Sources of Drugs (General Pharmacology Part 2) | Dr. Shikha Parmar

Sources of Drugs (General Pharmacology Part 2) by Dr. Shikha Parmar

All parts of this series:
1) Introduction to Pharmacology, Pharmacokinetics & Pharmacodynamics (General Pharmacology Part 1)

2) Sources of Drugs (General Pharmacology Part 2) | Dr. Shikha Parmar

3) Routes Of Administration Of Drugs - Quick Overview (General Pharmacology Part 3) | Dr. Shikha Parmar

4) Essential Drug Concept (General Pharmacology Part 4) | Dr. Shikha Parmar

5) Absorption or Transport of Drug across Cell Membrane (General Pharmacology Part 5)|Dr. Shikha Parmar

Many drugs were discovered long ago by trial and error. Some were good and are still used today like the opium from the poppy tree, digitalis from the foxglove plant, etc. Discovery of medicinal plants was largely by chance and when tribal people looked for food they discovered various roots, leaves, and barks. The people ate, and, by trial and error, they learned about the healing effects of these plants. They also learned about toxic effects. Today, there is a synthetic version of drugs to conserve their sources, for resource effectiveness, better dosage and control. We would learn about these sources of drugs in this lesson.

Primitive Medicine; Folklore, witchcraft, dreams, trances etc. Also from observing the reaction of some animals to particular herbs. (1) Through primitive medicine quinine was discovered from Africa; used for malaria and lime juice for Ascorbic acid/Vitamin C and this is used for scurvy and gum bleeding.
(2) Plants; Roots, bark, sap, leaves, flowers, seeds were sources for drugs e.g. Reserpine from Rauwolfia Vomitoria, Digitalis from foxglove, opium from the poppy plant.
(3) Animal sources; gave us hormones for replacement in times of deficiencies e.g. Insulin from the pancreases of pigs and cattle, Liver extracts for anaemia etc
(4) Minerals; including acids, bases and salts like potassium chloride
(5) Natural; OCCURRING SUBSTANCES like proteinsHappy Chance; Discovery is by chance not by any premeditated effort.
Synthesis of Substances; from natural products in the laboratory.

Description Source: Wikipedia