PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY AND PHARMACOGNOSY
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- GIANNI SACCHETTI
- Credits
- 9
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/15
Training objectives
- The student will be guided in the acquisition of
- knowledge of plants and drugs of pharmaceutical interest;
- knowledge of the supply chain of medicinal plants, control factors of health-pharmaceutical quality and standardization (from the plant to the final products);
- knowledge of technical and regulatory tools to check the pharmaceutical botany and pharmacognostic quality of plant drugs;
- knowledge of the herbal products contextualized in the modern health market, also in relation to the emerging non-conventional medicines;
- knowledge of the main interactions among plant drugs, drugs and organic conditions.
In relation to the acquired knowledge, the student will develop
- ability to recognize the main groups of medicinal plants, drugs and derived products of pharmaceutical interest;
- analysis capacity and critical intervention on the drug-plant value chain;
- ability to qualify the pharmaceutical use of a drug through pharmaceutical botany and pharmacognostic tools with respect to a professional context of a quality control laboratory;
- ability to update the knowledge about the use of plant drugs and their active ingredients for pharmaceutical uses;
- ability to design herbal products with respect to functional ingredients (drugs and derivatives) in reaction to a professional context of an herbal-pharmaceutical company;
- ability to critically analyze herbal products: from their composition to their biological activity, their interaction with active ingredients of drugs and particular organic conditions for counselling with respect to a professional context of pharmacies and drugstores. Prerequisites
- For the better comprehension of the course, it is suggested to have preliminary knowledge related to plant biology and natural compouds.
Course programme
- The course contents are delivered through the following Learning Units (LU):
- LU 1: Introduction of Pharmaceutical Botany and Pharmacognosy.
- LU 2: Definition of medicinal plant, drug, part used, botanicals and derivatives. Pharmaceutical cataloging. The market of plants for health-pharmaceutical uses, needs, developments and critical market factors.
- LU 3: Supply chain of plant drugs. Biotechnological derivatives. The processing chain: from the plant to the drug, to the final herbal product.
- LU 4: Factors that influence the quality of medicinal plants and drugs. Crop, harvest and post-harvest factors and pharmaceutical quality of drugs. Extraction of phytocomplexes and active ingredients from dry and fresh drugs: infusion, decoction, maceration, digestion, percolation, distillation, enfleurage, extraction with supercritical fluids, extraction assisted by ultrasound, extraction with fluids under pressure, liquid-liquid extraction by displacement, squeezing, centrifugation.
- LU 5. Identity and quality control of medicinal plants and drugs. Objectives and limits in the quality control of medicinal plants, drugs and derivatives: botanical-pharmaceutical and pharmacognostic control, genomic control, phytochemical control, contaminant control, chemical physical control, process control in the company.
- LU 6: Secondary metabolites of pharmaceutical interest (outline): carbohydrates, lipids, proteolytic enzymes, glycosides, terpene compounds, iridoids, cannabinoids, anthraquinones, alkaloids, simple phenols, flavonoids and derivatives, tannins and polyphenols, coumarins, phenylpropanes. Chemical classes of metabolites of pharmaco-technical and industrial interest.
- LU 7-8: The main health-pharmaceutical applications and plant interactions and related drugs and derivatives. The chemical, physical and pharmacological organic interactions between the functional ingredients of a complex herbal product. The interactions between drugs and derivatives, and drugs. Notes on critical issues in herbal product marketing; cross-selling of the health product. The herbal product in official medicine and alternative medicines. The herbal product and homeopathy (outline). The critical evaluation of the herbal product projected in counseling. The design of the herbal product with respect to the functional ingredients (drugs and derivatives).
