HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND SCOPE OF PHARMACOGNOSY

PRESENTED BY
HIRA AROOJ
STUDENT OF PHARMACY AT UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL
PUNJAB, LAHORE, PAKISTAN

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF PHARMACOGNOSY
Greek
Pharmakon Ginosko
Drug Knowledge
PHARMACOGNO
SY
KNOWLEDGE OF
DRUG

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
PHARMACOGNOSY
the word pharmacognosy was first used in a work entitled
'analecta pharmacognostical 'by an austrian physician Schmidt
in 1811, and then by Anotheus Seydler in 1815.
investigation of medicinal substances from the plant, animal, and
mineral kingdoms in their natural, crude or unprepared state or
in the form of such primary derivatives as oil, waxes, gums, and
resins.

General History:
The use of plants in the management of ailments dates as
far back as the origin of man itself. Several cultures of the
world used herbs for healing rituals and certain carnivorous
animals.The use of plants for medicinal purposes started long
before any form of record.

CONTRIBUTORS MILESTONE
Sumerian clay slab The ancient evidence (approximately 5000 years old) of natural plants
for medical preparation has been found on Sumerian clay slab in
Nagpur. It comprised 12 recipes for preparation referring to over 250
plants and some alkaloids, such as poppy and henbane.
Shen Nung (2838-2698BC) The emperor taught China to cultivate hemp as a fiber and later on for
food and oil and wrote Chinese book on roots and grasses ‘Pen Ts’ao’
which consist of dried parts 365 drugs such as the great yellow
gentian, ginseng, jimson weed, cinnamon bark and ephedra.

Hippocrates (460-377) He is regarded as a father of medicine for his
contribution to human anatomy, physiology and
development of medicinal plants. His literature
consists of 300 medicinal plants., like garlic
against intestine parasites etc.
Theophrastus (371-287BC) He is known as the father of botany, founded
botanical science with his books ‘De Causis
Plantarium’_plant etiology and ‘De Historia
Plantarium’.

Charles the Great (742-814AD) He quoted 100 plants such as sage, sea onion, iris, mint,
common centaury, poppy, marsh mallow(3).
Disocorides (1st century AD) The Greek physician also known as the father of
pharmacognosy’,published five volumes of a book,
entitled ‘De Materia Medica’in 78 AD, which offers
plenty data on collection, storage and uses of 944 drugs,
600 are of plant origin, with descriptions of the outward
appearance, locality mode of collection, making of the
medicinal preparations, and their therapeutic effect.

The Egyptian records
The ancient Egyptian records date back to 3000BC (the
first recorded prescriptions were found in Egyptian
tombs, these included the Hieratic papyri, Ebers
papyrus, and gynecologic papyrus). The Ebers Papyrus is
110 page scroll, which is about 20 meters long, contains
811 prescriptions and 700 drugs. Egyptians were expert
in using crude drugs for treatment and cure of disease.
The ebers papyrus is the oldest preserved medical
document(3).

The Babylonian records
The babylonians used drugs of plant origin in their practice of
medicine as far back as 1770BC, and many of them from plant
and mineral sources were listed in Babylonian medical recipes.
The earliest records of vegetable drugs include opium, ricinus,
myrrh, menth thymus, and 120 minerals(3).

Ancient Greece and Rome
 Homer is the earliest source of Greek medical knowledge and the
descriptions of ancient Greek medical practice.
 Iliad and Odyssey two epic poems attributed to homer contains the
information regarding the treatment of injuries.
 National history is the largest compilation with more than 1000 plants
from the roman period by Pliny (60 A.D), he has compiled the reports
fro many of the other authors whose work does not survive, so Pliny’s
work is a valuable resources for the medicinal plants used in ancient
period.
 Galen taught and practiced both pharmacy and medicine in Rome(130-
200), he was the one to formulate the cold cream as similar as the
existing cold cream of today, his principles of preparing and
compounding medicines were followed by the western word for 1,500
years(2).

