Phytomedicine, or plant-based medicine, utilizes the therapeutic properties of plants, distinguishing itself from other forms like Chinese herbalism by its scientific basis and non-reliance on acupuncture. This approach, which dates back 60,000 years, emphasizes a range of herbal treatments that can enhance the body's immune functions. Phytotherapy employs one or more plant substances tailored to individual patient needs and is recognized in various traditional healing practices globally.

1. PHYTOMEDICINE

2. WHAT ARE PHYTOMEDICINES ?
• Phytomedicine, also called Botanical/Plant Medicine, differs from Chinese
Herbalism. Phytotherapists use medicinal plants, which grow mainly in the
western hemisphere, and do not combine their therapy with acupuncture. The
word ‘phyto’ derives from the Greek work plant; hence it means plant based
medicine. Phytomedicine is rooted in scientific research and therefore not to
be confused with homeopathy
• It takes its name from the word used in other parts of Europe, where plant
based medicines continue to be provided by doctors and pharmacists as
‘phytomedicines’.
• The methods used to evaluate plant based medicines are similar to those used
by orthodox medicine. Yet, a herb contains many active chemicals, unlike
conventional drugs, which focus on specific chemicals. Hence botanical or
herbal medicines may combine several actions to support the body’s health.

3. • Phytomedicine (phyto from the Greek word for "plant"), refers to the art and
science of using plant substances to stimulate and support the body to
restore and maintain health. Also called herbal medicine, medical
herbalism, plant medicine, and botanical medicine, the use of plants for
medical purposes is oldest form of medicine used by human beings for the
purposes of treating both people and animals. In fact, evidence of the use
of herbs has been found at a Neanderthal burial site 60,000 years old.
• In reality, the modern medical distinction between herbal and prescription
medications, is somewhat artificial, since many prescription medicines are
still made from plant substances, and many others are made from chemicals
synthesized to mimic the actions of plant constituents.
• In reality, the modern medical distinction between herbal and prescription
medications, is somewhat artificial, since many prescription medicines are
still made from plant substances, and many others are made from chemicals
synthesized to mimic the actions of plant constituents.

4. • Herbology and herbal pharmacologyrefer to the study of herbs and their
medicinal properties and actions. Pharmacognosyrefers to the study of any
natural substance including, but not limited to, plants. Most holistic healing
traditions that rely upon natural medicines do not distinguish between those
made from plants and those made from other natural substances when they
describe their collection of medicines and how to use them.
• Phytotherapy designates a specific clinical treatment involving a plant
substance. There are many different phytotherapeutic modalities: oral
ingestion, topical application, inhalation of steam or smoke, injection and
intravenous infusion.

5. A Short History of Herbal Medicine
• Traditional medical practice remains the largest healthcare system in the world. The Hindu
Kush Himalayas (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan) host
the four largest traditional medicinal systems in the world, comprising of Ayurvedic medicine,
Chinese medicine, Tibetan medicine and Unani medicine1
.
• Ayurveda remains one of the most ancient traditional medicine systems and is still widely
practiced in India, Sri Lanka and other countries with 400 000 registered Ayurvedic
practitioners in India alone.
• Atharvaveda (around 1200 B.C.), Charak Samhita and Sushrut Samhita (1000-500 B.C.) are
the main literatures that give detailed description of over 700 herbs4. Currently, over 1000
plants form the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia. In China, herbal medicine continued it
expansion from Sheng-Nongs Herbal Book (around 3000 B.C.) to the current updated
inventory of medicinal plants used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) that includes 11 146
species of herbs/plants of which 492 species are cultivated and the remaining wild plants.
• Both the Ayurvedic and Chinese Traditional Medicine systems date back to ancient time,
with an ever-expanding knowledge of plant properties and their medicinal qualities that
were preserved in ancient texts.
• This body of knowledge has been constantly updated and passed down to newer
generations in revised versions, while preserving its originality and values. Currently, only
China has a frequently updated inventory of traditional medicines used, with India starting to
initiate similar efforts.