- LU 9-18: Drugs and derivatives (Botanicals; simple and complex herbal products) and their action on the following organs, apparatus, systems and organic conditions:
LU 9-10: gastrointestinal system and digestive function (poor digestion and related disorders (for e.g. nausea, reflux, heartburn; natural laxatives; disorders of the oral mucosa and anal-perianal region);
LU 11: central nervous system (for e.g. headache-migraine, insomnia, anxiety, mild depression; psychotropic drugs and herbal products);
LU 12: genitourinary (urogenital apparatus: cystitis (UTI); female health: menopause disorders; outline of drugs for male disorders: benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH));
LU 13: cardiovascular apparatus (drugs and herbal products with cardiac action; drugs and herbal products for venous insufficiency);
LU 14, 15: vegetable drugs and herbal products with adaptogen properties; respiratory system (airway diseases, fo e.g. cold symptoms; sore throat and cough);
LU 16: musculoskeletal system (musculoskeletal disorders, eg joint pain, lumbago);
LU 17: drugs and products with anti-inflammatory activity, analgesic activity, anticancer and relative application contexts.
LU 18: drugs and derivatives (Botanicals) for topical use (skin disorders, eg erythema, small wounds, microbial infections). Didactic methods
- The course will be carried out through theoretical lessons aimed at exposing and explaining the contents of the program, integrated with practical examples, case studies, exercises and theoretical and technical insights.
Learning assessment procedures
- The exam consists in the oral verification of the level of knowledge of the course contents and the acquisition of the specific vocabulary through both wide-ranging and more specific questions. To pass the exam it is necessary to acquire a minimum score of 18 out of 33 (= 30/30 cum laude) by answering the questions relating to the following three teaching modules, with reference to the Learning Units 1-18, each of which contributes to the final grade with a minimum score of 6 and a maximum of 11. The expression of the final grade also takes into account the language used by the student which must refer to the methods and technical terminologies specific to the profession.
Module 1. Learning Units of reference: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Based on the verification of the basic knowledge of pharmaceutical botany and pharmacognosy, definitions, areas of competence. The student will have to answer questions concerning the procurement of medicinal plants and drugs, the natural factors that determine their quality, the post-harvest factors, the extraction processes and the extraction products, the quality control of medicinal plants, drugs and derivatives, to botanical-pharmacognostic control (general and pharmacopoeia assays and dosages), genomic, phytochemical, process control in the company, the importance of biotechnology.
To pass this part of the interview it is necessary to acquire at least 6 points out of 11.
Module 2. Reference Learning Units: 6, 7, 8.
It deals with the verification of the student's knowledge concerning specialized aspects of Pharmaceutical Botany and pharmacognosy, or medicinal plants and drugs with respect to their nomenclature, vernacular, botanical and pharmaceutical classification, morphological description, phytochemistry, ethnomedical uses and modern uses, importance and application in the health context with references to both efficacy and safety aspects. The student must demonstrate that he has sufficient knowledge of the chemistry of natural substances to have understood the professional meaning of the module specifically, and must also demonstrate that he has understood the professionalizing sense of the course through answers to questions cross-sectional to modules 1 and 2.
To pass this part of the interview it is necessary to acquire at least 6 points out of 11.
Module 3. Reference Learning Units: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.
Based on the verification of the student's knowledge regarding herbal products. The student will have to answer questions regarding the normative and technical-pharmaceutical qualification of herbal products, their role in the market and social-health context (allopathic and homeopathic phytotherapy, traditional medicines), their composition in terms of quality and quantity of drugs , to the factors and interactions that affect its quality, safety, the design and purchase process. The student will have to demonstrate the ability to translate these concepts into tools of the professional council through the critical review of one or more herbal products chosen by the teacher, considering dosage / use modalities, limits of prescription / advice, interaction with drugs and / or particular conditions organic.
To pass this part of the interview it is necessary to acquire at least 6 points out of 11. Reference texts
- - Supplementary material: all the material can be downloaded from the "teaching material" link on the page of the course.
- Poli F. Biologia farmaceutica. Pearson Italia II Ed., 2019 (with plant and plant drugs monographs on both paper book and online book)
