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94-512: The villages of Drahoraz, Mlýnec, Ledkov and Pševes are administrative parts of Kopidlno. The name Kopidlno is probably derived from the name of medicinal plants found in the surrounding forests ( Asarum europaeum , colloquially known in Czech as kopidlen ). According to other theories, it might be derived from the Old Czech kopjo dlinno (i.e. "long spear") or from kopidlo ("hay stake"). Kopidlno

188-776: A 60,000-year-old Neanderthal burial site, " Shanidar IV ", in northern Iraq has yielded large amounts of pollen from eight plant species, seven of which are used now as herbal remedies. Also, a mushroom was found in the personal effects of Ötzi the Iceman , whose body was frozen in the Ötztal Alps for more than 5,000 years. The mushroom was probably used against whipworm . In ancient Sumeria , hundreds of medicinal plants including myrrh and opium are listed on clay tablets from around 3000 BC. The ancient Egyptian Ebers Papyrus lists over 800 plant medicines such as aloe , cannabis , castor bean , garlic , juniper , and mandrake . In antiquity, various cultures across Europe, including

282-399: A bitter taste or are poisonous when ingested. Alkaloid production in plants appeared to have evolved in response to feeding by herbivorous animals; however, some animals have evolved the ability to detoxify alkaloids. Some alkaloids can produce developmental defects in the offspring of animals that consume but cannot detoxify the alkaloids. One example is the alkaloid cyclopamine , produced in

376-525: A church. The Kopidlno Castle dates from the mid-16th century, when it replaced an old fortress. The current Neo-Renaissance appearance is a result of the reconstruction in the mid-19th century. Today it houses a horticulture school and is inaccessible. The Church of Saint James the Great was built in the Baroque style in 1704–1705. It replaced a Gothic church, destroyed by fire in 1677. In the village of Drahoraz there

470-499: A class of basic , naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar structure may also be termed alkaloids. In addition to carbon , hydrogen and nitrogen , alkaloids may also contain oxygen or sulfur . Rarer still, they may contain elements such as phosphorus , chlorine , and bromine . Alkaloids are produced by

564-569: A diversity of metabolic systems in humans and other animals, they almost uniformly evoke a bitter taste . The boundary between alkaloids and other nitrogen-containing natural compounds is not clear-cut. Compounds like amino acid peptides , proteins , nucleotides , nucleic acid , amines , and antibiotics are usually not called alkaloids. Natural compounds containing nitrogen in the exocyclic position ( mescaline , serotonin , dopamine , etc.) are usually classified as amines rather than as alkaloids. Some authors, however, consider alkaloids

658-441: A few typical reactions involved in the biosynthesis of various classes of alkaloids, including synthesis of Schiff bases and Mannich reaction . Schiff bases can be obtained by reacting amines with ketones or aldehydes. These reactions are a common method of producing C=N bonds. In the biosynthesis of alkaloids, such reactions may take place within a molecule, such as in the synthesis of piperidine: An integral component of

752-561: A gift given to Helen by the Egyptian queen, a drug bringing oblivion. It is believed that the gift was an opium-containing drug. A Chinese book on houseplants written in 1st–3rd centuries BC mentioned a medical use of ephedra and opium poppies . Also, coca leaves have been used by Indigenous South Americans since ancient times. Extracts from plants containing toxic alkaloids, such as aconitine and tubocurarine , were used since antiquity for poisoning arrows. Studies of alkaloids began in

846-546: A great structural diversity. There is no uniform classification. Initially, when knowledge of chemical structures was lacking, botanical classification of the source plants was relied on. This classification is now considered obsolete. More recent classifications are based on similarity of the carbon skeleton ( e.g. , indole -, isoquinoline -, and pyridine -like) or biochemical precursor ( ornithine , lysine , tyrosine , tryptophan , etc.). However, they require compromises in borderline cases; for example, nicotine contains

940-482: A healthier labour force. However, development of plants or extracts having potential medicinal uses is blunted by weak scientific evidence, poor practices in the process of drug development , and insufficient financing. All plants produce chemical compounds which give them an evolutionary advantage, such as defending against herbivores or, in the example of salicylic acid , as a hormone in plant defenses. These phytochemicals have potential for use as drugs, and

1034-1072: A large variety of organisms including bacteria , fungi , plants , and animals . They can be purified from crude extracts of these organisms by acid-base extraction , or solvent extractions followed by silica-gel column chromatography . Alkaloids have a wide range of pharmacological activities including antimalarial (e.g. quinine ), antiasthma (e.g. ephedrine ), anticancer (e.g. homoharringtonine ), cholinomimetic (e.g. galantamine ), vasodilatory (e.g. vincamine ), antiarrhythmic (e.g. quinidine ), analgesic (e.g. morphine ), antibacterial (e.g. chelerythrine ), and antihyperglycemic activities (e.g. berberine ). Many have found use in traditional or modern medicine , or as starting points for drug discovery . Other alkaloids possess psychotropic (e.g. psilocin ) and stimulant activities (e.g. cocaine , caffeine , nicotine , theobromine ), and have been used in entheogenic rituals or as recreational drugs . Alkaloids can be toxic too (e.g. atropine , tubocurarine ). Although alkaloids act on

