concept and importance

1. Shreya Gupta

2. Flow of Presentation
 Introduction
 Terms & definitions
 Folklore & ethnopharmacology
 History of ethnopharmacology
 Areas of Research
 Objectives & Scope of ethnopharmacology
 Ethnopharmacology & integrative medicine
 Indian traditional medicine
 Future & challenges of ethnopharmacology
 Conclusion

3. Introduction to
Ethnopharmacology
 Scientific study of materials used by ethnic
and cultural groups as medicines
 Interdisciplinary scientific exploration of
biologically active agents traditionally
employed or observed by man
 ‘Ethno’ means "race, culture," from
Greek ethnos "people, nation, class, caste,
tribe; a number of people accustomed to
live together" (ethnic)

4. Introduction to
Ethnopharmacology
 Correlates ethnic groups, their health,
physical habits and methodology in creating
and using medicines.
 Subject is mainly concerned with
observation, description and experimental
investigation of biological activity of plants
and animals used in traditional medicine of
past and present cultures

5. Terms & Definitions
ETHNOBOTANY
 Term first introduced by American botanist
John Harshberger in 1896 as “the study of
plant use by humans”
 Studies the relationship between humans
and plants in all its complexity
 Based on a detailed observation and study
of the use a society makes of plants,
including all the beliefs and cultural
practices associated with this use

6. Terms & Definitions
ETHNOMEDICINE
 Comparative study of how different
cultures view disease and how they treat or
prevent it
 Medical beliefs and practices of indigenous
cultures

7. Terms & Definitions
 Ethnomedical systems lack the division
between mind and body
 Many ethnomedical systems support a belief
in a singular body force or ‘bioenergy’ as
the source of human health, including the
traditional systems of Chinese medicine
and Ayurvedic medicine of India
 These systems focus strongly on
preventative measures and use of natural
elements such as herbs, food, and spices, as
well as, exercise and massage components
to heal

8. Terms & Definitions
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY
 Term first used in 1967 by Efron et al. who
used it in the title of a book on
hallucinogens: Ethnopharmacological
Search for Psychoactive Drugs
 Preventive and therapeutic modalities
other than western medicine
 Can be considered as a branch of
ethnobotany

9. Terms & Definitions
ETHNOECOLOGY
 Term coined by Martine in 1995
 Discipline which integrates and
encompasses all studies which describe
local people’s interaction with the natural
environment, including subdisciplines such
as ethnobiology, ethnobotany,
ethnoentomology and ethnozoology

10. Folklore &
Ethnopharmacology
 FOLKLORE: Common knowledge in the
population as a whole, largely concerning
remedies for minor conditions, based on
relatively innocuous material.
 ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY : Knowledge of few
specialists who are regarded by society as
able to correctly diagnose and treat disease
states, generally using more potent products

11. History of Ethnopharmacology
 Historically, ethnopharmacology was the
origin of all medicines and natural products
were the most important source of drugs
 Ethnopharmacology has provided some very
notable past successes, including
 Morphine (isolated in 1804)
 Quinine (isolated in 1820)
 Digitoxin (isolated in 1841)
 Ephedrine (isolated in 1897)
 Tubocurarine (isolated in 1935)

12. History of Ethnopharmacology
 More recent developments undergoing trials
and with an ethnopharmacological
association include,
 Artemisinin for malaria
 Components from marigolds for psoriasis
 Flavones as anti-anxiety compounds
 Prostratin as an anti-viral

13. Areas of Research
Four general types of herbal medicine exist
which are,
 Asian
 European
 Indigenous
 Western

14. Areas of Research
 Ayurveda is the most ancient health care
system, practiced widely in India, Srilanka
 Ayurveda (Ayur: Life; Veda: Science) means
science of life in Sanskrit and aims at
holistic management of health and disease
 Atharvveda (around 1200 BC), Charak
Samhita and Sushrut Samhita (100 - 500 BC)
are the main classics that have given
detailed descriptions of over 700 herbs

15. Areas of Research
 Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) said to
be based on more than 3,500 years of
Chinese medical practice
 Includes various forms of herbal
medicine, acupuncture, cupping
therapy, massage (tui na), bonesetter (die-
da), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy
 One of the basic tenets of TCM is that the
body's vital energy (ch'i or qi) is circulating
through channels, called meridians, that
have branches connected to bodily organs
and functions

16. Areas of Research
 In the western world documentation of use
found as far back as 78 A.D., when
Dioscorides wrote “De Materia Medica” or
“Medical Materials"
 Included descriptions of thousands of
medicinal plants which continue to be used
as crude drug preparations and serve as
source of important pure chemicals that
have become mainstays of modern therapy

