Pharmacognosy is the study of crude drugs obtained from medicinal plants, animals, fungi, and other natural sources. The American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of the physical, chemical, biochemical, and biological properties of drugs, drug substances, or potential drugs or drug substances of natural origin as well as the search for new drugs from natural sources".
Description The word "pharmacognosy" is derived from two Greek words: φάρμακον, pharmakon (drug), and γνῶσις gnosis (knowledge) or the Latin verb cognosco (con, 'with', and gnōscō, 'know'; itself a cognate of the Greek verb γι(γ)νώσκω, gi(g)nósko, meaning 'I know, perceive'), meaning 'to conceptualize' or 'to recognize'. The term "pharmacognosy" was used for the first time by the German physician Johann Adam Schmidt (1759–1809) in his published book Lehrbuch der Materia Medica in 1811, and by Anotheus Seydler in 1815, in his Analecta Pharmacognostica. Originally—during the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century—"pharmacognosy" was used to define the branch of medicine or commodity sciences (Warenkunde in German) which deals with drugs in their crude, or unprepared form. Crude drugs are the dried, unprepared material of plant, animal or mineral origin, used for medicine. The study of these materials under the name Pharmakognosie was first developed in German-speaking areas of Europe, while other language areas often used the older term materia medica taken from the works of Galen and Dioscorides. In German, the term Drogenkunde ("science of crude drugs") is also used synonymously. As late as the beginning of the 20th century, the subject had developed mainly on the botanical side, being particularly concerned with the description and identification of drugs both in their whole state and in powder form. Such branches of pharmacognosy are still of fundamental importance, particularly for botanical products (widely available as dietary supplements in the U.S. and Canada), quality control purposes, pharmacopoeial protocols and related health regulatory frameworks. At the same time, development in other areas of research has enormously expanded the subject. The advent of the 21st century brought a renaissance of pharmacognosy, and its conventional botanical approach has been broadened up to molecular and metabolomic levels. In addition to the previously mentioned definition, the American Society of Pharmacognosy defines pharmacognosy as "the study of natural product molecules (typically secondary metabolites) that are useful for their medicinal, ecological, gustatory, or other functional properties." Similarly, the mission of the Pharmacognosy Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago involves plant-based and plant-related health products for the benefit of human health. Other definitions are more encompassing, drawing on a broad spectrum of biological subjects, including botany, ethnobotany, marine biology, microbiology, herbal medicine, chemistry, biotechnology, phytochemistry, pharmacology, pharmaceutics, clinical pharmacy, and pharmacy practice.
medical ethnobotany: the study of traditional uses of plants for medicinal purposes; ethnopharmacology: the study of pharmacological qualities of traditional medicinal substances; phytotherapy: the study of medicinal use of plant extracts; phytochemistry: the study of chemicals derived from plants (including the identification of new drug candidates derived from plant sources); zoopharmacognosy: the process by which animals self-medicate, by selecting and using plants, soils, and insects to treat and prevent disease; marine pharmacognosy: the study of chemicals derived from marine organisms.
Biological background
All plants produce chemical compounds as part of their normal metabolic activities. These phytochemicals are divided into (1) primary metabolites such as sugars and fats, which are found in all plants; and (2) secondary metabolites—compounds which are found in a smaller range of plants, serving more specific functions. For example, some secondary metabolites are toxins used by plants to deter predation and others are pheromones used to attract insects for pollination. It is these secondary metabolites and pigments that can have therapeutic actions in humans and which can be refined to produce drugs—examples are inulin from the roots of dahlias, quinine from the cinchona, THC and CBD from the flowers of cannabis, morphine and codeine from the poppy, and digoxin from the foxglove. Plants synthesize a variety of phytochemicals, but most are derivatives:
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