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1128-496: A network called the International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicines to try to improve the quality of medical products made from medicinal plants and the claims made for them. In 2015, only around 20% of countries had well-functioning regulatory agencies, while 30% had none, and around half had limited regulatory capacity. In India, where Ayurveda has been practised for centuries, herbal remedies are

1222-431: A policy on traditional medicine in 1991, and since then has published guidelines for them, with a series of monographs on widely used herbal medicines. Medicinal plants may provide three main kinds of benefit: health benefits to the people who consume them as medicines; financial benefits to people who harvest, process, and distribute them for sale; and society-wide benefits, such as job opportunities, taxation income, and

1316-423: A pure chemical. Extraction can be practical when the compound in question is complex. Plant medicines are in wide use around the world. In most of the developing world, especially in rural areas, local traditional medicine , including herbalism, is the only source of health care for people, while in the developed world , alternative medicine including use of dietary supplements is marketed aggressively using

1410-462: A pyridine fragment from nicotinamide and a pyrrolidine part from ornithine and therefore can be assigned to both classes. Alkaloids are often divided into the following major groups: Some alkaloids do not have the carbon skeleton characteristic of their group. So, galanthamine and homoaporphines do not contain isoquinoline fragment, but are, in general, attributed to isoquinoline alkaloids. Main classes of monomeric alkaloids are listed in

1504-588: A result, phytochemicals have frequently proven unsuitable as the lead substances in drug discovery . In the United States over the period 1999 to 2012, despite several hundred applications for new drug status , only two botanical drug candidates had sufficient evidence of medicinal value to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration . The pharmaceutical industry has remained interested in mining traditional uses of medicinal plants in its drug discovery efforts. Of

1598-430: A solubility of ≥1g/L), whereas others, including morphine and yohimbine are very slightly water-soluble (0.1–1 g/L). Alkaloids and acids form salts of various strengths. These salts are usually freely soluble in water and ethanol and poorly soluble in most organic solvents. Exceptions include scopolamine hydrobromide, which is soluble in organic solvents, and the water-soluble quinine sulfate. Most alkaloids have

1692-464: A special case of amines. The name "alkaloids" (German: Alkaloide ) was introduced in 1819 by German chemist Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Meissner , and is derived from late Latin root alkali and the Greek-language suffix -οειδής -('like'). However, the term came into wide use only after the publication of a review article, by Oscar Jacobsen in the chemical dictionary of Albert Ladenburg in

1786-401: A substance first discovered in a medicinal plant began with salicylic acid in 1853. Around the end of the 19th century, the mood of pharmacy turned against medicinal plants, as enzymes often modified the active ingredients when whole plants were dried, and alkaloids and glycosides purified from plant material started to be preferred. Drug discovery from plants continued to be important through

1880-410: A succession of medicinal plants, starting with morphine from the poppy in 1806, and soon followed by ipecacuanha and strychnos in 1817, quinine from the cinchona tree, and then many others. As chemistry progressed, additional classes of potentially active substances were discovered in plants. Commercial extraction of purified alkaloids including morphine began at Merck in 1826. Synthesis of

1974-414: Is again made alkaline and treated with an organic solvent. The process is repeated until the desired purity is achieved. In the acidic extraction, the raw plant material is processed by a weak acidic solution ( e.g. , acetic acid in water, ethanol, or methanol). A base is then added to convert alkaloids to basic forms that are extracted with organic solvent (if the extraction was performed with alcohol, it

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2068-433: Is an antiseptic and was once used as a vermifuge (anti-worm medicine). Medicinal plants demand intensive management. Different species each require their own distinct conditions of cultivation. The World Health Organization recommends the use of rotation to minimise problems with pests and plant diseases. Cultivation may be traditional or may make use of conservation agriculture practices to maintain organic matter in

2162-551: Is from 1322. The first owners of Kopidlno were the Kopidlanský family. Among the next owners were many notable noble families, including Haugwitz , Trčka of Lípa, Thurn und Taxis and Schlick, and individuals Albrecht von Wallenstein and Ludwig of Dietrichstein. In 1514, Kopidlno was promoted to a town by King Vladislaus II . The most important owners of Kopidlno were the Schlick family. During their era, crafts and education developed in

2256-402: Is increasing in developed countries. This brings attendant risks of toxicity and other effects on human health, despite the safe image of herbal remedies. Herbal medicines have been in use since long before modern medicine existed; there was and often still is little or no knowledge of the pharmacological basis of their actions, if any, or of their safety. The World Health Organization formulated