17. Objectives of Ethnopharmacology
 Investigate, evaluate, rescue and document
important cultural heritage before it is lost
 Evaluate natural products, particularly herbal
drugs from traditional and folklore resources
 Perform botanical identification and
descriptions of use and effects of traditional
remedies
 Carry out phytochemical and pharmacological
studies

18. Scope of Ethnopharmacology
 Poisons
 Pest control
 Agriculture
 Cosmetics
 Fermentation processes
 Active substances exploited as leads for
drug development

19. Ethnopharmacology
&
Integrative Medicine
"Let the history tell the future"

20.  Natural products have been the source of
many active ingredients in western medicine
 In the ‘olden days’, before advancement of
high-throughput screening and pre-genomic
era, >80% of drug substances were obtained
from natural products or inspired by natural
compounds
 Traditional systems of medicines need more
evidence-based studies on both crude drugs
and purified phytomolecules
 Ultimate aim is validating traditional
preparations, either through isolation of
active substances, or through various
pharmacological findings

22. Ethnopharmacological
Research
In recent times, there have been increased
interest in the Research in Natural Products
Chemistry.
 Unmet therapeutic needs, including drug
resistance and long term toxicity
 Remarkable diversity of both chemical
structure and biological activities of naturally
occurring secondary metabolites
 Every botanical agent contains hundreds of
molecules and bioactive compounds. Each of
the bioactives may have the capability to
modulate one or more targets.

23. Ethnopharmacological
Research
 Development of novel and sensitive
techniques to detect biologically active
natural products
 Improved techniques to isolate, purify, and
structurally characterize these active
constituents

24. DRUG DEVELOPMENT
 Ethnopharmacological approach is based on
botany, chemistry and pharmacology
(observation, identification, description and
experimental investigation)
 Process of drug development typically
begins with a botanist,
ethnopharmacologist, ethnobotanist or
plant ecologist, who collects and identifies
plant(s) of interest

25. DRUG DEVELOPMENT
 Ethnobotanists perform research on uses
and concepts of plants in cultures and
societies (popular knowledge)
 Ethnopharmacologists research the
medicinal uses of plants and their
properties from popular culture data
 Combinatorial sciences, and high
throughput screening help in generation of
structure–activity libraries, leading to
identification of active molecules

26. General Strategies For Screening
And Evaluation Of Traditional
Medicines
 Literature Survey
 Plant Selection
 Plant collection and processing
 Drug screening procedures

27. Literature Survey
 A comprehensive literature survey must be
carried out prior to any biological testing in
screening of traditional medicine
 Essential to obtain information on previous
work, various uses in different parts of the
world, whether the plants are widespread
or found in few areas, whether they are
known to be toxic or not

28. Plant Selection
 Involves the decision on which material to
collect and on what basis. May be based
upon:
 Folkloric Information
 Presence of phytochemical constituents
 Random selection
 Priority should be given to plants that
already have evidence of safety and
efficacy based on local use or published
data

29. Plant collection and
processing
 After plant selection, botanical identity
must be established and site for their
procurement located
 Specimen must be collected at the
appropriate time and season as chemical
constituents of plants vary from season to
season or at different times of the day.
 Collection must be done carefully to
minimise adulteration

30. Development Of Medicinal
Substances

31.  Molecules further explored through clinical
trials, pharmacological studies, herbal
therapeutics, pharmacokinetics and herbal
pharmacovigilance
 Advances in chemistry, molecular biology,
genomics, spectroscopy, chromatography
and crystallography have enabled
generation of therapeutically potent lead
molecules from traditional medicine

32. Importance Of Plant Based
Research
 To isolate bioactive compounds for direct
use as drugs, eg, Digoxin, digitoxin,
morphine, reserpine, taxol, vinblastine,
vincristine
 To produce bioactive compounds of novel or
known structures as lead compounds to
produce patentable entities of higher
activity and/or lower toxicity, eg.,
Metformin, oxycodon, teniposide,
verapamil, and which are based on
galegine, morphine, podophyllotoxin,
khellin respectively

33. Importance Of Plant Based
Research
 To use agents as pharmacologic tools, eg.,
Lysergic acid diethylamide, mescaline,
yohimbine
 To use whole plant or part of it as a herbal
remedy, eg., Cranberry, garlic, ginkgo
biloba, St. John’s Wort

34. Examples
 Study Of The Botanical Origin Of
The Arrow Poison Curare:
 Curare was used by certain wild
tribes in South America for
poisoning their arrows
 Botanical source of curare was
eventually identified as the
climbing vine Chondrodendron
tomentosum Ruiz and Pavon
 Other species of the
Menispermanceae (Curarea spp.
and Abuta spp.) and Loganiaceae
(Strychnos spp.) are now used in
production of curares of varying
types

35.  Study Of The Salvia seeds:
 Turkmen in north-east of Iran use seeds of
Salvia viridis L. (Lamiaceae) for treatment of
inflammatory eye diseases and cleaning eyes
from dust and straw
 Seeds, 2 mm wide and 3 mm long are applied
directly to eyes after soaking in water or milk
for about 1 h
 Genus Salvia is well known for having the
property of ‘Myxocarpy’ (production of
mucilage when getting wet)
 Mucilaginous layer around the seeds contains
complex polysaccharides which form a soft
layer and have a cleansing effect

36.  Polysaccharides are known
to be useful in treatment
of inflammatory
conditions and bacterial or
viral infections
 Although there are no
pharmacological data from
experimental studies
available to corroborate
this use, information on
the histochemical
structure of the seed
make it likely that the
treatment has some
scientific basis.

37.  Discovery Of Reserpine From Rauwolfia
Serpentina:
 Also called Chotachand in Hindi, have been
used by local people of Himalayan
Mountains for snakebite
 Local legend claims that in ancient times
mongooses used to feed on plant before
engaging in combat with cobra
 Copying the reputed activity of the
mongoos, local people found that the shrub
could serve as a potent antidote to
snakebite

38.  In Bihar Province of India people use the
plant to treat insanity, epilepsy and
insomnia
 Reserpine isolated from Rauwolfia is a
potent drug for hypertension
 It is also being evaluated in treatment of
gastrointestinal problems, skin diseases,
malaria, AIDS, asthma etc.

39.  Study of herbal folk medicine,
Khellin:
 Major constituent of the plant Ammi
visnaga, also known as Bishop's Weed
 Khellin was used as bronchodilator in
USA until it was shown to produce
nausea and vomiting after prolonged
use
 In 1955 chemists in England
began to synthesize khellin analogs
as potential bronchodilators with
fewer side effects
 This eventually led to the discovery of
chromolyn (sodium chromoglycate)
used In asthma
 Further studies led to the synthesis of
amiodarone

40. Ethnopharmacology & Cultural
Relativism
 It is commonly accepted that people differ
culturally, needs vary as per race and ethnicity
 Giger and Davidhizar Transcultural Assessment
Model was developed in 1988 in response to the
need for nursing students in an undergraduate
program to assess and provide care for patients that
were culturally diverse
 Model includes 6 cultural phenomena:
communication, time, space, social organization,
environmental control, and biological variations.
 Provide a framework for patient assessment and
from which culturally sensitive care can be
designed.

41. Ethnopharmacology & Cultural
Relativism
 Chinese people are more sensitive to the
cardiovascular effects of Propranolol than are
White people
 Approximately 35% of African Americans have G6PD
enzyme deficiency; Primaquine causes haemolysis
 Incidence of hypertension is higher in African
Americans than Whites; onset by age is earlier,
more severe, associated with higher mortality
 Type 2 diabetes, is major health problem for
Native American Indians, occurring as early as
teens or early twenties

42. Indian
Traditional
Medicine

43. Indian Traditional Medicine
 India has an ancient heritage of traditional
medicine
 Much information on ethnic folklore
practices and traditional aspects of
therapeutically important natural products
has been described
 Indian traditional medicine is based on
various systems, including Ayurveda, Siddha
and Unani (ASU)

44. Indian Traditional Medicine
 The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
GOI, has undertaken various initiatives for
development and preservation of these
aspects of cultural heritage
 The Department of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga,
Siddha, Unani and Homeopathy) regulates
education and research in these systems
 The National Medicinal Plant Board [NMPB],
which deals with conservation and research
issues in botanicals, is working in
collaboration with AYUSH

46. Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia Of
India
 Official book of standards for compilation of
various ayurvedic pharmaceutical formulations
i.e. Formulas and methods of preparations
 Give monographs for sources, physical
properties, microscopic, macroscopic
characters, constituents, approved therapeutic
uses, minimum and maximum doses, color
photographs, chemical formulae, and standards
of quality of crude drugs including its
formulations
 Sets legal standards for quality, efficacy and
safety of the traditional herbs

47. Contributions of ICMR in
India
 In 1964, ICMR initiated the Composite Drug
Research Scheme (CDRS)
 Under this scheme for the first time,
scientists of different disciplines worked
together in an integrated and coordinated
manner to study medicinal plants of promise
 In 2001, ICMR established guidelines for
developing quality standards of widely used
Indian Medicinal Plants known as
Phytochemical Reference Standards (PRS)

48. Contributions of ICMR in
India
 Ideally the PRS should be a therapeutically
active compound
 If active compounds have not been identified,
any compound unique to the plant or major
phytochemical constituent, can be used as a
phytochemical reference marker.
 Compilation presents generic and IUPAC name,
structure of PRS, photographs of the parts used,
occurrence of the PRS in other plants, TLC/HPLC
fingerprint profile of the plant extracts

50. Society for
Ethnopharmacology
 Society is registered under the West Bengal
Society Registration act 1961
 Affiliated to International Society for
Ethnopharmacology, Switzerland
 Puts forward different issues for promotion and
development of traditional medicine and natural
products with national and international
collaboration
 Co-operation through globalization of local
knowledge and localizing global technologies

51. Society for
Ethnopharmacology
 Aims to form a bridge between the
academic and industry to gather the
scientific and teaching professionals in
Ethnopharmacology
 Develop cost effective natural remedies

52. Future Of
Ethnopharmacology

54. WHO Traditional Medicine
Strategy
 Strategy aims to support Member States in
developing proactive policies and
implementing action plans that will
strengthen the role traditional medicine
plays in keeping populations healthy
 According to WHO, almost 65% of the
world’s population has incorporated the
value of plants as a methodology of
medicinal agents into their primary
modality of health care

55.  T&CM products : herbs, herbal materials,
herbal preparations, herbal products containing
parts of plants, other plant materials or
combinations as active ingredients, may contain
animal and mineral materials
 T&CM practices : medication therapy and
procedure-based therapies like naturopathy,
acupuncture and manual therapies like
chiropractic, osteopathy, tai chi, yoga, thermal
medicine, and other physical, mental, spiritual
and mind-body therapies.
 T&CM practitioners: TM practitioners, CM
practitioners, conventional medicine and health
care workers such as doctors, dentists, nurses,
midwives, pharmacists and physical therapists
who provide TM/ CAM services to their patients

56. Goals
 Integrate TM within national health care systems,
where feasible, by developing and implementing
national TM policies and programmes, emphasis on
access for poor populations
 Promote the safety, efficacy and quality of TM by
expanding the knowledge base, and providing
guidance on regulatory and quality assurance
standards.
 Promote therapeutically rational use of
appropriate TM by practitioners and consumers

57. Challenges In
Ethnopharmacology
 Loss of traditional knowledge with rapid
industrialization, climate change and loss of
ethnic culture and customs
 Diminishing reserves of herbs and medicinal
plants
 Collection of information especially in the
developing countries remains primarily an
academic endeavour of little interest to
most industrial groups
 Reliability of information obtained may be
questionable from the start

58. Challenges In
Ethnopharmacology
 Abundance of ethnomedical information on
plant uses found in scientific literature but
has not yet been compiled into a usable
form
 Innovative strategies to improve the process
of plant collection are needed, especially
to overcome legal and political issues
surrounding benefit-sharing agreements

59. Protection Of Traditional
Knowledge
 Most difficult aspect of traditional
knowledge is its protection
 Stop unauthorized and commercial misuse
of such knowledge, important to protect
indigenous people from such loss and help
them preserve ancient practices
 BIOPIRACY: Occurs when there is
commercial utilization of traditional
knowledge without proper authorization of
the indigenous or local people associated
with such knowledge

60. Protection Of Traditional
Knowledge
Methods through which TK can be protected:
 Positive protection : means protecting TK by
way of enacting laws, rules and regulations,
access and benefit sharing provisions, royalties
etc.
 Defensive mechanism : means steps taken to
prevent acquisition of intellectual property
rights over traditional knowledge
 India employs defensive mechanism to protect
its traditional knowledge by way of setting up a
Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL)
in 2001, in collaboration with Ministry of AYUSH

61. Future of Ethnopharmacology
 Urgent need to preserve and enhance our
biological wealth, and share existing knowledge
 Ethnopharmacology and natural product drug
discovery remains a significant hope in the
current target-rich, lead-poor scenario
 Its knowledge, and holistic systems' approach
supported by experiential base can serve as an
innovative and powerful discovery engine for
newer, safer and affordable medicines
 Nanotechnology and proteomics, will have an
increasingly important impact on
ethnopharmacology, and thus we must be able
to use them appropriately

62. Conclusion

63. THANK YOU

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