Unit 7: Medicinal Plants Flashcards
when was the earliest recorded use of medicinal plants?
around 2600-3000 BC clay tablets found in mesopotamia
what is the ebers papyrus?
a medicinal text written by ancient Egyptians
What greek book had info on medicinal plants?
“History of Plants” by Theophratus around 3000 BC
What is the Chinese pharmacopeia?
A medicinal text with many authors from 2700 BC to now
in 1932 how many organic monographs in the British pharmacopeia were plant derived?
over 70%
How nay modern pharmaceutical drugs are based on compounds from plants? How much of the world population still relies on traditional medicine?
25% and 75-80%
what are the benefits on cultivating medicinal plants?
- reliable identification
- reliable yields of plant material
- standardized or improved cultivars
- provides alternative crops to farmers
what are the challenges of cultivating medicinal plants?
may have low germination rates, slow growth, or need of specific ecological conditions
AND
must be high quality for clinical results
what did Dr. Youyou Tu win a Nobel prize for in 2015?
discovery of artemisinin, an antimalarial drug
what are alkaloids?
pharmacologically active n-containing basic compounds of plant origin and also produced by some other organisms
how are the classes of alkaloids decided?
chemical structure, either heterocyclic or non-heterocyclic (protoalkaloids)
what are terpenoids?
first isolated from turpentine they are based on the number of 5 carbon isoprene units, with a hydrophobic nature, can be secondary or primary metabolites 1 unit = nemiterpenes 2 units = monoterpenes 3 units = sesquiterpenes 4 units = diterpenes
what are examples of terpenes or compounds that contain them?
artemisinin & taxol, essential oils & resins, and rubber
What are phenylpropanoids?
phenolic compounds are usually structural, pigments, defense compounds etc. that come from phenylpropanoids-acetate pathways in plants
they either possessed or once possessed 1+ acidic hydroxyl groups attached to an aromatic arene ring
Who was Disoscaride?
in 40-90 AD wrote a 5-volume encyclopedia of 600 medicinal plants similar to pharmacopoeias
