Common Medicines from Herbs, Minerals and Animal Sources
Mehwish Iqbal in Complementary and Alternative Medicinal Approaches for Enhancing Immunity, 2023
Nature-based products have a wide variety of multifaceted chemical compounds; simultaneously, the use of natural products as modifiers of biological function has also acquired significant attention. Afterwards, they have been used successfully in the discovery of novel drugs that had an extensive influence on biological chemistry (Butler, 2008; Hong, 2011; Rosén et al., 2009). As a successful instance of the development of medicine from natural products, artemisinin and its derivatives have been extensively used in the recent era for the management of malaria. This reveals how natural product research has created a substantial contribution to the development of drugs (Cragg & Newman, 2013; Muschietti et al., 2013). Among anticarcinogenic medicines approved in the time range of around 1940 to 2002, nearly 54% were nature-originated drugs or products such as paclitaxel from Taxus baccata and alkaloids from Catharanthus roseus, which are among eminent anticancer medicines basically derived from plants (Li-Weber, 2009; Newman et al., 2003). Traditional Chinese herbal medicine is nowadays utilised in the health care system of around 1.5 billion people globally (Dobos et al., 2005; Qi et al., 2013). Preferably, these medicines comprise a natural group to bring about the required medicinal outcome and decrease side effects (AZhang et al., 2013). In traditional medicine, a compound formulation or individual herb may consist of several plant chemical constituents, like flavonoids, alkaloids and terpenoids. In general, these constituents work alone or in combination with one another to bring about the desired medicinal effect (Parasuraman et al., 2014) (Table 12.1).
Traditional Medicine, Folklore, and Ethnobotany
David J. Owen in The Herbal Internet Companion, 2001
This is a database of medicinal plants from the University of São Paulo in Brazil. Information is in Portuguese. The Register of Chinese Herbal Medicine (United Kingdom) <http://www.rchm.co.uk/>
Medicinal Plants Research
Vikas Kumar, Addepalli Veeranjaneyulu in Herbs for Diabetes and Neurological Disease Management, 2018
At the present time over 70,000 plants are used for healing and medicinal purposes worldwide, and about 80–85% of people around the world are using herbal medicine as the most accessible and affordable source which helps to meet their primary health care.15–18 Chinese Herbal Medicine presently describes 11,146 different kinds of plants, and about 5000 clinically tested herbal formulations.19 According to the World Health Organization (WHO) herbal medicines provide primary healthcare for approximately 3.5–4 billion people worldwide. Present use of herbal medicine worldwide was found to exceed that of the conventional drugs by a few times.20 Dr. Joerg Gruenwald of Berlin’s Institute for Phytopharmaceuticals, states that about 70–80% of German and French physicians regularly prescribe plant medications.21,22 Approximately 13,000 herbs and over 130,000 medicinal plants prescriptions currently used in Chinese traditional medicine, in United States over 2900 botanical bio-active ingredients are under current research: about 750 of them used for development of drugs for cancer, over 300 for cardiovascular diseases, over 150 for diabetes, over 109 for AIDS, over 91 for Alzheimer’s/senile dementia.23 According to statistics, sales of herbal supplements in the United States in 2013, reached about six billion dollars for the first time.24 About 50% of pharmaceutical products in Western Medicine are produced from medicinal plants or their ingredients, and up to 25% prescription drugs contain quite a few bio-active compounds derived from plants.25 Plant compounds are varying in their structure and include different biologically active substances such as volatile oils (consisting phenols, terpenes, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, and others), alkaloids, flavonoids, glycosides, saponins, anthraquinones, vitamins, organic acids, and mineral salts. The free radical scavenging plant molecules, such as phenolic, nitrogen compounds, terpenoids and others, are a crucial in protection from diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, and cancer. Freshly collected herbs contain a huge variety of enzymes, which can easily desaturate in their dry condition.26
Hepatoprotective effects of Camellia nitidissima aqueous ethanol extract against CCl4-induced acute liver injury in SD rats related to Nrf2 and NF-κB signalling
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2020
Xiaoman Zhang, Jie Feng, Shaofeng Su, Lei Huang
How can ALI be prevented effectively? Plants used as food or medicine have great potential activity against ALI. Chinese herbal medicine is an important pharmaceutical resource with a long history and has significant potential for pharmacological development. Some plants are even used for both medicine and food. Camellia nitidissima Chi (Theaceae) is an evergreen shrub, distributed mainly in southern Guangxi, China and northern Vietnam, and being used as a medicine and edible tea (Wang et al. 2016). It has been cultivated successfully in Guangxi, China, and recorded by the Guangxi Zhuangzu Zizhiqu Zhuangyao Zhiliang Biaozhun Dierjuan (Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Food and Drug Administration of Guangxi, China 2011). C. nitidissima leaves show antioxidative, antitumor, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties (Li et al. 2017; Hou et al. 2018; Yang et al. 2018). According to Lin et al. (2013), the extract of C. nitidissima leaves contains many beneficial components, including flavonoids, saponins, polyphenols, amino acids and polysaccharides. The antioxidant properties of C. nitidissima have been mainly attributed to the polyphenolic compounds (Wang, Ge et al. 2018).
