This is
FIRST SEMESTER, 200L and
I’ll be introducing the course,
COURSE CODE: PCG 201
COURSE TITLE: Organised Vegetable
Drugs
in the Pharm.D programme
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Course Outline
1. Introduction to Pharmacognosy.
2. Classification of Vegetable Drugs: Alphabetically,
morphologically, taxonomically, pharmacologically, and
chemically (AMTPC).
3. The microscope: optical principles and techniques, macroscopy,
microscopy.
4. Plant description: morphology and anatomy.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
•Has a Lab. component: PCG 203
•Course objectives
At the end of the course, the student should be able to:
i. link the previous knowledge in biological sciences with
Pharmacognosy.
ii. become familiar with the morphological, microscopical
and chemical characters of plant drugs available in the world
of commerce or are used in herbal medicine.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Recommended text:
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Introduction to Pharmacognosy
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
• A complete understanding of medicinal plants involves a number
of disciplines including commerce, botany, horticulture, chemistry,
enzymology, genetics, quality control and pharmacology.
• Pharmacognosy is not any one of these per se but seeks to
embrace them in a unified whole for the better understanding
and utilization of medicinal plants.
• The word ‘pharmacognosy’ designate the discipline related to
medicinal plants; it is derived from the Greek word,
• pharmakon: ‘a drug’, and
• gignosco: ‘to acquire a knowledge of’as recorded by Dr. K.
Ganzinger
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
• Pharmacognosists not only study medicines from plants but also from
animals, minerals substances and marine organisms.
• Plants: Artemisinin, Aspirin, Quinine (Cinchona succirubra),
Theobromine (Theobroma cacao), Capsiasin (Capsicum fructescens).
• Artemisinin was discovered in 1972 by Tu Youyou, who shared the 2015
Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine for her discovery. Artemisinin-based
combination therapies (ACTs) are now standard treatment worldwide for
Plasmodium falciparum malaria as well as malaria due to other species of
Plasmodium.
• Artemisinin was extracted from the plant Artemisia annua (sweet
wormwood), an herb employed in Chinese traditional medicine.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
• Aspirin (Salix spp- willow tree), first synthesized in 1853 by Carl
Gerhardt, is still one of the most widely-used mild analgesic and non-
steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID). It had its medicinal origin in
the salicylates and glycosides of willow bark, long used for the
treatment of rheumatic diseases, gout and painful conditions of all
types.
• Animals: Honey (Fructose), Wool, Silk, Insulin etc.
• Minerals: Potash, Alum
• Other areas that have natural associations with the subject;
Pharmacognosy are herbicides, insecticides and molluscicides.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Historically,
• The apothecary are the early Pharmacists and Physicians (Exodus 30:25,
35, 37:29, 2Chronicles 16:14 )
• Hippocrates; 460-377 BC (Greek): Father of modern medicine, wrote the
book Materia medica; the first extensive pharmacopeia with 400
remedies.
• Discoides (40-90 AD): Greek Physician and Pharmacologist and Botanist.
Wrote De Materia medica, a standard European pharmacopeia (Ph. Eur.)
with 600 remedies.
• Galen (131-201AD): The most distingushed Physician of Antiquity. The first
to use pulse as a sign of illness.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
• Aristotle (384-322 BC): the godfather of evidence-based medicine. His
teachings of logic and philosopy drove medicine away from
superstition towards scientific methods.
• In the 1500s, Paracelsus von Hohenheim (1493-1541) expanded an
older Christian European idea known as the Doctrine of Signatures
which believe that the shape, colour, taste, smell and other sttributes
of a plant indicated its use in healing.
• Research has however proved that this isn’t true in most cases. for
example the roots of Rauwolfia serpentina resembled snakes, thus in
ancient indian medicines, it was used to treat snake bites but
reserpine isolated from the plant is used to treat high blood pressure.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
• Present Day: Traditional Medical Practitioner, also specialist with
different names depending on specialities e.g. Babalawo, Adaunse,
Onkola, Iya Abiye, Agbomola, Onisegun, Alagbo (YORUBA), Dibia
okpukpu (IGBO), Doka (HAUSA).
