SOURCES OF CRUDE DRUGS | SECOND YEAR B . PHARM 4TH SEM NOTES | PHARMACOGNOSY - I | DRUGS | SOURC

 

SOURCES OF CRUDE DRUGS

PHRMACOGNOSY & PHYTOCHEMISTRY - I

S.Y B. PHARM (SEMESTER IV) PCI SYLLABUS

CRUDE DRUGS: Crude drugs are the drugs, which are obtained from natural sources like plant, animals, minerals & they are used as such as they occur in nature without any processing except, drying & size reduction.

SOURCES OF CRUDE DRUGS

SOURCES OF NATURAL DRUGS

The following are the natural sources of Drugs:

Biological sources (i.e. from Terrestrial and Marine living things)

         1.     Plants

         2.     Animals

         3.     Mineral sources

         4.     Microorganisms: Fungi, Algae, Bacteria

         5.     Biotechnology: Tissue culture/ Recombinant DNA Technology

PLANTS SOURCE:

Plant source is the oldest source of drugs. Most of the drugs in ancient times were derived from plants. Almost all parts of the plants are used i.e. leaves, stem, bark, fruits and roots. The plant-derived compounds have a long history of clinical use, better patient tolerance and acknowledgment. There are some important Pharmacological active principles in plants. They are Alkaloids, Glycosides, Oils, Resins, Gums, Tannins etc.

1. Leaves: The leaves of Digitalis Purpurea are the source of Digitoxin and Digoxin, which are cardiac glycosides. Leaves of Eucalyptus give oil of Eucalyptus, which is important component of cold & cough syrup.

2. Flowers: Poppy papaver somniferum gives morphine (opoid)

    Vinca rosea gives vincristine and vinblastine.

3. Fruits: • Senna pod gives anthracine, which is a purgative. • Calabar beansGive physostigmine, which is cholinomimetic agent.

4. Seeds: • Seeds of Nux Vomica give strychnine, which is a CNS stimulant. • Castor seeds give castor oil. •

5. Roots: • Ipecacuanha root gives Emetine, used to induce vomiting as in accidental poisoning. It also has amoebicidal properties. •Rauwolfia serpentina gives reserpine, a hypotensive agent. •Reserpine was used for hypertension treatment.

6. Bark: •Cinchona bark gives quinine and quinidine, which are antimalarial drugs. Quinidine also has antiarrythmic properties. • Atropa belladonna gives atropine, which is anticholinergic.

7. Stem: •Chondrodendron tomentosum gives tuboqurarine, which is skeletal muscle relaxant used in general anesthesia.

 

ANIMAL SOURCE:

Animals are undoubtedly the basis of many traditional medicine systems around the world. Although the pharmacological potential of animals used as medicines has been little explored, compared to plants, available studies show that animal natural resources are highly promising in the search for new drugs of medical or pharmaceutical interest.

The following are the animal sources of crude drugs…

      ·        Pancreas is a source of Insulin, used in treatment of Diabetes.

      ·        Sheep thyroid is a source of thyroxin, used in hypertension

      ·        Gelatin & Wool fat is obtained from ox and sheep.

      ·        Beeswax is obtained from honeycomb which is used in cosmetics.

      ·        Blood of animals is used in preparation of vaccines.

      ·        Cod liver oil is used as a source of vitamin A and D

      ·        Shark liver oil, halibut liver oil are some of the drugs obtained from marine animals.

MINERAL SOURSES:

They are two types of mineral sources

     1.     Metallic

     2.     Non- metallic sources

Metallic minerals are minerals which contain one or more metallic elements. Metallic minerals occur in rare, naturally formed concentrations known as mineral deposits.

Nonmetallic minerals are a special group of chemical elements from which no new product can be generated if they are melted.

The following are the mineral sources of crude drugs…

  ·        Iron is used in treatment of iron deficiency anemia.

     ·        Mercurial salts are used in Syphilis.

     ·        Zinc is used as zinc supplement.

     ·        Zinc oxide paste is used in wounds and in eczema.

     ·        Iodine is antiseptic.

     ·        Gold salts are used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. 

 

MISCELLANEOUS SOURCES:

     ·         Fluorine has antiseptic properties.

     ·         Borax has antiseptic properties as well.

     ·         Selenium as selenium sulphide is used in anti-dandruff shampoos.

     ·        Petroleum is used in preparation of liquid paraffin. 

 

MICROBIOLOGICAL SOURCES:  Bacterial, Fungi, Moulds are important source of many lifesaving drugs. These obtained from MO and used to kill Microorganisms. There are many examples of microorganisms which use as drug.

    ·        Penicillium notatum is a fungus which gives penicillin.

     ·        Well-known antibiotics produced by a group of microorganisms known as actinomycetes yielding antibiotics such as actinomycin, amphotericin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, kanamycin, neomycin, gentamicin, streptomycin and tetracycline.

     ·        Among the bacteria, genus Bacillusproduces antibiotics such as polymyxin B and bacitracin.

     ·        Ergot alkaloids also are obtained from a resting stage of a fungus.

     ·        Algae are source of limited number of drugs such as Agar and Alginate

 

BIOTECHNOLOGY:

PLANT TISSUE CULTURE

Plant tissue culture is collection of techniques used to maintain or grow plant cells, tissues, or organs under sterile condition on a nutrient culture medium of known composition. Plant tissue culture is widely used to produce clones of plant in a method known as micropropagation.  

Plant cell culture systems represents a potential renewable source of valuable medicinal compounds, flavors, fragrances, and colorants, which cannot be produced by microbial cells or chemical synthesis.

Advantages of plant tissue culture:

         1.     The principle advantage of this technology is that it may provide continuous, reliable source of plant pharmaceuticals and could be used for the large scale culture of plant cells from which these metabolites can be extracted.

        2.     The production of exact copies of plants that produce particularly good flowers, fruits, or have other desirable traits.

        3.     The production of multiples of plants in the absence of seeds or necessary pollinators to produce seeds.

       4.     The production of plants in sterile containers that allows them to be moved with greatly reduced chances of transmitting disease, pets and pathogens.

 

E.g. Scopolamine, Podophyllotoxin, Paclitaxel, Rosmarinic acid, Vanillin and Shikonin are some of the examples of compounds produced from plant cell cultures.

 

RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY

Recombinant DNA technology involves cleavage of DNA by enzyme restriction endonucleases.

The desired gene is coupled to rapidly replicating DNA (viral, bacterial or plasmid).

The new genetic combination is inserted into the bacterial cultures which allow production of vast amount of genetic material.

E.g.  Human insulin is produced by modification of porcine insulin or by bacteria using recombinant DNA technology. Few others include Somatotrophin, Erythropoietin, Human blood coagulation factors etc.

FIND MORE NOTES.....

  

1.     Introduction and Scope of Pharmacognosy	CLICK HERE
2.     History Of Pharmacognosy	CLICK HERE