6. Traditions
• Every culture has its own herbal medical tradition.
• The fact that only some are recognized as viable alternative and
complementary approaches to healing by Western clinicians licensed to
practice medicine in the United States today is more indicative of their lack
of knowledge of natural medicine than a lack of therapeutic value for the
remedies themselves.
• Despite America's multicultural roots, modern medicine's reliance upon
evidence-based research funded by a select sector of the society, has
resulted in a singularly narrow interpretation of what is "medicine" and what is
not.
• Our over-reliance upon costly methods of validation before allowing the
dispense of a medicine, despite, in many cases, centuries of clinical
evidence of treatment efficacy, continues to contribute to the rising cost of
health care.

7. HOW DOES PHYTOMEDICINE WORK?
• In Phytomedicine, plant medicines are selected to stimulate or strengthen
the body’s own functions and immune system, hence support the body to
restore itself to health. The phytotherapist approaches each patient as a
unique individual in making a diagnosis and assessing his or her needs. Any
herbal medicine prescribed may be a combination of plants chosen for the
therapeutic actions required to treat that individual.
• This gives phytomedicine an edge over antibiotics, as bacteria cannot
develop resistance against these drugs because they strengthen the
immune system instead of destroying the pathogens.

8. EXAMPLES OF PHYTOMEDICINE
A few very well known examples are:
• Anis seed, shikimic acid (Tamiflu, Gilead/Roche)
• Taxus brevifolia is the active constituent of the anti-cancer drug Taxol (1971)
• Benzylpenicillin (1928, London, UK)
• Morphine from opium poppy (1923, Germany)
• Qininine from cinchona bark (1820, France)
• Salicin from willow bark, known as Aspirin (1838, France)
• Atropine from belladonna (1833)
• Caffeine from the coffee shrub (1821)
• Coniine from hemlock (1826)
• Emetine from ipecacuanha (1817)
• Strychnine from Strychhnos (1817)

9. HOW PLANT TO MEDICINE
• These crude plant material is extracted by the phytotherapist for their active
constituents (phytochemicals) with various methods and these are based on
European and national legislation. Phytotherapists mainly use alcohol to
extract the plant’s active constituents from dry or fresh plant parts. Alcoholic
extracts are prepared by maceration and/or percolation. Plant barks and
root constituents are more successfully extracted with differing gradients of
alcohol, depending on the particular plant. Decoction or infusions are often
too weak to extract the active constituents of harder plant materials, and
are used preferably in aerial plant parts only. Hence most phytomedicines
are prescribed as alcoholic tinctures, which are usually taken twice a day. A
typical phytomedical daily dose is 15ml of alcohol, a minute but very
effective amount.

10. BACOPA MONNIERA
• Bacopa monniera, a member of the
Scrophulariaceae family, is a small,
creeping herb with numerous branches,
small oblong leaves, and light purple
flowers. In India and the tropics it grows
naturally in wet soil, shallow water, and
marshes. The herb can be found at
elevations from sea level to altitudes of
4,400 feet, and is easily cultivated if
adequate water is available. Flowers and
fruit appear in summer and the entire
plant is used medicinally.

11. PRACTICAL IMPLICATION
BESEB
Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow, a
constituent laboratory of Council of Scientific & Industrial
Research (CSIR), New Delhi, India has developed a unique
single plant based natural memory enhancer formulation -
BESEB (“Bacosides Enriched Standardized Extract of
Bacopa”) from the herb Bacopa monniera. The process for
making enrichment of the active constituents (Bacosides A
& B) in BESEB has been patented by CDRI (CSIR). The plant
is commonly known as Brahmi which has been used in the
Indian System of Ayurvedic Medicine as a traditional herb
for over 3000 years to enhance memory and learning.

12. • Dr. Robert Furchgott, a Nobel Laureate (1998) discovered that when BESEB is taken, it
releases a small amount of nitric oxide which helps to reduce anxiety allowing focus and
concentration and improves blood circulation in brain.
• Facilitates learning, improves consolidation of learned behavior
• Induces an increase in protein kinase activity, serotonin and lowers the epinephrine levels in
the brain areas that contribute to facilitatory effect of BESEB on long-term and intermediate
forms of memory.
• Enhances the cholinergic neurotransmitter system in brain.
• Reduces anxiety in adults and children that enhances focus and concentration in logical
memory, digit forward and paired associated learning.
• Possesses adaptogenic effect to combat day-to-day stress and improves mental alertness
and sharpens short-term and long-term memory.
• Has potent antioxidant activity.

13. • Phytomedical traditions that have garnered recognition by some Western
clinicians in the United States include Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM),
especially as practiced in China, western herbalism, including both European
and Native American therapeutics, Ayurveda, from India, and homeopathy.
• All are included in the curricula for obtaining a naturopathic medical degree.
• Naturopaths are, in fact, the only type of clinician in the United States who
are licensed to dispense herbal medicines.

14. properties
• In all herbal medical traditions, herbs are distinguished by grouping them into
categories based upon their medicinal characteristics or properties.
• Common categories used to classify herbs include taste, action/function, organs
affected, constituents,and attributes/qualities. Different medical traditions vary in
the categories they use, and/or in how they define them.
• So, for example, the Graeco-Roman tradition classifies herbs in terms of the
following mutually-exclusive qualities: hot, cold, moist, dry, temperate.
• TCM, on the other hand, classified them in terms of a spectrum of qualities, each
of which is named by the two opposing poles of each spectrum: Yang-Yin, full-
empty, hot-cold, external-internal.
• Traditions that use the same property to classify herbs may differ in how they
distinguish sub-categories.
• So, for example, TCM identifies five tastes - bitter, sweet, pungent, salty, sour -- plus
a category of "no taste" - bland - while Ayurveda names six tastes - sweet, sour,
salty, pungent, bitter, astringent - and believes that all herbs have some taste.

15. ANTICANCER ACTIVITIES OF HARMINE BY INDUCING A PRO-DEATH AUTOPHAGY AND APOPTOSIS IN HUMAN GASTRIC CANCER CELLS
CHUAN LIA, B
,
YIHAI WANGA, B
,
CHUNHUA WANGA, B
,
XIAOMIN YIA, B
,
MINGYA LIA, ,
,
XIANGJIU HEA, B, ,
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HTTP://DX.DOI.ORG/10.1016/J.PHYMED.2017.02.008GET RIGHTS AND CONTENT
• ABSTRACT
• Background
• Harmine, a β-carboline alkaloid from Peganum harmala, has multiple anti-tumor activities, especially for its folk therapy for digestive system neoplasm.
However, the underlying mechanism of harmine on gastric cancer remains unclear.
• Purpose
• To illuminate the potential anti-tumor activity and mechanism of harmine against gastric cancer cells.
• Methods/Study designs
• The anti-proliferative activity of harmine in vitro was evaluated by MTT assay. The autophagic activity induced by harmine was assessed using GFP-LC3
transfection. FITC/PI double staining was applied for the apoptosis inspection. The mitochondrial membrane potential was detected by JC-1 fluorescence
probe. The potential mechanisms for proteins level in autophagy and apoptosis were analyzed by Western blot.
• Results
• Harmine exhibited potent effects on both autophagy and apoptosis. Treatment with harmine could enhance dots of GFP-LC3 in cells. Meanwhile, the
process had connection with Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62 by the inhibition of Akt/mTOR/p70S6K signaling. However, high concentration of harmine led to
apoptosis characterized by the propidium/Annexin V-positive cell pollution, cell shrunk and the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential. The
regulation of Bcl-2, Bax and the gathering of cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase 3 and cleaved-caspase 9 contributed to the induction of apoptosis. In
addition, 10 μM LY294002 (a specific inhibitor of PI3K/Akt) combination with 40 μM harmine significantly increased the cytotoxicity to the gastric cancer
cells and up-regulated both the apoptosis-related protein (cleaved-PARP, cleaved-caspase-3) and autophagy-related protein (Beclin-1, LC3-II, and p62).
Adding the inhibitor of autophagy, 3-MA or BafA1, increased the viability of harmine-exposured gastric cancer cells, which confirmed the role of
autophagy played in the gastric cancer cell death induced by harmine.
• Conclusion
• Harmine might be a potent inducer of apoptosis and autophagy, which offered evidences to therapy of harmine in gastric carcinoma in the folk medicine