History of Medicinal Plants

Question 1

Pollen

Answer 1

• evidence of plant pollen in 60 000 year old Paleolithic graves
• pollen from five flowering plant genera that are known to have medicinal properties

Question 2

Fungus

Answer 2

• frozen prehistoric man found carrying bracket fungus
• fungus contains agaric acid (laxative) and toxins against some bacteria and parasites

Question 3

Mesotpotamia and Plant use

Answer 3

• very knowledgable in math and science but generally believe disease is caused by supernatural powers
• emphasize ritual and religion to find cures
• specialists ritual and religon to find cures

Question 4

What is Chinese Traditional Medicine based on?

Answer 4

• natural laws of yin and gang and five elements
• herbs used to create balance between them

Question 5

Shennong 2700 BC (mythical diety)

Answer 5

• father of medicine and agriculture
• credited for first chinese herbal “pen ts’ao ching”
• document listed 365 medicines from plants, animals, minerals (ephedra, opium, tea)

Question 6

What is Indian (ayurvedic) medicine based on?

Answer 6

practical and holistic set of guideline to maintain balance and harmony

Question 7

What is ‘Vedas’

Answer 7

• series of written sanskrit hymns
• used to pass knowledge and wisdom between generations
• oldest is Rig Veda- includes formulas for medicines, herbal use and surgeries

Question 8

Who is George Ebers? What did he do?

Answer 8

• german egyptologist
• finds oldest surviving medical text in Luxor, Egypt in 1874
• named is Codex Ebers (lists 876 herbal formulas using 500 plants, contains knowledge dating from before 3000 BC)

Question 9

Garlic (Genus)

Answer 9

• Allium Sativum
• genus: allium (onions, leeks, chives)
• allium from celtic word “all” (pungent, burning, smarting)

Question 10

Traditional Uses of Garlic

Answer 10

• placed by ancient Greeks at cross roads as a supper offering for the Goddess Hecate
• egyptians believed it strengthened the body and prevented disease
• greek soldiers ate garlic before going into battle to give courage and increase odds of victory

Question 11

What are superstitions associated with Garlic

Answer 11

• if a person running a race chews on a clove, it will prevent competitors from passing them
• associated with evil (garlic and onion spring from where Satan’s feel touched in garden of Eden)
• associated with good (protective/white magic)

Question 12

The chemistry of Garlic

Answer 12

• is an Alliin: stable odorless derivative of cysteine
• when garlic is damaged, allinase is released, converting allin to allicin

Question 13

Allicin (smell and function)

Answer 13

• is responsible for garlic’s flavor and smell
• is relatively unstable
• first isolated by Cavallito and Bailey in 1940s
• allicin activates temp sensitive ion channels found in sensory neurons

Question 14

What two compounds can be extracted from garlic? and what technique is used for both?

Answer 14

• diallyl disulfide: heat garlic in boiling water to form a distilled oil (1st compound isolated from garlic in late 1800s - Theodor Wertheim, 1844, detoxifying, antimicrobial)
• ajoene: from garlic macerate (cut up in oil, Wirth et al., 2018, antioxidant, anti-clotting)

Question 15

What were the historical medical uses of garlic?

Answer 15

• pre 1928, was used as a pre-antibiotic (Louis Pasteur)
• in 20th century, was used as an antiseptic against gangrene (used to control wound infections during both world wars, raw juice diluted and put on pieces of sphagnum moss)

Question 16

What are the health promoting benefits of Garlic that were known/used in the early 1980s?

Answer 16

• eating garlic reduced blood pressure (has blood thinning properties similar to Aspirin)
• contributes to lowered cholesterol and triglyceride levels
• garlic extracts can decrease risk of coronary thrombosis and stroke

Question 17

What is modern research focusing on in relation to garlic?

Answer 17

correlate garlic compounds with reduction of heart disease factors

Question 18

Explain the Garlic Dilemma

Answer 18

• the most potent medicinal effects are seen with ingestion of RAW garlic
• the garlic aroma reduces most individual’s desire to eat sufficient amount of raw garlic (sulfur compounds enter the bloodstream, exhaled or sweated out)
• modern goal is to generate garlic pills without the associated smell (is it though, the sulfur compounds that yield health benefits?)

Question 19

What is the purpose for producing sulfur containing compounds?