2350-585: Is located about 13 kilometres (8 mi) south of Jičín and 59 km (37 mi) northeast of Prague . It lies mostly in the Central Elbe Table , but the municipal territory also extends to the Jičín Uplands in the north and east. The town is situated on the Mrlina River. There are several fishponds in the territory; the largest of them are Zrcadlo and Zámecký. The first written mention of Kopidlno

2444-593: Is no reason to presume that because a product comes from nature it must be safe: the existence of powerful natural poisons like atropine and nicotine shows this to be untrue. Further, the high standards applied to conventional medicines do not always apply to plant medicines, and dose can vary widely depending on the growth conditions of plants: older plants may be much more toxic than young ones, for instance. Plant extracts may interact with conventional drugs, both because they may provide an increased dose of similar compounds, and because some phytochemicals interfere with

2538-648: Is removed first, and the remainder is dissolved in water). The solution is purified as described above. Alkaloids are separated from their mixture using their different solubility in certain solvents and different reactivity with certain reagents or by distillation . A number of alkaloids are identified from insects , among which the fire ant venom alkaloids known as solenopsins have received greater attention from researchers. These insect alkaloids can be efficiently extracted by solvent immersion of live fire ants or by centrifugation of live ants followed by silica-gel chromatography purification. Tracking and dosing

2632-412: Is synthesised from anhydrovinblastine , starting either from leurosine or the monomers themselves. Alkaloids are among the most important and best-known secondary metabolites , i.e. biogenic substances not directly involved in the normal growth , development , or reproduction of the organism. Instead, they generally mediate ecological interactions , which may produce a selective advantage for

2726-601: Is the Utetheisa ornatrix , more commonly known as the ornate moth. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids render these larvae and adult moths unpalatable to many of their natural enemies like coccinelid beetles, green lacewings, insectivorous hemiptera and insectivorous bats. Another example of alkaloids being utilized occurs in the poison hemlock moth ( Agonopterix alstroemeriana). This moth feeds on its highly toxic and alkaloid-rich host plant poison hemlock ( Conium maculatum ) during its larval stage. A. alstroemeriana may benefit twofold from

2820-782: Is the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. It is a Gothic building from the 15th century. In 1695–1698, the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre was added to the church. The wooden bell tower next to the church dates from 1893. Medicinal plants Medicinal plants , also called medicinal herbs , have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection against insects , fungi , diseases , and herbivorous mammals . The earliest historical records of herbs are found from

2914-577: The Sumerian civilization, where hundreds of medicinal plants including opium are listed on clay tablets, c.  3000 BC . The Ebers Papyrus from ancient Egypt , c.  1550 BC , describes over 850 plant medicines. The Greek physician Dioscorides , who worked in the Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in De materia medica , c.  60 AD ; this formed

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3008-549: The apothecary shops of Europe in the 1800s, where pharmacists provided local traditional medicines to customers, which included extracts like morphine, quinine, and strychnine. Therapeutically important drugs like camptothecin (from Camptotheca acuminata , used in traditional Chinese medicine) and taxol (from the Pacific yew, Taxus brevifolia ) were derived from medicinal plants. The Vinca alkaloids vincristine and vinblastine , used as anti-cancer drugs, were discovered in

3102-489: The tulip tree protects it from parasitic mushrooms. In addition, the presence of alkaloids in the plant prevents insects and chordate animals from eating it. However, some animals are adapted to alkaloids and even use them in their own metabolism. Such alkaloid-related substances as serotonin , dopamine and histamine are important neurotransmitters in animals. Alkaloids are also known to regulate plant growth. One example of an organism that uses alkaloids for protection

3196-524: The "Circa Instans," which served as practical guides for herbal remedies. In the Iberian Peninsula, the regions of the North remained independent during the period of Islamic occupation, and retained their traditional and indigenous medical practices. Galicia and Asturias, possessed a rich herbal heritage shaped by its Celtic and Roman influences. The Galician people were known for their strong connection to

3290-579: The 1073 small-molecule drugs approved in the period 1981 to 2010, over half were either directly derived from or inspired by natural substances. Among cancer treatments, of 185 small-molecule drugs approved in the period from 1981 to 2019, 65% were derived from or inspired by natural substances. Plant medicines can cause adverse effects and even death, whether by side-effects of their active substances, by adulteration or contamination, by overdose, or by inappropriate prescription. Many such effects are known, while others remain to be explored scientifically. There

3384-480: The 1880s. There is no unique method for naming alkaloids. Many individual names are formed by adding the suffix "ine" to the species or genus name. For example, atropine is isolated from the plant Atropa belladonna ; strychnine is obtained from the seed of the Strychnine tree ( Strychnos nux-vomica L.). Where several alkaloids are extracted from one plant their names are often distinguished by variations in

3478-507: The 1950s from the Madagascar periwinkle, Catharanthus roseus . Hundreds of compounds have been identified using ethnobotany , investigating plants used by indigenous peoples for possible medical applications. Some important phytochemicals, including curcumin , epigallocatechin gallate , genistein and resveratrol are pan-assay interference compounds , meaning that in vitro studies of their activity often provide unreliable data. As

3572-652: The 19th century. In 1804, the German chemist Friedrich Sertürner isolated from opium a "soporific principle" (Latin: principium somniferum ), which he called "morphium", referring to Morpheus , the Greek god of dreams; in German and some other Central-European languages, this is still the name of the drug. The term "morphine", used in English and French, was given by the French physicist Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac . A significant contribution to

3666-404: The 20th century and into the 21st, with important anti-cancer drugs from yew and Madagascar periwinkle . Medicinal plants are used with the intention of maintaining health, to be administered for a specific condition, or both, whether in modern medicine or in traditional medicine . The Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in 2002 that over 50,000 medicinal plants are used across

3760-529: The Brazilian Amazon, assisted by researchers, have described 101 plant species used for traditional medicines. Drugs derived from plants including opiates, cocaine and cannabis have both medical and recreational uses . Different countries have at various times made use of illegal drugs , partly on the basis of the risks involved in taking psychoactive drugs . Plant medicines have often not been tested systematically, but have come into use informally over

3854-507: The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the United States taking action to stop the deceptive marketing of herbal products to combat the virus. Where medicinal plants are harvested from the wild rather than cultivated, they are subject to both general and specific threats. General threats include climate change and habitat loss to development and agriculture. A specific threat is over-collection to meet rising demand for medicines. A case in point

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3948-600: The Catalonia region of northeastern Spain, was a hub of cultural exchange during the Middle Ages, fostering the preservation and dissemination of medical knowledge. Catalan herbalists, known as "herbolarios," compiled manuscripts detailing the properties and uses of medicinal plants found in the region. The University of Barcelona, founded in 1450, played a pivotal role in advancing herbal medicine through its botanical gardens and academic pursuits. In Scotland and England, herbalism

4042-547: The Elder's "Naturalis Historia" contains valuable insights into Roman medical plant practices Among the Celtic peoples of ancient Europe, herbalism played a vital role in both medicine and spirituality. Druids, the religious leaders of the Celts, were reputed to possess deep knowledge of plants and their medicinal properties. Although written records are scarce, archaeological evidence, such as

4136-677: The Islamic world, particularly in Baghdad and in Al-Andalus . Among many works on medicinal plants, Abulcasis (936–1013) of Cordoba wrote The Book of Simples , and Ibn al-Baitar (1197–1248) recorded hundreds of medicinal herbs such as Aconitum , nux vomica , and tamarind in his Corpus of Simples . Avicenna included many plants in his 1025 The Canon of Medicine . Abu-Rayhan Biruni , Ibn Zuhr , Peter of Spain , and John of St Amand wrote further pharmacopoeias . The Early Modern period saw

4230-613: The Mannich reaction, in addition to an amine and a carbonyl compound, is a carbanion , which plays the role of the nucleophile in the nucleophilic addition to the ion formed by the reaction of the amine and the carbonyl. The Mannich reaction can proceed both intermolecularly and intramolecularly: In addition to the described above monomeric alkaloids, there are also dimeric , and even trimeric and tetrameric alkaloids formed upon condensation of two, three, and four monomeric alkaloids. Dimeric alkaloids are usually formed from monomers of

4324-627: The Old World and the Americas in the 15th and 16th centuries. Medicinal herbs arriving in the Americas included garlic, ginger, and turmeric; coffee, tobacco and coca travelled in the other direction. In Mexico, the sixteenth century Badianus Manuscript described medicinal plants available in Central America. The place of plants in medicine was radically altered in the 19th century by the application of chemical analysis . Alkaloids were isolated from

4418-541: The Romans, Celts, and Nordic peoples, also practiced herbal medicine as a significant component of their healing traditions. The Romans had a rich tradition of herbal medicine, drawing upon knowledge inherited from the Greeks and expanding upon it. Notable works include those of Pedanius Dioscorides, whose "De Materia Medica" served as a comprehensive guide to medicinal plants and remained influential for centuries. Additionally, Pliny

4512-429: The alkaloids, which were designed to enhance or change the primary effect of the drug and reduce unwanted side-effects. For example, naloxone , an opioid receptor antagonist , is a derivative of thebaine that is present in opium . Prior to the development of a wide range of relatively low-toxic synthetic pesticides , some alkaloids, such as salts of nicotine and anabasine , were used as insecticides . Their use

4606-524: The astringent rind of the pomegranate , containing polyphenols called punicalagins , is used as a medicine, with no scientific proof of efficacy. Terpenes and terpenoids of many kinds are found in a variety of medicinal plants, and in resinous plants such as the conifers . They are strongly aromatic and serve to repel herbivores. Their scent makes them useful in essential oils , whether for perfumes such as rose and lavender , or for aromatherapy . Some have medicinal uses: for example, thymol

4700-716: The basis of pharmacopoeias for some 1500 years. Drug research sometimes makes use of ethnobotany to search for pharmacologically active substances, and this approach has yielded hundreds of useful compounds. These include the common drugs aspirin , digoxin , quinine , and opium . The compounds found in plants are diverse, with most in four biochemical classes: alkaloids , glycosides , polyphenols , and terpenes . Few of these are scientifically confirmed as medicines or used in conventional medicine. Medicinal plants are widely used as folk medicine in non-industrialized societies, mainly because they are readily available and cheaper than modern medicines. The annual global export value of

4794-737: The body's systems that metabolise drugs in the liver including the cytochrome P450 system, making the drugs last longer in the body and have a cumulative effect. Plant medicines can be dangerous during pregnancy. Since plants may contain many different substances, plant extracts may have complex effects on the human body. Herbal medicine and dietary supplement products have been criticized as not having sufficient standards or scientific evidence to confirm their contents, safety, and presumed efficacy. Companies often make false claims about their herbal products promising health benefits that aren't backed by evidence to generate more sales. The market for dietary supplements and nutraceuticals grew by 5% during

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4888-410: The centuries. By 2007, clinical trials had demonstrated potentially useful activity in nearly 16% of herbal extracts; there was limited in vitro or in vivo evidence for roughly half the extracts; there was only phytochemical evidence for around 20%; 0.5% were allergenic or toxic; and some 12% had basically never been studied scientifically. Cancer Research UK caution that there is no reliable evidence for

4982-459: The chemistry of alkaloids in the early years of its development was made by the French researchers Pierre Joseph Pelletier and Joseph Bienaimé Caventou , who discovered quinine (1820) and strychnine (1818). Several other alkaloids were discovered around that time, including xanthine (1817), atropine (1819), caffeine (1820), coniine (1827), nicotine (1828), colchicine (1833), sparteine (1851), and cocaine (1860). The development of

5076-526: The chemistry of alkaloids was accelerated by the emergence of spectroscopic and chromatographic methods in the 20th century, so that by 2008 more than 12,000 alkaloids had been identified. The first complete synthesis of an alkaloid was achieved in 1886 by the German chemist Albert Ladenburg . He produced coniine by reacting 2-methylpyridine with acetaldehyde and reducing the resulting 2-propenyl pyridine with sodium. Compared with most other classes of natural compounds, alkaloids are characterized by

5170-614: The claims of traditional medicine. As of 2015, most products made from medicinal plants had not been tested for their safety and efficacy, and products that were marketed in developed economies and provided in the undeveloped world by traditional healers were of uneven quality, sometimes containing dangerous contaminants. Traditional Chinese medicine makes use of a wide variety of plants, among other materials and techniques. Researchers from Kew Gardens found 104 species used for diabetes in Central America, of which seven had been identified in at least three separate studies. The Yanomami of

5264-415: The content and known pharmacological activity of these substances in medicinal plants is the scientific basis for their use in modern medicine, if scientifically confirmed. For instance, daffodils ( Narcissus ) contain nine groups of alkaloids including galantamine , licensed for use against Alzheimer's disease . The alkaloids are bitter-tasting and toxic, and concentrated in the parts of the plant such as

5358-518: The discovery of medicinal plants at Celtic sites, provides insight into their herbal practices In the Nordic regions, including Scandinavia and parts of Germany, herbal medicine was also prevalent in ancient times. The Norse sagas and Eddic poetry often mention the use of herbs for healing purposes. Additionally, archaeological findings, such as the remains of medicinal plants in Viking-age graves, attest to

5452-558: The effectiveness of herbal remedies for cancer. A 2012 phylogenetic study built a family tree down to genus level using 20,000 species to compare the medicinal plants of three regions, Nepal, New Zealand and the Cape of South Africa. It discovered that the species used traditionally to treat the same types of condition belonged to the same groups of plants in all three regions, giving a "strong phylogenetic signal". Since many plants that yield pharmaceutical drugs belong to just these groups, and

5546-484: The extracted solenopsin ant alkaloids has been described as possible based on their absorbance peak around 232 nanometers. Biological precursors of most alkaloids are amino acids , such as ornithine , lysine , phenylalanine , tyrosine , tryptophan , histidine , aspartic acid , and anthranilic acid . Nicotinic acid can be synthesized from tryptophan or aspartic acid. Ways of alkaloid biosynthesis are too numerous and cannot be easily classified. However, there are

5640-524: The flourishing of illustrated herbals across Europe, starting with the 1526 Grete Herball . John Gerard wrote his famous The Herball or General History of Plants in 1597, based on Rembert Dodoens , and Nicholas Culpeper published his The English Physician Enlarged . Many new plant medicines arrived in Europe as products of Early Modern exploration and the resulting Columbian Exchange , in which livestock, crops and technologies were transferred between

5734-452: The groups were independently used in three different world regions, the results were taken to mean 1) that these plant groups do have potential for medicinal efficacy, 2) that undefined pharmacological activity is associated with use in traditional medicine, and 3) that the use of a phylogenetic groups for possible plant medicines in one region may predict their use in the other regions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has been coordinating

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5828-648: The importance of herbal remedies in Nordic culture From ancient times to the present, Ayurvedic medicine as documented in the Atharva Veda , the Rig Veda and the Sushruta Samhita has used hundreds of herbs and spices, such as turmeric , which contains curcumin . The Chinese pharmacopoeia , the Shennong Ben Cao Jing records plant medicines such as chaulmoogra for leprosy, ephedra , and hemp . This

5922-437: The land and nature and preserved botanical knowledge, with healers, known as "curandeiros" or "meigas," who relied on local plants for healing purposes The Asturian landscape, characterized by lush forests and mountainous terrain, provided a rich source of medicinal herbs used in traditional healing practices, with "yerbatos," who possessed extensive knowledge of local plants and their medicinal properties Barcelona, located in

6016-521: The leaves of corn lily . During the 1950s, up to 25% of lambs born by sheep that had grazed on corn lily had serious facial deformations. These ranged from deformed jaws to cyclopia (see picture). After decades of research, in the 1980s, the compound responsible for these deformities was identified as the alkaloid 11-deoxyjervine, later renamed to cyclopamine. Alkaloids are generated by various living organisms, especially by higher plants  – about 10 to 25% of those contain alkaloids. Therefore, in

6110-463: The majority of what are often informal attempted treatments, not tested scientifically. The World Health Organization estimates, without reliable data, that some 80 percent of the world's population depends mainly on traditional medicine (including but not limited to plants); perhaps some two billion people are largely reliant on medicinal plants. The use of plant-based materials including herbal or natural health products with supposed health benefits,

6204-484: The organism by increasing its survivability or fecundity . In some cases their function, if any, remains unclear. An early hypothesis, that alkaloids are the final products of nitrogen metabolism in plants, as urea and uric acid are in mammals, was refuted by the finding that their concentration fluctuates rather than steadily increasing. Most of the known functions of alkaloids are related to protection. For example, aporphine alkaloid liriodenine produced by

6298-491: The original source of most plant medicines. Human settlements are often surrounded by weeds used as herbal medicines , such as nettle , dandelion and chickweed . Humans were not alone in using herbs as medicines: some animals such as non-human primates , monarch butterflies and sheep ingest medicinal plants when they are ill. Plant samples from prehistoric burial sites are among the lines of evidence that Paleolithic peoples had knowledge of herbal medicine. For instance,

6392-415: The past the term "alkaloid" was associated with plants. The alkaloids content in plants is usually within a few percent and is inhomogeneous over the plant tissues. Depending on the type of plants, the maximum concentration is observed in the leaves (for example, black henbane ), fruits or seeds ( Strychnine tree ), root ( Rauvolfia serpentina ) or bark ( cinchona ). Furthermore, different tissues of

6486-417: The plant material in cold wine or distilled spirit to form a tincture . Traditional poultices were made by boiling medicinal plants, wrapping them in a cloth, and applying the resulting parcel externally to the affected part of the body. When modern medicine has identified a drug in a medicinal plant, commercial quantities of the drug may either be synthesised or extracted from plant material, yielding

6580-606: The practice of medieval medicine, which combined elements of Ancient Greek and Roman traditions. Catholic monastic orders played a significant role in preserving and expanding herbal knowledge. Manuscripts like the "Tractatus de Herbis" from the 15th century depict French herbal remedies and their uses. Monasteries and convents served as centers of learning, where monks and nuns cultivated medicinal gardens. Likewise, in Italy, herbalism flourished with contribution Italian physicians like Matthaeus Platearius who compiled herbal manuscripts, such as

6674-451: The preparation of herbal medicines include decoction , powdering, and extraction with alcohol, in each case yielding a mixture of substances. Decoction involves crushing and then boiling the plant material in water to produce a liquid extract that can be taken orally or applied topically. Powdering involves drying the plant material and then crushing it to yield a powder that can be compressed into tablets . Alcohol extraction involves soaking

6768-499: The raw plants in the form of salts of organic acids. The extracted alkaloids may remain salts or change into bases. Base extraction is achieved by processing the raw material with alkaline solutions and extracting the alkaloid bases with organic solvents, such as 1,2-dichloroethane, chloroform, diethyl ether or benzene. Then, the impurities are dissolved by weak acids; this converts alkaloid bases into salts that are washed away with water. If necessary, an aqueous solution of alkaloid salts

