YEREVAN STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY after M. HERATSI Department of Pharmacognosy and Botany AMIRYAN L. PPHHAARRMMAACCOOGGNNOOSSYY Hand-book for foreign students of pharmaceutical faculty YEREVAN - 2007 YEREVAN STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY after M. HERATSI Department of Pharmacognosy and Botany Author: Amiryan L. Consultant: Revazova L. PPHHAARRMMAACCOOGGNNOOSSYY Hand-book for foreign students of pharmaceutical faculty YEREVAN - 2007 2 This handbook is adopted by the Methodical Council of Foreign Students of the University 3 Ø. кð²òàô ²Üì²Ü ºðºì²ÜÆ äºî²Î²Ü ´ÄÞÎ²Î²Ü Ð²Ø²Èê²ð²Ü ü³ñÙ³Ïá·Ýá½Ç³ÛÇ »õ µáõë³µ³ÝáõÃÛ³Ý ³ÙµÇáÝ Ð»ÕÇݳϪ ²ÙÇñÛ³Ý È. ÊáñÑñ¹³ïáõª è»õ³½áí³ È. üü²²ððØز²ÎÎàබÜÜà༼ÆƲ² àõëáõÙÝ³Ï³Ý Ó»éݳñÏ ¹»Õ³·Çï³Ï³Ý ý³ÏáõÉï»ïÇ ³ñï³ë³ÑÙ³ÝóÇ áõë³ÝáÕÝ»ñÇ Ñ³Ù³ñ 4 ºñ»õ³Ý - 2007Ã. 5 àõëáõÙÝ³Ï³Ý Ó»éݳñÏÁ ѳëï³ïí³Í ¿ ѳٳÉë³ñ³ÝÇ ³ñï³ë³ÑÙ³ÝóÇ áõë³ÝáÕÝ»ñÇ áõëáõÙݳ-Ù»Ãá¹³Ï³Ý ËáñÑñ¹Ç ÝÇëïáõÙ 6 The methods of pharmacognostic observation of raw materials The pharmacognostic analysis started to be used in the second half of the XIX century. In those times many plants from India, America, Africa and Australia were sold in European market. The necessity to recognize, analyze, as well as the determination of mixtures and falsifications appeared. The use of plants as therapeutic agents brings in additional aspects such as purity, quality and preservation. The part of pharmacy which dealed with the determination of them is called pharmacognosy. The term pharmacognosy comes from two Greek words; "pharmakon" meaning drug or medicine, and "gnosis" meaning knowledge. Pharmacognosy, therefore, is the knowledge of drugs or medicines. Pharmacognosy is an interdisciplinary science which covers all aspects of drugs of natural origin. It can be defined 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. Chemical characterization of plant materials is important as it relates to the therapeutic effects. It is perhaps obvious that different species of plants would have different chemical profiles. However, these differences can extent to different varieties, or even the same variety grown in a different location or harvested at a different time of the year. Different plant parts, such as roots, leaves, flowers and seeds can also have strikingly different profiles. The isolation and identification of chemical constituents is termed natural products chemistry. 7 The renaissance of herbal medicine creates a demand for studies in the science of pharmacognosy. From a practical perspective this includes quality control (identity, purity, and consistency), efficacy (therapeutic indications, clinical studies, pharmacological investigations) and safety (adverse reactions, drug interactions, contraindications, precautions). When many companies started to sell powdered herbal raw materials there appeared a need to make a microscopic observation of the materials. First this method was used by the botanist Shleider. Professor Dragendorf created a periodic process of the quantitive observation of the raw material. In the beginning of the XX century the famous pharmacognosist Chirkh (Switzerland) who was observing the chemistry and anatomy of the plants created a famous book of pharmacognosy, which doesn’t loose it’s meaning till now. As we have mentioned above the problem of practical pharmacognosy is the determination of the identity, purity, and quality of the raw material. 1. The identity of the raw material is the belonging of the raw material to it’s name according to which it was admitted to the analysis and also the belong ness of the raw material to the producing plant . 2. The purity of the raw material : The raw material is pure if there are no forbidden mixtures. The mixtures allowed in the raw material are in the norm. 3. Quality of the raw material Depends on a) collecting the raw material in correct time and period b) Correct drying process c) Absence of spoiled parts and insects d) Normal ash and wet quantities 8 e) Normal content of active compounds In the process of the analysis of the raw material we are directed by State pharmacopeias IX, X, XI, EP, B, BHP, USP, WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants and normative technical documentations. The macroscopic analysis of the raw material The main problem of the observation is the determination of the identity of the raw material. It is determined through visual inspection (macromorphology). For this purpose it is necessary to find the characteristic date for the observed object on the general sight of morphological data. The techniques of the macroscopic analysis are very clear: 1. To observe the external sight of the raw material with unarmed eye or pocket lens, measure separate parts 2. Organoleptic tests (odor and taste) 3. Necessary chemical reactions 4. Finding out the mixture and determination of the quality of the raw material. The received data must be compared with the etalon and standards (pharmacopeias, state standards, pharmacopoeia articles, handbooks). The external view of the raw material is determined by putting the raw material on the glass or paper and measuring the moderate sizes of it by a liner, describing the shape. The color of the raw material is determined under the day light. It is mentioned surface characteristics, its color, and texture, fracture and appearance and the colour of the cut surface. 9 The odor of the raw material is determined by crushing of the dry raw material. The odor of the crude raw material is determined by scrubbing by a knife or grinding. The taste of the raw material is determined in the last phase when it is found out that the raw material is not poisonous. The characteristic tastes for the raw materials are mentioned if pharmacopeias only for not poisonous objects. The taste is tested carefully, shooing small pieces, but not swallowing them. The quantitive chemical reactions are done in two purposes: 1. To find out the active compounds determining the pharmacological activities of the raw materials (alkaloids, glycosides, mucilage, volatile and fixed oils….). 2. To find out the following and ballast compounds which have a characteristic meaning for the raw material (starch, inulin, pigments …) The macroscopic observation of the raw material depends from the morphological group to which it belongs. Leaves, Folia, Gemmae, and Leaf Gemmas - in pharmacognosy leaves are called those raw materials which represent themselves as dried whole leaves or parts of complex leaves. Big and thin leaves must be softened first by soaking in water for several hours to plate their surface and then the preparations are made. Thick leather like leaves does not need any special handling, as they are not deformed during the drying process. The shape, sizes, existence of hair and glands, the colour and odor and the taste are mentioned. Flowers, Flores, Alabastra, Flower Gemmas are called the raw materials, which represent themselves as dried whole complex flowers or simple flowers or their parts. The flowers must be soaked in water before observation, then the composition, shape and sizes are 10 determined. For dried flowers, covering hair, colour, odor and taste are determined. Herbs, Herbae, Cormus, Stem Shoots – are called the over - ground part of the plants usually without the rude stems. In dried herbs the covering type, colour, odor and taste for all the parts of the herb are determined. All the organs of the tendered herb are observed. Barks, Cortex – are the external dried parts of wood, stems, rhizomes and roots, which are twice separated with the cambium layer. It the determination of the cortex the appearance of the transverse cutting surface is important. In the existence of a great amount of loub threads the cutting surface is not plate, but in the absence or small quantity of them the cutting surface is plate. The thickness of the bark is important, because old and thick barks are not reach with active compounds. The colour of inner and external surface is determined. The odor is determined by scribing or soaking in the water. The ether oil glandulars and mechanical elements can be observed by a pocket lens. Qualitative reactions are done with the 10 % water extract of the crude drug or simply dropping a reactive on the inner surface of the raw material. Fruits, Fructus – are called real or false fruits, complex (collective) fruits and their parts. The whole fruits are easily determined by their external characters and during the determination of their identity there is no need to do microscopic or chemical observations. The juicy fruits are observed first dried and then they are soaked into the water and the characters of the pericarps observed. The seeds are separated from the fruits to determine their shape and quantity. Seeds, Semina – Usually are determined by their external characters. 11 Roots, Radices, Rhizomes, Rhizomas, Bulbs, Bulbus and Tubers, Tubera – are the underground organs of the plants. They can be whole or cut, with a bark or without it. The size, odor, taste must be mentioned for them. The colour of the outer surface and the appearance of the cut surface and its color must be mentioned, too. It necessary the transverse cuttings should be made then coloured by fluoroglucide to find out the transporting elements, which is characteristic to each morphological group. The microscopic examination of the crude drug. This observation is based on the fact that characteristic differentiated elements are found out on the general picture of the anatomical structure of the raw material, by which the observed object differs from others. The microscopic observation of different morphological groups of the raw material needs a special technique of preparing the microscopic preparations.