Answer 19

• protect allium species against decay by fungal species
• strong taste of allicin and other diallyl disulfides, inhibit animal foraging of underground plant parts, like bulbs

Question 20

Asclepius

Answer 20

• greek God of medicine
• son of Apollo
• treats the sick with help from his daughters Hygieia and Panacea

Question 21

Hippocrates

Answer 21

• was the first to examine patients closely, uses case studies
• ideas on health are cornerstone of European medicine until Pasteur’s germ theory
• uses warming, cooling and healing herbs
• four humors: hot, cold, dry, wet

Question 22

Theophrastus

Answer 22

• “father of botany”
• student of Plato and Aristotle
• writes historia plantarum

Question 23

Historia Plantarum

Answer 23

• written by Theophrastus
• 300 BC
• inquiry into plants
• standard reference for 1000 years
• rejects mysterious practices associated with plant collection

Question 24

Dioscorides and De Materia Medica

Answer 24

• greek physician moved to rome
• 1st century AD
• compiles the De Materia Medica
• portrays use, properties, cultivation of 600 plants
• recognizes growth and production factors of plant compounds
• refers to uses and preparations of many herbal remedies

Question 25

Galen

Answer 25

- physician to Marcus Aurelius - follows ideas of Hippocrates and puts them into practice - uses dissections to understand organisms and to practice surgeries

Question 26

What are 'Galenicals'?

Answer 26

- designed by Galen - expensive concoctions of herbs and animal parts

Question 27

What was Europe's first 'Herbal"

Answer 27

De Materia Medica became the standard reference in Europe

Question 28

Which empire had influence after the fall of the Roman empire?

Answer 28

- the Arabian empire - arabian herbalism simplifies Galen's medicines - also develops pharmacy as a different discipline than medicine

Question 29

Who was Avicenna?

Answer 29

- persian court physician - creates 'Canon of Medicine' - identifies plants that can be used for analgesia and anesthesia prior to surgery

Question 31

Malaria

Answer 31

- infects between 300-300 million people each year - widespread disease distribution - correlation with bad air and swamps

Question 32

Causes of Malaria

Answer 32

- four species of protozoans from the genus Plasmodium cause different forms of disease - symptoms include: reoccurring bouts of fever and chills and anemia - malaria is initiated by a bite of female Anopheles mosquito which carries the parasite in its saliva and injects it into the blood stream

Question 33

Merozoites

Answer 33

- merosoites are created from sporozoite forming of parasite multiples in liver - they invade red blood cells, multiply rapidly, deplete hemoglobin, red blood cells rupture and new generation of merozoites release

Question 34

Discovery of Malaria Cure in Late 16th century

Answer 34

- spanish invade Incan empire in Peru - observe that natives used the bark of a mountain rain forest tree to treat fevers - in 1645, father Tafur took the bark to rome as a cure for "the ague" (malaria)

Question 35

Intro of Bark to Europe

Answer 35

- 1650, England: British protestants reluctant to try Catholic concoction - 1680s: Peruvian Bark was standard treatment - 1820: two French chemists, Pelletier and Caventou isolated the alkaloid Quinine from the bark

Question 36

Genus Cinchona

Answer 36

- cinchona officinalis - first species to be described - Andean highlands of Ecuador and Peru - glossy leaves and pink or yellow flowers

Question 37

Quinine

Answer 37

- compound found in peruvian tree bark - odorless white powder - bitter taste - alkaloid

Question 38

How does Quinine interfere with merozoite action?

Answer 38

- concentrates in parasite food vacuoles - prevents polymerization of heme into hemozoin resulting in toxicity to the parasite

Question 39

Synthetic anti-malarial drugs

Answer 39

- USA and Britain synthesized quinine analogues during world was II - chloroquine, malarone, mefloquine - used to target different Plasmodium life cycle stages and strains

Question 40

What does overuse of synthetic anti-malarial drugs lead to?

Answer 40

- leads to resistant Plasodium strains - this lead to resurgence of interest in natural quinine

Question 41

Wormwood

Answer 41

- a quinine alternative - Artemisia annua - chinese herbal medicine used in fever reduction - contains terpene compound called artemisinin which interacts with heme to form free radicals that kill parasites - more effective synthetic versions have been creative

Question 42

Science and herbology in 1800-1900s

Answer 42

- purification of plant compounds - synthesis of plant compounds in laboratories - medicine turns away from herbs and towards technology (medical schools focus of pharm, not bot)

Question 43

Science and Herbology in 2000

Answer 43

- return to use of herbs and plant extracts in some countries - herbs are prescribed in a specific way

Question 44

What is the Nagoya Protocol?

Answer 44

- established in 2014 - objective: fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources, thereby contributing to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity