[DDD-PRE-02] NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH

THIS FLASHCARDS IS ABOUT [DDD] NATURAL PRODUCT RESEARCH.

Ethnopharmacology

This is the cross-cultural scientific study of how different cultures use plants, animals, fungi, and other natural substances for medicinal purposes.

Ethnopharmacology

It bridges indigenous and traditional knowledge with modern biochemical and pharmacological science.

Natural Product Research

This focuses on analyzing these materials to identify, isolate, and develop the active metabolites (chemical compounds) responsible for therapeutic effects.

1. Ethnobotanists

2. Anthropologists

Cross-Cultural Documentation:

Researchers (such as (1)_____ and (2)_____) interview traditional healers and communities to document remedies and cultural practices.

Natural Products

These are rich sources of novel compounds.

1. Willow Bark

2. Opium Poppy

Many modern pharmaceuticals originated from traditional ethnopharmacological roots like: (1) Aspirin from _____ or (2) Morphine from _____.

• Botanist/Taxonomist

• Chemist

• Pharmacologist

Multidisciplinary Approach:

Successful research requires a team consisting of a?

• Fieldwork and Ethnobotany

• Extraction and Bioassay

• Phytochemistry

• Pre-Clinical/Clinical Trials

What are the four (4) Research Pipelines?

Research in this domain generally follows a structured, multi-step process.

Fieldwork and Ethnobotany

Identify the Research Pipeline:

Identifying and documenting specific remedies used by distinct populations to treat ailments.

Extraction and Bioassay

Identify the Research Pipeline:

Creating crude extracts (from the natural material and testing them in laboratories (in vitro or in vivo) to verify if they yield the expected therapeutic benefits.

Phytochemistry

Identify the Research Pipeline:

Utilizing analytical chemistry, high-resolution spectroscopy, and metabolomics to isolate and characterize the specific, active bioactive molecules.

Pre-Clinical/Clinical Trials

Identify the Research Pipeline:

Assessing the safety, toxicity, mechanism of action, and efficacy of the isolated compound or standardized extract for potential use in modern healthcare.

In Silico Screening

Using computational approaches like molecular docking to predict how natural molecules will interact with human disease targets.

Polypharmacology

Recognizing that traditional extracts often heal through synergistic interactions across multiple biological targets rather than a single chemical strike.

Sustainability and Ethics

Ensuring the conservation of medicinal plants and fair benefit-sharing with indigenous communities whose ancestral knowledge inspired the research.

Ethnopharmacological Discovery

Many of our most essential, lifesaving modern pharmaceuticals are direct products of?

Bioactive Compounds

By studying traditional remedies and folk knowledge of indigenous cultures, scientists have isolated ___________ that are standard therapies today.

Artemisinin

Infection Diseases and Malaria:

For centuries, traditional Chinese medicine used Qinghao tea to treat fevers.

• Sweet Wormwood

• Artemisia annua

Artemisinin is from?

Fever

Qinghao tea is used to tread?

1970s

What year did the researches isolated artemisinin, now the global first-line treatment for multi-drug resistant malaria.

Tu Youyou

The discovery of the global first-line treatment for multi-drug resistant malaria that won a Nobel Prize in 2015 is?

• Cinchona Tree

• Cinchona spp.

Infection Diseases and Malaria:

Quinine is from?

Fever Tree

The Quechua people of Peru traditionally used the bark of _________ to treat chills.

Chills

The bark of the fever tree (Cinchona Tree) is used to treat?

Info

Spanish missionaries brought the bark of the fever tree to Europe, where chemists isolated quinine.

Quinine

This became the world's first effective antimalarial drug and served as the chemical template for modern synthetic alternatives like chloroquine.

Chloroquine

Quinine served as the chemical template for modern synthetic alternatives like?

• Madagascar Periwinkle

• Catharanthus roseus

Oncology (Cancer Treatment):

Vincristine and Vinblastine are from which plants?

Vincristine and Vinblastine

These drugs have long been featured in Mesopotamian, Ayurvedic, and Chinese traditional folklore for treating diabetes.

1. Alkaloids

2. Cell division

Instead of affecting blood sugar, scientists discovered Madagascar Periwinkle/Catharanthus roseus contained powerful (1)_____ that halt (2)__________.

• Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

• Leukemia

• Childhood cancers

Vincristine and Vinblastine revolutionized oncology and is now crucial in chemotherapy regimens for (3)?

Hint: HLC

• Pacific Yew

• Taxus brevifolia

Oncology (Cancer Treatment):

Paclitaxel/Taxol is from what plant?

Yew Tree Formulation

Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest traditionally used (1)__________ for various medical conditions.

Screening its bark revealed a unique chemical structure that stabilizes (2)_____ to halt cancer cell replication.

Paclitaxel/Taxol

It is one of the best-selling and most effective chemotherapy drugs for breast, ovarian, and lung cancers.

• Foxglove

• Digitalis purpurea

Cardiovascular Health:

Digoxin/Digitalis is from what plants?

William Withering

In 18th-century England, who studied a traditional fold remedy for “dropsy” (fluid retention caused by heart failure) kept by an Old Mother Hutton. He traced the active effect to the foxglove plant.

Dropsy

William Withering studied a traditional folk remedy that is from foxglove plant called?

1. Heart rate

2. Atrial fibrillation

Refined digoxin is prescribed globally to control (1)_____ and manage (2)___________.

• Opium Poppy

• Papaver somniferum

Pain Management and Neurology:

Morphine and Codeine are from what plants?

1803

Utilized across ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern civilizations for sedation and pain relief, opium yielded morphine in what year?

> This breakthrough marked the historical birth of modern natural product chemistry.

Morphine

This remains the gold standard for treating severe acute pain.

• Willow Bark

• Salix spp.

Paint Management and Neurology:

Aspirin is from what plant/spp?

Pain and Fevers

Ancient Sumerian, Egyptian, and Greek texts all document using willow leaves and bark to reduce?

1. Salicin

2. Acetylsalicylic acid

Chemists later isolated (1)_____ from the willow bark, modifying it to create (2)___________.

Aspirin

This is now the most widely used over-the-counter painkiller and cardiovascular blood thinner in the world.

• Snowdrops

• Galanthus woronowii

Pain Management and Neurology:

Galantamine is from what plant/spp?

Galantamine

Historically used in Bulgaria and parts of Eastern Europe for neurological pain and muscle weakness, this natural alkaloid was isolated and is now FDA-approved to manage mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s disease symptoms.