6862-497: The responsibility of a government department, AYUSH , under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. WHO has set out a strategy for traditional medicines with four objectives: to integrate them as policy into national healthcare systems; to provide knowledge and guidance on their safety, efficacy, and quality; to increase their availability and affordability; and to promote their rational, therapeutically sound usage. WHO notes in

6956-551: The same plants may contain different alkaloids. Beside plants, alkaloids are found in certain types of fungus , such as psilocybin in the fruiting bodies of the genus Psilocybe , and in animals, such as bufotenin in the skin of some toads and a number of insects, markedly ants. Many marine organisms also contain alkaloids. Some amines , such as adrenaline and serotonin , which play an important role in higher animals, are similar to alkaloids in their structure and biosynthesis and are sometimes called alkaloids. Because of

7050-444: The same type through the following mechanisms: There are also dimeric alkaloids formed from two distinct monomers, such as the vinca alkaloids vinblastine and vincristine, which are formed from the coupling of catharanthine and vindoline . The newer semi-synthetic chemotherapeutic agent vinorelbine is used in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer . It is another derivative dimer of vindoline and catharanthine and

7144-632: The seventeenth century. During the Middle Ages, herbalism continued to flourish across Europe, with distinct traditions emerging in various regions, often influenced by cultural, religious, indigenous, and geographical factors. In the Early Middle Ages , Benedictine monasteries preserved medical knowledge in Europe , translating and copying classical texts and maintaining herb gardens . Hildegard of Bingen wrote Causae et Curae ("Causes and Cures") on medicine. In France, herbalism thrived alongside

7238-485: The soil and to conserve water, for example with no-till farming systems. In many medicinal and aromatic plants, plant characteristics vary widely with soil type and cropping strategy, so care is required to obtain satisfactory yields. Medicinal plants are often tough and fibrous, requiring some form of preparation to make them convenient to administer. According to the Institute for Traditional Medicine, common methods for

7332-402: The specific threat of over-collection to meet market demand. Plants, including many now used as culinary herbs and spices , have been used as medicines, not necessarily effectively, from prehistoric times. Spices have been used partly to counter food spoilage bacteria, especially in hot climates, and especially in meat dishes that spoil more readily. Angiosperms ( flowering plants ) were

7426-431: The spread of this pest ant species around the world. Medical use of alkaloid-containing plants has a long history, and, thus, when the first alkaloids were isolated in the 19th century, they immediately found application in clinical practice. Many alkaloids are still used in medicine, usually in the form of salts widely used including the following: Many synthetic and semisynthetic drugs are structural modifications of

7520-823: The stem most likely to be eaten by herbivores; they may also protect against parasites . Modern knowledge of medicinal plants is being systematised in the Medicinal Plant Transcriptomics Database, which by 2011 provided a sequence reference for the transcriptome of some thirty species. Major classes of plant phytochemicals are described below, with examples of plants that contain them. Alkaloids are bitter-tasting chemicals, very widespread in nature, and often toxic, found in many medicinal plants. There are several classes with different modes of action as drugs, both recreational and pharmaceutical. Medicines of different classes include atropine , scopolamine , and hyoscyamine (all from nightshade ),

7614-404: The strategy that countries are experiencing seven challenges to such implementation, namely in developing and enforcing policy; in integration; in safety and quality, especially in assessment of products and qualification of practitioners; in controlling advertising; in research and development; in education and training; and in the sharing of information. The pharmaceutical industry has roots in

7708-460: The structural diversity of alkaloids, there is no single method of their extraction from natural raw materials. Most methods exploit the property of most alkaloids to be soluble in organic solvents but not in water, and the opposite tendency of their salts. Most plants contain several alkaloids. Their mixture is extracted first and then individual alkaloids are separated. Plants are thoroughly ground before extraction. Most alkaloids are present in

7802-554: The suffix: "idine", "anine", "aline", "inine" etc. There are also at least 86 alkaloids whose names contain the root "vin" because they are extracted from vinca plants such as Vinca rosea ( Catharanthus roseus ); these are called vinca alkaloids . Alkaloid-containing plants have been used by humans since ancient times for therapeutic and recreational purposes. For example, medicinal plants have been known in Mesopotamia from about 2000 BC. The Odyssey of Homer referred to

7896-679: The table below: Most alkaloids contain oxygen in their molecular structure; those compounds are usually colorless crystals at ambient conditions. Oxygen-free alkaloids, such as nicotine or coniine , are typically volatile, colorless, oily liquids. Some alkaloids are colored, like berberine (yellow) and sanguinarine (orange). Most alkaloids are weak bases, but some, such as theobromine and theophylline , are amphoteric . Many alkaloids dissolve poorly in water but readily dissolve in organic solvents , such as diethyl ether , chloroform or 1,2-dichloroethane . Caffeine , cocaine , codeine and nicotine are slightly soluble in water (with

