Herbal and Natural Remedies Flashcards
What are Terpenes?
Largest class of secondary metabolites, and primary constituents of essential oils
Basic structure derived from five-carbon isoprene units linked together by head-to-tail forming linear chains or rings
e.g. menthon, menthol, carvon
Many have a pleasant smell, most are volatile and insoluble in water
What are alkaloids?
Nitrogen-containing natural chemical compounds that mostly react as a base and have a physiological effect. Categorized according to their heterocycle, many are chiral
Many alkaloids act like sodium (alkali metal) and form white salts with hydrochloric acid. Occur naturally in plants often as salts of organic acids or as glycosides (both improving the solubility of the compound)
E.g. oxalic acids, lactic acid, malic acid, citric acid, cocaine, nicotine
What are purines?
Show characteristics of alkaloids but do not react as bases, some consider them alkaloids but others do not
e.g. adenine and guanine are purine nucleobases
e.g. caffeine, theobromine and theophylline are all stimulants like alkaloids and increase diuresis (habituation effect) and secretion of bile
What is a primary metabolite?
Primary metabolism is the breakdown of essential substances for all living organisms such as proteins, fats, nucleic acids and carbohydrates.
Primary metabolites are the compounds that are involved in the primary metabolic pathways.
What are secondary metabolites?
Biosynthesis of these metabolites is derived from photosynthesis, glycolysis and the Kreb’s cycle. Results in the production of many secondary metabolites
The most important intermediates needed in biosynthesis of secondary metabolites are derived from Acetyl coenzyme A, mevalonic acid, shikimic acid, and 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate. They go through many pathways, using different reactions such as alkylation, decarboxylation etc.
What are some examples of natural toxins in food?
Dry red kidney beans – lectins can trigger stomach pain or vomiting; they can be destroyed by cooking/soaking properly
Green potatoes – glycoalkaloids rarely cause severe poisoning, small amounts of glycoalkaloids also found in normal potatoes
Moldy or damaged apples – patulin (mycotoxin) causes neurological, immunological and gastrointestinal toxicity
Shellfish – algal toxins from algae, causes skin rash, stomach pain and vomiting
Moldy food – mycotoxins may cause GI/respiratory problems
What are phytochemicals?
Non-nutritive chemicals produced by plants to protect them against disease and natural enemies, but may protect humans from disease as well.
They have antioxidant activity (potential protectors against oxidative damage of our cells), anticancer activity (reduce risk of development) and possible antiaging activity.
Oxidants are found in digestive enzymes of cells and cause damage or cell death
Not building units – phytochemicals are secondary compounds, are not used for lipid synthesis like fatty acids or protein synthesis like amino acids (primary compounds)
examples of phytochemicals *
Groups – carotenoids (carrots, yam, tomatoes), phenolics (citric, beans etc.), alkaloids, nitrogen containing compounds, organosulfur compounds (onion, garlic)
put more specifics here?
What is the role of plant-derived compounds in drug development?
Plant secondary metabolites can be used as drug precursors, templates for synthetic modification and pharmacological agents
Prototypes are the first form of a drug (made from minerals, plants, animals, microbes, chemical sources) to create alternate drugs, secondary metabolites form many prototypes
In organic chemistry chemists prepare analogues from prototypes to provide more potent and safer drugs (e.g. methadone (morphine substitute for addicts) and pethidine (analgesic) derived from atropine)
Plant secondary metabolites like genistein can be used as pharmacological probes which help researchers to understand the mechanism of action of intracellular signals and mechanisms related to human disease which help the design of new drugs
Semisynthetic approach can resolve shortage of supply due to low yield and high cost of total synthesis
