Ethnopharmacology of Medicinal Plants (eBook)

Asia and the Pacific

Christophe Wiart (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2007 | 2007
XII, 228 Seiten
Humana Press (Verlag)
978-1-59745-160-4 (ISBN)

Infos

In 1860, Oliver Wendell Holmes pointedly expressed himself to the Massachusetts Medical Society: 'I firmly believe that if the whole Material Medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worst for the fishes.' Should one think the same about the current approach in drug discovery from plants? Probably yes. Despite the spending of billions of US dollars, and three decades of efforts, high-throughput screenings have only allowed the discovery of a couple of drugs. One could have reasonably expected the discovery of an arsenal of drugs from the millions of plant extracts randomly tested, but 'hits' can be inactive in vitro or too toxic, some molecules need to be metabolized first to be active, and false-positive and false-negative results are common. The bitter truth is that the robotic approach in discovering drugs from plants has proven, to date, its inability to excavate the hundreds of molecules that will contribute to the health progress of Man. However, one can reasonably see that the last patches of primary rainforest on earth hold still hundreds of spectacularly active drugs that await discovery.

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In 1860, Oliver Wendell Holmes pointedly expressed himself to the Massachusetts Medical Society: "e;I firmly believe that if the whole Material Medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind, and all the worst for the fishes."e; Should one think the same about the current approach in drug discovery from plants? Probably yes. Despite the spending of billions of US dollars, and three decades of efforts, high-throughput screenings have only allowed the discovery of a couple of drugs. One could have reasonably expected the discovery of an arsenal of drugs from the millions of plant extracts randomly tested, but "e;hits"e; can be inactive in vitro or too toxic, some molecules need to be metabolized first to be active, and false-positive and false-negative results are common. The bitter truth is that the robotic approach in discovering drugs from plants has proven, to date, its inability to excavate the hundreds of molecules that will contribute to the health progress of Man. However, one can reasonably see that the last patches of primary rainforest on earth hold still hundreds of spectacularly active drugs that await discovery.

Inhalt

Index 227
Preface 6
CONTENTS 8
1 Anti-Inflammatory Plants 12
INHIBITORS OF PHOSPHOLIPASE A2 15
INHIBITORS OF COX 26
INHIBITORS OF LIPOXYGENASES 38
INHIBITORS OF ELASTASE 43
INHIBITORS OF NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHETASE 49
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS 59
REFERENCES 61
GENERAL CONCEPT 67
2 Plants Affecting the Central Nervous System 67
PLANTS AFFECTING SEROTONINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION 70
PLANTS AFFECTING THE GABAERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION 97
PLANTS INTERFERING WITH THE GLYCINERGIC SYSTEM 117
PLANTS AFFECTING THE DOPAMINERGIC NEUROTRANSMISSION 122
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE PROSPECTS 152
REFERENCES 154
GENERAL CONCEPT 164
3 Plants for Chemotherapy of Neoplastic Diseases 164
TOPOISOMERASE INHIBITORS 166
APOPTOSIS 203
SUMMARY AND FUTURE PROSPECTS 217
REFERENCES 219
Index 227

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 4.11.2007
• Zusatzinfo: XII, 228 p. 322 illus.
• Verlagsort: Totowa
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Gesundheitsfachberufe
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Medizinische Fachgebiete ► Pharmakologie / Pharmakotherapie
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Naturheilkunde
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Pflege
• Themenwelt: Medizin / Pharmazie ► Pharmazie ► PTA / PKA
• Schlagworte: Cancer • Chemotherapy • CNS • dopamine • Drug • drug discovery • Drugs • Future • inflammation • pharmacology • Pharmacy • Research • Serotonin • Toxicology
• ISBN-10: 1-59745-160-6 / 1597451606
• ISBN-13: 978-1-59745-160-4 / 9781597451604