• How did we get to know about the efficacy of these plants?
1. By accidents
2. insights from hunters
3. a study of animal feeding pattern during danger and when ill.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Therefore, the study of pharmacognosy helps in:
1. pharmacopoeial identification and quality control purposes.
2. with modern isolation techniques and pharmacological testing
procedures, new plant drugs may find their way into medicine as purified
substances rather than in the form of galenical preparations for example,
only few would have occasion to handle dried Catharanthus roseus
although they are familiar with formulations of the isolated alkaloids
vinblastine and vincristine.
3. Pharmacognosists handle research into the cultivation or artificial
propagation of medicinal plants of interest for the world at large, to
ensure sustainabilty which the local wild sources may not provide.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
CLASSIFICATION OF
CRUDE/VEGETABLE DRUGS
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Crude/vegetable drugs are broadly divided into the following two main groups on
the basis of their apparent morphological forms of cellular and structural
organisation -
Organised crude/vegetable drugs are composed of
definite organised histological or cellular structures and
tissues.
Unorganised crude/vegetable drugs are devoid of any
definite histological or cellular structures and are derived
from plants and animals by different extraction processes
or as natural secretions.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
The Organised crude plant drugs are again further divided into lie
following two groups -
a) Drugs from Overground organs, which include all drugs
that ire derived from the overground or aerial parts or
organs of plants.
(b) Drugs from Underground organs, which include all drugs
that are derived from underground or subterranean parts or
organs of plants.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Systems of classification for crude/vegetable
drugs (ATMPC)
a. Alphabetical system
b. Taxonomical system
c. Morphological system
d. Pharmacological or therapeutic system
e. Chemical system
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Alphabetical classification:
In this system, crude drugs are arranged in alphabetical order using
their English or Latin names.
The Pharmacopoeias and other official publications use this system.
Merits: (i) it is the simplest method of arranging crude drugs and is
particularly suitable for classifying drugs, and its (ii) ease of use.
Demerits: (i) have no connecting features of scientific nature (ii) this
system does not give any useful information about the drugs and (iii)
many unrelated drugs may be grouped together using this system.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Taxonomical classification:
In this system, crude drugs are arranged according to the natural
groups (e.g. families) of their sources. Thus all the drugs obtained
from plants of the family Solanaceae are grouped together as
Solanaceous drugs and so on.For example Solanum microcarpon and
Datura metel (gegemu).
Merits: This system of classification reflects the natural relationship (ii)
it show phylogeny of the sources or its evolutionary trends (iii) in many
instances, plants in the same family are found to contain similar
chemical constituents. For Example, tropane alkaloids are
characterstics of Solanaceous drugs
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Morphological classification:
In this system the organised drugs are arranged according to the
morphological similarities and dissimilarities of various plant parts
which constitute the drugs.
Demerit: drugs irrespective of their chemical constituents and source
are grouped together. For example, barks of all plants are grouped
together and so on).
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Pharmacological or therapeutic classification:
This system is based on the pharmacological actions and therapeutic
properties of the crude drugs.
In this system, all drugs used to as a laxative are brought together
regardless of their morphology, taxonomy or chemical relationship.
Thus, Cascara (a bark) and Senna (leaf) are considered at the same
time when this system is used.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
Chemical classification:
The crude drugs are divided into groups according to their principal
chemical constituents. Thus all alkaloid-containing drugs are put into
one group regardless of other consideration.
Similarly all crude drugs containing glycosides are grouped together
and so on. Since the pharmacological actions and therapeutic uses of
drugs depend on their chemical constituents, this system of
classification appears to be an ideal one.
Moreover, certain plant families exhibit definite types of chemical
principles, e.g., tropane alkaloids characterize the Solanaceae family.
LECTURER: OGUNLOWO I. I., DEPARTMENT OF
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PHARMACOGNOSY, ACHIEVERS UNIVERSITY, OWO