Preliminary study of Yinhuapinggan granule against H1N1 influenza virus infection in mice through inhibition of apoptosis
Published in Pharmaceutical Biology, 2020
Hai-xia Du, Hui-fen Zhou, Jie-hong Yang, Yi-yu Lu, Yu He, Hai-tong Wan
Chinese herbal medicines are the most important component among the development of the traditional Chinese medicine system. Chinese herbal medicine has been used for the prevention and treatment of viral infectious diseases for thousands of years, especially in China and many other Asian countries clinical practice (Dan et al. 2013; Choi et al. 2016; Zhong et al. 2016). Compared with great majority of antiviral drugs consisting of a single component, Chinese herbal compounds with multiple components are considered to have multiple biological activities and multiple targets. Moreover, TCM has been widely accepted by some places in poor financial condition, especially in the treatment of chronic diseases (Zhang et al. 2012). At present, the traditional Chinese herbal compounds used for the respiratory viral infection account for the majority of antiviral drugs on the market. Oseltamivir carboxylate, widely used in the treatment of influenza virus A or B infection, has high bioavailability and penetrability and is sufficient to inhibit viral replication (Zhu & Markowitz 2009; Davies 2010). However, the emergence of oseltamivir resistance and the global spread of influenza viruses during the 2007-2009 emphasise the need for sustained surveillance of antiviral drug susceptibilities (Samson et al. 2013). WHO recommends the use of oseltamivir as an antiviral western medicine against global influenza virus pandemic’ outbreaks. In order to scientifically estimate the antiviral effects of YHPG, oseltamivir was used for a positive control in this study.
Chemical composition and pharmacological mechanism of shenfu decoction in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19)
Published in Drug Development and Industrial Pharmacy, 2020
Xiaoling Li, Haowen Lin, Qu Wang, Liao Cui, Hui Luo, Lianxiang Luo
The TCM System Pharmacology database and analysis platform (TCMSP [12], http://tcmspw.com/tcmsp.php) collects information on Chinese herbal medicine and its chemical components registered in Chinese Pharmacopeia. It has been widely used to study the mechanism of action of traditional Chinese herbal medicine and new drug development. ‘ADME’ [13] refers to the absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion of foreign chemicals. The ADME property is an important index to screen candidate compounds. In clinical and traditional Chinese medicine research, oral bioavailability (OB) ≥ 30% and drug such as (DL) ≥ 0.18 are often used as drug screening criteria. According to the standard, we collected the active compounds (OB ≥ 30%, DL ≥ 0.18) and corresponding targets of the two traditional Chinese medicines using the key words ‘Ginseng’ and ‘Prepared Common Monkshood Daughter Root.’
Related Knowledge Centers
- Cinnamon
- Ginger
- Nutmeg
- Traditional Chinese Medicine
- Mechanism of Action
- Herbal Medicine
- Yin & Yang
- Formulary
- Rhubarb
- Piper Cubeba