7990-666: The thousands of types of plants with medicinal properties was estimated to be US$ 60 billion per year and growing at the rate of 6% per annum. In many countries, there is little regulation of traditional medicine, but the World Health Organization coordinates a network to encourage safe and rational use. The botanical herbal market has been criticized for being poorly regulated and containing placebo and pseudoscience products with no scientific research to support their medical claims. Medicinal plants face both general threats, such as climate change and habitat destruction , and

8084-495: The town. The I/32 road, which connect the D11 motorway with Jičín , passes through the town. Kopidlno is located on the railway line Jičín– Nymburk . The Czech bluegrass festival called Banjo Jamboree, founded in 1972 in Kopidlno, is the first and longest-running Bluegrass festival in Europe. In 1992, it was moved to Čáslav . There are two notable historical buildings, a castle and

8178-416: The toxicity of the naturally-occurring alkaloids, both through the unpalatability of the species to predators and through the ability of A. alstroemeriana to recognize Conium maculatum as the correct location for oviposition. A fire ant venom alkaloid known as solenopsin has been demonstrated to protect queens of invasive fire ants during the foundation of new nests, thus playing a central role in

8272-686: The traditional medicine berberine (from plants such as Berberis and Mahonia ), caffeine ( Coffea ), cocaine ( Coca ), ephedrine ( Ephedra ), morphine ( opium poppy ), nicotine ( tobacco ), reserpine ( Rauvolfia serpentina ), quinidine and quinine ( Cinchona ), vincamine ( Vinca minor ), and vincristine ( Catharanthus roseus ). Anthraquinone glycosides are found in medicinal plants such as rhubarb , cascara , and Alexandrian senna . Plant-based laxatives made from such plants include senna , rhubarb and Aloe . The cardiac glycosides are powerful drugs from medicinal plants including foxglove and lily of

8366-796: The valley . They include digoxin and digitoxin which support the beating of the heart, and act as diuretics . Polyphenols of several classes are widespread in plants, having diverse roles in defenses against plant diseases and predators. They include hormone-mimicking phytoestrogens and astringent tannins . Plants containing phytoestrogens have been administered for centuries for gynecological disorders, such as fertility, menstrual, and menopausal problems. Among these plants are Pueraria mirifica , kudzu , angelica , fennel , and anise . Many polyphenolic extracts, such as from grape seeds , olives or maritime pine bark , are sold as dietary supplements and cosmetics without proof or legal health claims for medicinal effects. In Ayurveda ,

8460-407: The world. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew more conservatively estimated in 2016 that 17,810 plant species have a medicinal use, out of some 30,000 plants for which a use of any kind is documented. In modern medicine, around a quarter of the drugs prescribed to patients are derived from medicinal plants, and they are rigorously tested. In other systems of medicine, medicinal plants may constitute

8554-580: Was deeply rooted in folk traditions and influenced by Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and Norse practices. Herbal knowledge was passed down through generations, often by wise women known as "cunning folk." The "Physicians of Myddfai," a Welsh herbal manuscript from the 13th century, reflects the blending of Celtic and Christian beliefs in herbal medicine. In the Islamic Golden Age , scholars translated many classical Greek texts including Dioscorides into Arabic , adding their own commentaries. Herbalism flourished in

8648-502: Was expanded in the Tang dynasty Yaoxing Lun . In the fourth century BC, Aristotle 's pupil Theophrastus wrote the first systematic botany text, Historia plantarum . In around 60 AD, the Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides , working for the Roman army, documented over 1000 recipes for medicines using over 600 medicinal plants in De materia medica . The book remained the authoritative reference on herbalism for over 1500 years, into

8742-734: Was limited by their high toxicity to humans. Preparations of plants and fungi containing alkaloids and their extracts, and later pure alkaloids, have long been used as psychoactive substances . Cocaine , caffeine , and cathinone are stimulants of the central nervous system . Mescaline and many indole alkaloids (such as psilocybin , dimethyltryptamine and ibogaine ) have hallucinogenic effect. Morphine and codeine are strong narcotic pain killers. There are alkaloids that do not have strong psychoactive effect themselves, but are precursors for semi-synthetic psychoactive drugs. For example, ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are used to produce methcathinone and methamphetamine . Thebaine

8836-528: Was the pressure on wild populations of the Pacific yew soon after news of taxol's effectiveness became public. The threat from over-collection could be addressed by cultivation of some medicinal plants, or by a system of certification to make wild harvesting sustainable. A report in 2020 by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew identifies 723 medicinal plants as being at risk of extinction, caused partly by over-collection. Alkaloid Alkaloids are

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