The Americas
Michael J. O’Dowd in The History of Medications for Women, 2020
Viburnum opulus, cramp bark, or guelder rose, and the related V. prunifolium, contain scopoletin, a coumarin which has a sedative effect on the uterus. Useful for dysmenorrhea and threatened miscarriage, Viburnum was listed in all the major pharmacopoeias in the early pan of this century (Squire, 1908) and remained in the American National Formulary until 1960. V. prunifolium contains salicin which also occurs in the willow, Salix alba, and from which salicylic acid was derived. Both salicin and salicylic acid are analgesic chemicals and were first synthetically prepared in 1852, but were found to cause marked gastric irritation. In 1899 the Bayer Company produced acetylsalicylic acid, known better by its proprietary name, aspirin (Griggs, 1997).
Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the Management of Chronic Pain
Gary W. Jay in Clinician’s Guide to Chronic Headache and Facial Pain, 2016
Several meta-analyses have reported on the efficacy of diet and herbs in relieving chronic pain (37,38). Harpagoside procumbens (devil’s claw) has been studied in two dosage strengths, 50 mg and 100 mg. Over 500 patients have been studied. Compared with placebo, both dosage strengths clinically and significantly reduced pain. The Cochrane Review concluded that there is strong evidence that harpagoside reduced pain more than placebo in patients with acute episodes of nonspecific low back pain (37). It appears to have similar efficacy to rofecoxib 12.5 mg daily. Two trials including 261 patients have compared the analgesic effects of Salix alba (white willow bark) in doses of 120 mg daily and 240 mg daily. Salix alba’s active ingredient is salicin, a derivative of salicylic acid, and is chemically related to aspirin. There is moderate evidence that it reduced pain more than placebo in the treatment of acute episodes of nonspecific low back pain and that it is similar in effectiveness to rofecoxib 12.5 mg daily. There is limited evidence that the cream is effective (37). There is not enough evidence to comment on the analgesic efficacy of other herbs or homeopathy.
Evaluation of Anti-ulcer Potential of Sphenodesme involucrata var. paniculata (C.B. Clarke) Munir Leaves on Various Gastric Aggressive Factors
Parimelazhagan Thangaraj in Phytomedicine, 2020
From the earliest times, therapeutic agents from nature including plants, animals, and minerals have been used to treat human disorders/health and, consequently, humans mainly made use of plants as remedies (Fabricant and Farnsworth 2001) as revealed by the Egyptian papyri (2000 BC). According to the studies by Quer and Davit (1962), the Greeks Hippocrates and Dioscorides contributed much to the legacy about the herbal drugs used to heal the ills/problems of mankind at the time, showing that the plants possessed therapeutic properties by the action, including synergistic action, of the active chemical constituents in it. The traditional medication advises the usage of crude extracts to utilize the multifactorial activity of multicompounds in plants instead of considering one disease-one target-one drug observations. Traditional practitioners believe in the synergistic actions and multitarget properties of plant extracts, which contain a mixture of compounds that are able to minimize the multiple factors observed associated with a disease (Leonti and Casu 2013). Research on herbal products took on a greater proportion from the discovery of morphine, isolated from the plant Papaver somniferum, which was used in visceral pain. Another example of a drug is salicylic acid, isolated in 1828 from the Salix alba plant, and used to combat fever and pain.
Ocular nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs: where do we stand today?
Published in Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, 2020
S. A. Kandarakis, P. Petrou, E. Papakonstantinou, D. Spiropoulos, A. Rapanou, I. Georgalas
Targeting inflammation and treating its consequences dates approximately 2500 years ago, when the Greek physician Hippocrates introduced the use of an extract from willow bark and leaves, to treat fever and pain (400 BC). Since then, various nations, including early Chinese, Indian and Africans, have used these salicylate-containing plants (Salix alba and other members of the Salix species) for their anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. However, it was in the mid-late nineteenth century that the progress in the scientific fields of chemistry and pharmacology made possible the isolation of the active component of these plants, salicylate. Few years later, in 1899, acetylsalicyclic acid (aspirin), the more palatable form of salicyclic acid, was introduced and successfully commercialised by Bayer3.
Using herbs medically without knowing their composition: are we playing Russian roulette?
Published in Current Medical Research and Opinion, 2022
Orly F. Kohn, Susie Q. Lew, Steve Siu-Man Wong, Ramin Sam, Hung-Chun Chen, Jochen G. Raimann, David J. Leehey, Antonios H. Tzamaloukas, Todd S. Ing
Plants have provided useful medicinal treasures that immensely benefited humankind over the millennium. Classic examples include vitamin C from citrus fruits, salicylates from the bark of a willow tree (Salix alba), quinine from the bark of the Cinchona legeriana tree, penicillin from a mold in the form of Penicillium notatum or Penicillium chrysogenum, digitalis from fox glove, reserpine from Rauwolfia serpentina (an Indian plant), ephedrine from Ephedra sinica (Ma Huang, a Chinese plant), dicoumarol from moldy sweet clover hay, artemisinin (for the management of malaria) from a shrub categorized as Artemisia annua L., paclitaxel derived from the bark of the pacific yew tree Taxus brevifolia (for the treatment of certain cancers), to name just a few.
Dermocosmetics: beneficial adjuncts in the treatment of acne vulgaris
Published in Journal of Dermatological Treatment, 2021
Elena Araviiskaia, Jose Luis Lopez Estebaranz, Carlo Pincelli
Inflammatory responses are involved in the early stages of acne development, highlighting the importance of anti-inflammatory properties in dermocosmetics (4,37). Salix alba is the active extract of willow bark, which has been reported to have anti-inflammatory effects such as decreasing tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α release, cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 expression, nitric oxide release, and interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 release (38–40). When Salix alba was combined with decanediol, an antimicrobial agent, a decrease in lipopolysaccharide-induced release of growth factors and pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-8 was observed with both agents in combination and in isolation (41).