Indian records
 Herbs played an important role in Ayurveda. The baisc Ayurveda
writings are at least 2,000 years old; it can be divided into three
major and three minor texts.
 The three major texts are Caraka Samhita, Suhsruta Samhita and
Astanga hrdayam Samhita and the three minor texts are Sarngadhara
Samhita, Bhava Prakasa Samhita and Madhava Nidanam Samhita.
 Caraka Samhita is the oldest and the authoritative writing in
Ayurveda dates back to 6th to 7th century B.C. it describes about
582 herbs, while Sushruta Samhita, lists nearly 600 herbal remedies.
 Important crude drugs used at this time include sandalwood, aloes,
sesame oil, castor oil, ginger benzoin, cannabis, etc(5).

The Chinese records
 The first herbal classic written in china as published in the Qin
Dynasty (221-206 BC) called the Agriculture Emperors Materia
Medica.
 Chinese traditional medicine is well acknowledged for acupuncture and
has experienced many changes. It richly comprises plant-based
products, as documented in volume ‘’Pen Ts’ao Kang Mao’’(3000BC).
 These medicinal agents included rhubarb, ephedra and pomegranat.
 A complete reference to chinese medicinal pescriptions is the Modern
Day Encyclopedia of Chinese Materia Medica published in 1977. it lists
many drugs 4800 of which are of plant origin(7).

The Arabs and Persian records
 The physicians of arabia added many new plants and medicaments to those already
recorded by the Greeks and Romans.
 Avicenna is considered to be the brilliant contributors to the field of pharmacy and
Medicine of Arabian era (about 980-1037) he composed the Kitab Ash-shifa (‘’book
of Healing”) and the canon of medicine, which is among which is among most famous
books in history of medicine.
 Al Gafiqi was a renowned botanist, who collected plants from Spain and Africa, and
described them most accurately.
 Abdullah ibn Ahmad Ibn alBaytar of Spain in mediaeval times was the greatest
pharmicist and botanist who described more than 1400 medicinal plants and
compared them with the ancient and arabian authors. His two very important books
of which AlMughanifi al adwiyah al mufradah deals with medicine, while the other
the Al Jami Ji al Adwiyah al Muftadah is a very valuable book containing simple
remedies(3).

SCOPE OF PHARMACOGNOSY
identification of crude drugs
 include studies in the areas of phytochemistry, microbial
chemistry, biosynthesis, biotransformation, bioinformatics,
and chemotaxonomy.
it covers areas such as
 Isolation or Analysis of phytochemicals
 Natural drugs of direct therapeutic use.
 investigation of biosynthetic pathways
 structure activity relationships

 qualitative and quantitative analysis
 DNA fingerprints (RAPD, RFLP, AFLP)
 novel medicine
EMERGING AREAS IN PHARMACOGNOSY
Forensic Pharmacognosy:
applications of the methods and techniques for the investigation of crimes arising
from the misuse of plants and crude drugs.
Molecular Pharmacognosy:
using the methods and technologies of molecular clonning, genetic engineering, tissue
culture and molecular markers; pharmacognosy has developed rapidly in recent years
and now represents a highly interdisciplinary, cutting-edge sciences
Ecopharmacognosy:
study of sustainable, biologically active natural resources.

PHARMACOGNOSISTS, WHAT
THEY DO???

Lacking Areas and Problems faced:
 Despite the critical role of natural product sciences in global health
care, there is still a deficiency in the number of professionals in this
arena, and the disparity of trained physicians per thousands of the
population is too grave in certain parts of the world.
 Accessing certain drugs in some parts of the world is a challenge,
given the high cost of drug importation which makes traditional
medicines the only rational alternative approach.

How does
Pharmacognosy
fill these gaps?

Pharmacognosy promises to make its
mark on the advancement of medicine in
a substantial way.

JAZAKALLAH
FOR
WATCHING THE
PRESENTATION

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND SCOPE OF PHARMACOGNOSY

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HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND SCOPE OF PHARMACOGNOSY