Pharmacognosy

• The study of medicinal plants as sources of pharmacologically active substances . We study the morphological characteristics of plants , the geography of their habitat, chemical composition ( phytochemistry ), methods and timing of the procurement of raw materials , the pharmacological effect of substances, methods and storage periods of medicinal drugs.
• Resource and commodity research of medicinal plants . Identification of their habitats in the wild. Determination of thickets, potential reserves, annual volumes of harvesting.
• Rationing and standardization of medicinal plant materials , development of draft regulatory and technical documents (NTD), analysis of medicinal drugs and the development of new methods for their standardization.
• The search for new herbal medicines in order to expand the range and create more effective medicines.

Pharmacognosy uses methods of organic and analytical chemistry , as well as botany .

The body of knowledge constituting the subject of pharmacognosy is the oldest among all pharmaceutical knowledge; people used the medicinal properties of plants long before other drugs. But the science of pharmacognosy, as the science of medicinal plants, their analysis and application, arose in the 19th century. Prior to this, pharmacognosy knowledge was part of a wide range of medical knowledge about medicines ( lat. Materia medica ) ^[3] .

People from ancient times used plants as medicines. The earliest evidence is in the burial of a Neanderthal man dated to about 60 thousand years old, pollen of medicinal plants was found. Medicinal plants were known in ancient Sumer, Egypt, Babylon, medical treatises with descriptions of the system for treating plants have come down to us. In the works of ancient Greek and Roman doctors, descriptions of medicinal plants also occupy a large place ^[3] .

The European medical system is based on the works of ancient Greek and Roman doctors, in particular, the work of Dioscorides “Materia medica”, which became the first “pharmacognosy guide”, along with the works of Pliny the Elder and Claudius Galen remained guiding for doctors until the end of the Middle Ages ^[3] .

In the Middle Ages, European medicine was concentrated in monasteries and among large feudal lords. From those times, the 14th-century treatise of Arnold from Villanova “Salerno Code of Health” was known. In X-XIII centuries, Arab science was the foremost for that time, the works of Abu Ali ibn Sina ( Avicenna ), “The Canon of Medicine,” translated into Latin, also became a guide for European doctors. However, the treatise “Pharmacognosy in medicine”, in which Abu Rayhan Biruni described about 750 species of plants, remained unknown in Europe until the 20th century ^[3] .

In the Renaissance, with the development of printing in the middle of the 15th century, widespread dissemination of information about medicinal plants began, first with "herbaria" - books about medicinal plants. In the XV century they were in Latin, in the XVI century appeared in national languages, mainly in German and French, and fresh works of European scientists were published in them: O. Brunfels (1530, 1532), N. Monarda (1565, 1569, 1571, 1574), L. Fuchs (1542, 1543) and K. Baugin (1596). This is also the time of the appearance of the first pharmacopeias: Riccetario Fiorentino (Florence, 1498), Pharmacorum omnium (Nuremberg, 1546), Pharmacopoeia Londinensis (London, 1618). Then, in the era of great geographical discoveries, the arsenal of medicinal plants expanded (plants from other continents and from East Asia were added) ^[3] .

At this time, Theophrast Bombast von Hohenheim (Paracelsus) made a revolution in pharmacy, creating the concept of “active principles” (corresponding to modern ideas about active substances). He refused to use whole plants and used extracts from them ^[3] .

In the XVII-XVIII centuries, knowledge about medicinal plants and medicines based on them was constantly expanding. At this time, the first scientific laboratories in the modern sense appeared, in which they studied the medical effect of plants and unsuccessfully tried to isolate active substances from them in a pure form ^[3] .

Only at the beginning of the XIX century, with the development of chemistry, scientists were able to isolate active (medicinal) substances from plants in pure form. The first of them was morphine ( F. Serturner in 1817 received it from poppy). Then quinine (P. Peltier and J. Cavantou , 1820), caffeine (1821), atropine (1833) and salicin (1838) were isolated and described. So began a new branch of chemistry - the chemistry of natural compounds and its part regarding plants - phytochemistry ^[3] .

In 1811, the Austrian professor A. Schmidt proposed the term “pharmacognosy” ^[3] .

A complex botanical, pharmacological and chemical study of medicinal plants is characteristic of the 19th century, as a result, at the end of the 19th century, the first pure drugs of plant origin and their mixtures appeared ^[3] .

In the 20th century, pharmacognosy finally acquired a modern look. At the beginning of the century, a three-volume guide to pharmacognosy of the Swiss A. Chirch was published, which was widely known in Western Europe. In the second half of the 20th century, significant progress was achieved in the study of the chemistry of drugs, their secondary metabolites, biosynthesis, biological and pharmacological effects, including at the molecular level. The mechanisms of the influence of substances of plant origin on the mechanisms of disease development have been studied ^[3] .

In the XXI century, the study of substances of plant origin continues, genetics and selection of medicinal plants develop. In this case, genetic engineering is used, GM facilities have been developed for the production of drugs. Methods have also been developed for growing cell and tissue cultures of medicinal plants, as a result of which such cultures have become another source of biologically active substances ^[3] .

