Unani medicine fled to India.
The Delhi Sultans, the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs and the Mughal Emperors
provided state patronage to the scholars and even enrolled some as state
employees and court physicians.
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12. The drugs used are mostly of the plant origin. Some drugs of animal
and mineral origin are also used.
The filed of Pharmacognosy always exists in order to identify the exact
source of plant drugs, which is much essential for right treatment.
Patients are treated either by single drug (crude drugs) or by com-pound
drugs (formulations of single drugs).
There are two types of compound drugs used in the treatment of the
diseases, i.e. classical compound drugs which are in use for the
hundreds and thousands years and patent/proprietary compound drugs
which have been formulated by the individuals or institutions as per their
research and experiences.
Unani system of medicine is one of the oldest systems of medicine in the
world; it is still popular and practiced in Indian subcontinent and other
parts of the world.
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13. Role of Pharmacognosy in Siddha System of Medicine
Siddha medicine is practiced in Southern India.
The origin of the Tamil language is attributed to the sage Agasthya, and the origin
of Siddha medicine is also attributed to him.
Mercury occupies a very high place in Siddha medicine. It is used as a catalytic
agent in many of its medicines. When mercury is used, it is used in combination
with sulphur.
The common preparations of Siddha medicines are:
1. Bhasma (Calcined metals and minerals).
2. Churna (powders).
3. Kashaya (decoctions).
4. Lehya (confections).
5. Ghrita (ghee preparations) and taila (oil prepara-tions).
6. Chunna (metallic preparations which become alka-line).
7. Mezhugu (waxy preparations).
8. Kattu (preparation that are impervious to water and flames.


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14. Innumerable varieties of herbs, mineral and animal products find mention in
Siddha literature, which are used in the preparation of medicines.
Siddha medicine embodies the essence of Ayurveda (plant extracts), Unani,
Acupressure (sensitive points), Reiki (energy field), etc.
Herbal raw drugs (Mooligai moolaporutkal) are classified further into 11 sub-
divisions based on the part of the plant used in preparation of a medicine.
In certain plants, the medicinal value may be attributed to a particular part like
root, leaves,bark, flowers which is used. E.g. Zingiber officinale is used for the
medicinal value of its rhizhome (modified root) only.

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15. Preparation of medicines containing plant origin is based on the concept of
taste.
According to this concept for every taste there are compatible (friendly) tastes
(Natpu Suvai) and inimical (opposed) tastes (Pagai Suvai).
For example for the taste sweet, salt and sour are compatible tastes and bitter
and pungent are inimical tastes.
The branch of Pharmacognosy particularly organoleptic evaluation of crude
drugs guides in identification genuine plant drugs in Siddha Medicine.
Common medicinal plants used in Siddha system: Trigonella foenum-graceum
L., Azadirachta indica A., Aegle marmelos (L)., Aegle marmelos (L).,
Justicia adhatoda., Ficus racemosa., Glycyrrhiza glabra etc.
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16. Role of Pharmacognosy in Homeopathy
Homoeopathy is a specialized system of therapeutics, developed by Dr
Samuel Christian Friedrich Hahnemann, a German physician, chemist and a
pharmacist, based on natural law of healing: Similia Similibus Curantur, which
means “Likes are cured by likes”.
Homois means like (similar) and pathos means treatment. Thus,
Homoeopathy is a system of treating diseases or suffering by the
administration of drugs that possess power of producing similar suffering
(diseases) in healthy human beings.
The medicines prepared from herbs are free of side effects or reactions. This
is the reason why herbal treatment is growing in popularity across the globe.
The herbs used in homeopathy are mostly derived from angiosperms
(flowering plants), though some conifers and ferns as well as fungi, including
lichens, brown and red algae are also used.

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17. Nearly 70 % of homeopathic medicines are derived from herbs.
These are prepared from any part of the plant like fruit, seed, stem, bark, flower,
leaf, stigma or root as well as a non-woody plant.
Homeopathic medicines are mainly categorized into classical, combinations and
formulations. The classical medicines consist of single ingredient or source
material and therefore, their standardization at the manufacturing level is easy. In
higher potencies the original substance is difficult to detect through conventional
drug assay. This is a big challenge in quality assurance as well in identification of
homeopathic medicines.
For the manufacturing of homoeopathic medicines, only small quantity of the
original drug material is sufficient. As such it is eco friendly and also called
green medicine.
Basic sources of homeopathic medicines are almost the same as of other drug
systems. The difference lies mainly in the method of preparation and its use in
treatment.
So the need and role of Pharmacognosy always exists Homeopathic system in
finding the best practices for the production of potent medicinal plants.
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18. Role of Pharmacognosy in Chinese Medicine System
oThe use of herbs as medicine is mentioned in China and Japan.
oThe first herbal classic written in China was published in the Qin Dynasty called
the Agriculture Emperors Materia Medica.
oThe first plants discovered and used were usually for digestive system
disorders (i.e. Da Huang), and slowly as more herbs were discovered the
herbs became more useful for an increasing number of ailments, and
eventually the herbal tonics were created.
oTraditional Chinese medicine is based on the principle of Yin and Yang theory.
oYang represents the force of light and Yin represents the forces of darkness.
oAccording to the yellow emperor, Yin and Yang is the foundation of the entire
universe. It underlies everything in creation. It brings about the development of
parenthood; it is the root and source of life and death; and it is found with the
temples of the gods.
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19. oIn order to treat and cure diseases, one must search for their origins.
oHeaven was created by the concentration of Yang and the Earth by the
concentration of Yin.
oYang stands for peace and serenity;
oYin stands for confusion and turmoil.
oYang stands for destruction;
oYin stands for conservation.
oYang brings about disintegration; Yin gives shape to things.
oWater is an embodiment of Yin and fire is an embodiment of Yang.
oYang creates the air, while Yin creates the senses, which belong to the physical
body when the physical body dies; the spirit is restored to the air, its natural
environment.
oThe spirit receives its nourishment through the air, and the body receives its
nourishment through the senses.
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20. oEvery herb has its own properties which include its energy, its flavor, its
movement and its related meridians to which it is connected to.
oThe branch of Pharmacognosy shows the exact path for finding right herbs by
providing various ways like classifying the drugs, standardization parameters
may help to select good quality herb.
oIt is beneficial in the therapeutic formulae used in TCM are frequently derived
from aqueous decoctions of single plants or complex multicomponent
formulae.
oThe techniques of plant cultivation and preparation of decoction from
Pharmacognosy very helpful further.


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21. References:

1."Pharmacognosy - Study Material, Important Questions Answers, Online
Textbook". Pharmacy180.Com, 2021, http://www.pharmacy180.com/group/pharmacognosy-14/.

2.Traditional Chinese Medicine: From Aqueous Extracts to Therapeutic Formulae. Accessed from
https://www.intechopen.com/books/plant-extracts/traditional-chinese-medicine-from-aqueous-
extracts-to-therapeutic-formulae.

3.2021, https://www.nhp.gov.in/introduction-to-homeopathic-pharmacopeia_mtl. Accessed 1 July 2021.

4.Jones, William et al. "The Role Of Pharmacognosy In Modern Medicine And Pharmacy". Current
Drug Targets, vol 7, no. 3, 2006, pp. 247-264. Bentham Science Publishers Ltd.,
doi:10.2174/138945006776054915.

5.Kinghorn, A Douglas. "The Role Of Pharmacognosy In Modern Medicine". Expert Opinion On
Pharmacotherapy, vol 3, no. 2, 2002, pp. 77-79. Informa Healthcare, doi:10.1517/14656566.3.2.77.

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