PHARMACOGNOSY AND HERBAL PRODUCTS
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2018/2019
- Teacher
- GIANNI SACCHETTI
- Credits
- 9
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- BIO/15
Training objectives
- Knowledge of the plants and crude drugs of main and up-to-date pharmaceutical interest. Knowledge of the factors affecting the pharmaceutical use of plants and crude drugs, and of the normative and more appropriate strategies for quality control. ¿Capacity to identify the main groups of plants and crude drugs of pharmaceutical interest. Capacity to critically analyze and intervene in the plant-crude drug processing. Capacity to determine the pharmaceutical employ of plants and crude drugs through recognition and quality control strategies. Capacity of being updated on natural sources of crude drugs and active compounds of pharmaceutical interest.¿Knowledge of herbal and wellness products in the modern health market. Knowledge of the formulation and quality control methods of the herbal products. Capacity to critically analyze the herbal products: composition and functional activities. Technical knowledge and professional advising of the herbal products also on the basis of the increasing importance of non-conventional medicines.
Prerequisites
- Knowledge of the main topics about plant biology, chemistry of natural compounds and organic chemistry.
To take the final examination (learning assessment procedures), students must have passed the exams of Plant biology-Animal biology and of Organic chemistry. Course programme
- Aims and scope of pharmacognosy. Crude drug and part(s) used definition. Pharmaceutical nomenclature of officinal plants and crude drugs. Market of officinal plants, needs, development and critical points. Production chain: from plants to crude drugs. Factors affecting cultivation, harvest and post-harvest, pharmaceutical quality of crude drugs. Aims and limits in quality control of the officinal plants, crude drugs and derived products. Botanical-pharmacognostic control, genomic control, phytochemical control, contaminants control, chemical-physical control, control of the production steps. ¿Secondary metabolites and their pharmaceutical importance (hints): carbohydrates, lipids, proteolytic enzymes, glycosides, terpenic compounds, iridoids, cannabinoids, antraquinones, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids and derivatives, tannins and polyphenols, coumarins, phenylpropanoids. Main topics of extraction methods of phytocomplexes and active compounds from crude drugs and fresh plant samples: infusion, decoction, maceration, digestions, percolation, distillation, enfleurage, supercritical fluids extraction, liquid-liquid extraction, pressing, centrifugation.¿Crude drugs of pharmaceutical interest affecting the following organs, apparatus and systems: cardiovascular, nervous system; anti-inflammatory crude drugs; gastrointestinal apparatus and digestions, respiratory apparatus, kidneys and urinary system, endocrine system, muscle-skeletal system, reproductive system, skin system, immune system. Anti-cancer crude drugs; voluptuary crude drugs; cosmetic crude drugs. Crude drugs of pharmaceutical-technology interest. Biotechnological derivatives and products.¿Herbal products (Botanicals) for health uses. Botanicals in the following contexts: social and public-health context; pharmaceutical technology; the purchasing process; the importance and perspective of the botanicals counselling; the preparations and safety of the botanicals; validation of botanicals; critical analysis of herbal products.¿Chemical, physical, organic and pharmacological interactions. Main topics regarding marketing strategies of herbal products. Safety of herbal products: focus on drug-herbal product interaction. Herbal products in official medicine and alternative medicines. Herbal products and homeopathy. Herbal products affecting: nervous system; cardiovascular system; metabolism; urinary system; inflammatory status; respiratory system; reproductive system; digestive apparatus; liver and bile ducts; cutaneous system; ophthalmic diseases. Adaptogen herbal products.
Didactic methods
- Didactic methods are mainly based on front lectures, as tool for synthesis and development of the formative targets. This tool is focused on slides analyzed during lectures and on related books and publications advised to the student to lead the formative course. For the particular kind of the subject and of the formative targets, the lectures are set as an interactive and discussed dialogue student-teacher.
Learning assessment procedures
- The exam consists in checking the student’s knowledge about the course program and the acquisition of specific speech related to pharmacist profession. To pass the exam the student must obtain a minimum score of 18 out of 33 (= 30/30 cum laude) answering questions related to the following three teaching modules, each of which contributes to the final mark with a score ranging from 6 (minimum) and 11 (maximum).¿Module 1. The exam is based on the evaluation of the knowledge about pharmacognosy (definitions, fields of competence). The student have to answer questions relating to the supply of medicinal plants and drugs, the natural variables that determine quality, postharvest factors, the extraction processes and extraction products, the quality control of medicinal plants, drugs and derivatives, to control botanical-farmacognostic (assays and dosages reported by EU pharmacopoeia), genomic, phytochemical, process control, the importance of biotechnology.¿To overcome this part of the exam the student must achieve at least 6 points out of 11.¿Module 2. Check the knowledge about specific aspects of pharmacognosy, drugs nomenclature, botanical and pharmaceutical classification, morphological description, phytochemical, ethnomedical and modern uses, importance and health application with efficacy and safety aspects. The student must answer with natural compounds chemistry knowledge to understood the sense of the professional module specifically also through both the concepts related to the Module 1 and 2.¿To overcome this part of the exam the student must achieve at least 6 points out of 11.¿Module 3. Check the student's knowledge about herbal products. The student will have to answer questions relating to legislation and technical-pharmacy related to herbal products, market and social health (allopathic and homeopathic herbal medicine, traditional medicines), their composition in terms of quality and amount of drugs , factors and interactions that affect the quality and safety, the production and distribution processes. The student must demonstrate the ability to translate these concepts into tools of professional guidelines through the critical evaluation of one or more herbal products chosen by the teacher, considering dose / mode of use, limits prescription / advice, interaction with medications and / or organic conditions.¿To overcome this part of the exam the student must achieve at least 6 points out of 11.
Reference texts
- Lecture’ slides.
For further information refer to:
Maugini E., Maleci Bini L., Mariotti Lippi M. Botanica farmaceutica. Piccin Ed. 2014
Bruni A. Biologia farmaceutica. Pearson Italia Ed., 2014