In Russia

The existence in Russia of a certain similarity of pharmacies in the XI-XII centuries (during the time of Kievan Rus) is indirectly evidenced by a number of European historical chronicles. Most likely, pharmacies in the modern sense appeared in Moscow in the middle of the 16th century and were founded by foreigners who served at the Court. The first official “royal” pharmacy (for the needs of the royal court) was organized by the English pharmacist James French in 1581 (at the end of the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible). The rest of the Muscovites resorted to the services of greenhouses where they sold medicinal plants and various products, or bought them directly from foreign doctors. Under Mikhail Romanov, in the first half of the 17th century, the citizens began to use the services of the “royal” pharmacy under “petition” and special royal orders. At the same time, the wounded and invalids of the wars received medicines for free, as did the especially distinguished boyars ^[3] .

In 1672, by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the first public (“New”) pharmacy in Russia was established with German and English specialists and Russian students. In 1673, the king banned the sale of medicinal plants in vegetable and potion shops, thus establishing a state monopoly on the sale of medicines. In 1682, by decree of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich, the first “hospital” pharmacy was opened in Russia at the first civilian hospital ^[3] .

Peter I in 1701 issued a series of decrees relating to pharmacies, imposed a strict ban on the sale of medicines, including herbal, outside pharmacies. Private pharmacies were allowed at the same time, and by the end of 1701 eight private pharmacies were operating in Moscow ^[3] .

In the 18th century, in Russia, as in European countries, pharmacies were not only a place of sale of medicines, they conducted scientific work, they grew medicinal plants and trained pharmaceutical and medical personnel. Medicinal plants were also studied in the complex expeditions of the Academy of Sciences to study the Urals, Siberia, the Far East and the Caucasus. The first Russian scientific pharmacognostic books were the works of prof. N. M. Ambodik-Maksimovich “Medical substanceology, or Description of healing plants” and prof. I. A. Dvigubsky "The image of plants, mainly Russian, used in medicines, and those that are similar in appearance to them and are often taken for them, but have no medicinal power" ^[3] .

In the 19th century, the Medical and Surgical Academy (now the Military Medical Academy) became the center of domestic pharmacy and pharmacognosy. One of its units was the department of Materia medica (later - the department of pharmacy), where the science of medicinal plants was also taught. The head of the department is prof. A.P. Nelyubin glorified domestic pharmacy with the leadership of "Pharmacography, or Chemotherapy instructions for the preparation and use of the latest drugs." In the middle of the XIX century, pharmacognosy was isolated in a separate discipline and got its name. The head of the department of pharmacy, the successor of A.P. Nelyubin, academician Yu. K. Trapp, wrote the first training manuals on the course of pharmacognosy ^[3] .

At the end of the 19th century, Russian scientists wrote fundamental works on pharmacognosy: A Course of Pharmacognosy, A Guide to the Study of Pharmacognosy and A Textbook of Pharmacognosy, Professor of Moscow University V. A. Tikhomirov, A Course of Pharmacognosy, Professor of Warsaw University N. F. Mentin, “Medicinal plants of different peoples and times, their application, the most important chemicals and history”, Professor of St. George University G. Dragendorf ^[3] .

In the 20th century, Adele Fedorovna Hammerman , a student of the Swiss pharmacognost A. Chirch, became the most prominent Russian pharmacognost of the country, the founder of the Soviet pharmacognosy and the national school of pharmacognosts. She wrote a textbook on pharmacognosy, which only six editions survived during her lifetime. A.F. Gammerman is considered the founder of the modern Russian school of pharmacognosts. Among her students are professors G.P. Yakovlev ( SPFFA ), D.A. Muravyov ( Pyatigorsk State Pharmaceutical Academy ), prominent Russian scientists in the field of pharmacognosy were or are N.I. Grinkevich (Moscow), I.A. Samylina ( Moscow), V. A. Kurkin (Samara) ^[3] .

• Phytotherapy
• Botany
• Phytochemistry

• Dragendorf G. Die Heilpflanzen der verschiedenen Volker und Zeiten, Stuttg., 1898
• Handbuch der Pharmakognosie, 2 Aufl., Hrsg. A. Tschirch, Bd 1-3, Lpz., 1930-33
• Hammerman, A.F. Pharmacognosy course. - 6th ed. - L. , 1967 .-- 703 p.
• Pharmacognosy : lectures. - Astrakhan State Medical University, 2016. - 52 p.
• Zhokhova, E. V. Pharmacognosy: Textbook for Pharmaceutical Colleges and Technical Schools: Recom. GBOU VPO "1 Moscow State Medical University named after Sechenova ”in Qual. student for stud. Inst. Wed prof. arr., trained in special. 060301 "Pharmacy" / E. V. Zhokhov, M. Yu. Goncharov, M. N. Povidysh ... [and others. ] . - M .: GEOTAR-Media, 2012 .-- 544 p. : ill. - BBK 52.821.1ya723 . - UDC . - ISBN 978-9704-2192-5.

• Alexey Vodovozov .   Herbs: from medicine to poison - Public lecture delivered at NUST “MISiS” on May 24, 2019.