PHARMACOGNOSY- The 'NATURAL' Pharmacy
To begin with, Pharmacognosy is the most neglected and irritating subject to the most of the pharmacy students since they struggle in remembering the biological/official names of the plant/animal drugs. This is the most common reason they give to everyone when you ask about this subject.
But let me share some interesting and true facts about this subject. Pharmacognosy is one of the most versatile subject which you will find in the B.Pharmacy syllabus. I say so because it is here your knowledge of
1. Pharmaceutical Analysis
2. Pharmaceutical Chemistry
3. Some part of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology and
of course your pharmacognosy knowledge is tested. You can easily co-relate what you learnt in the above subjects in pharmacognosy.
Let me explain you with an example- Consider that you are trying to find a new drug that will help cure a new or an existing disease which itself has no cure to this date. Many chemists have failed in doing the same. Then the only option remains with you is to discover the drug from natural sources.
So, you will require the knowledge of 'Pharmaceutical Analysis' to detect, separate or isolate and purify the particular drug. Then you should have a sound knowledge of 'Chemistry' so as to know the structure of that particular constituent and also its Structure Activity Relationships' (SAR). Now when you know the drug constituent, the mechanism of action of that drug as well as the appropriate dosage form in which you can administer to the patient should be known which comes under 'Pharmaceutics' and 'Pharmacology'.
This was the first true fact about pharmacognosy. The second-most important fact being that it is not always possible to synthesize a new drug in the laboratory every time. In fact, some drugs are chemically synthesized when the structure of the naturally obtained drug is known and on the basis of that structure, scientists are able to synthesize by chemical means. E.g.- Taxol- Anti-cancer drug
The third important fact being many of the allopathic or artificially synthesized drug have many adverse reactions, side effects etc on the other hand the case with the naturally obtained drugs is not so.
India is very much fortunate to have a rich natural diversity such that almost all kinds of plants, animals, minerals etc are found here from which medicinal substance can be derived. Ayurveda is one of the oldest medical science in the world is a gift to the world from India itself.
Now coming towards GPAT point of view, unfortunately, pharmacognosy is one of those subject which has to be mugged and many things like botanical name, microscopy, macroscopy, uses, structure, biochemical pathways like shikimic acid pathway, alkaloid synthesis pathway has to remembered and for all these you need PRACTICE and that too lot many times so that you perfectly remember at the day of exam.
TIPS- 1. In MICROSCOPY and MACROSCOPY studies try to focus more on those natural drugs which have unique features- For e.g.- Casperian stripes in case of Lobelia, acetic acid smell in case of karaya gum- why? etc
2. Be very much thorough with bio-genetic/ biosynthetic pathways, botanical names, structures.
3. Try to remember SPECIAL AND UNIQUE THINGS like the cultivation and collection of drugs like opium (the various traditional instruments used), tolu balsam, peru balsam etc, life cycle of ergot fungus, colchicum etc.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR PHARMACOGNOSY-
1. Biren Shah, A.K. Seth, "Textbook of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry", 2nd Edition, Elsevier Publishers (India) Pvt Ltd., , 2013.
2. W.C. Evans, "Trease and Evans Pharmacognosy", 16th Edition, Saunders Publishers, 2009.
NOTE- I have not mentioned chapter-wise books to refer for pharmacognosy because these two books are the 'BEST' for almost all the topics mentioned in the GPAT syllabus and I would say if you perfect these two books then there is no need to worry for pharmacognosy not only in GPAT but also in NIPER-JEE and other competitive exams.
This was all about 'PHARMACOGNOSY' part.. In the next part we would cover all miscellaneous topics included in GPAT syllabus like Forensic Pharmacy, Management, Microbiology (Although, microbiology is included in miscellaneous and not much important from GPAT point of view, its IMPORTANT for NIPER-JEE preparation.)
Hope you would have liked this part, too.. Any kind of feedback and suggestions are welcome by our team !!!
-Darwin
[GPAT-2014- All India Rank (AIR)- 619)
NIPER-JEE-2014 AIR-25 and
To begin with, Pharmacognosy is the most neglected and irritating subject to the most of the pharmacy students since they struggle in remembering the biological/official names of the plant/animal drugs. This is the most common reason they give to everyone when you ask about this subject.
But let me share some interesting and true facts about this subject. Pharmacognosy is one of the most versatile subject which you will find in the B.Pharmacy syllabus. I say so because it is here your knowledge of
1. Pharmaceutical Analysis
2. Pharmaceutical Chemistry
3. Some part of Pharmaceutics and Pharmacology and
of course your pharmacognosy knowledge is tested. You can easily co-relate what you learnt in the above subjects in pharmacognosy.
Let me explain you with an example- Consider that you are trying to find a new drug that will help cure a new or an existing disease which itself has no cure to this date. Many chemists have failed in doing the same. Then the only option remains with you is to discover the drug from natural sources.
So, you will require the knowledge of 'Pharmaceutical Analysis' to detect, separate or isolate and purify the particular drug. Then you should have a sound knowledge of 'Chemistry' so as to know the structure of that particular constituent and also its Structure Activity Relationships' (SAR). Now when you know the drug constituent, the mechanism of action of that drug as well as the appropriate dosage form in which you can administer to the patient should be known which comes under 'Pharmaceutics' and 'Pharmacology'.
This was the first true fact about pharmacognosy. The second-most important fact being that it is not always possible to synthesize a new drug in the laboratory every time. In fact, some drugs are chemically synthesized when the structure of the naturally obtained drug is known and on the basis of that structure, scientists are able to synthesize by chemical means. E.g.- Taxol- Anti-cancer drug
The third important fact being many of the allopathic or artificially synthesized drug have many adverse reactions, side effects etc on the other hand the case with the naturally obtained drugs is not so.
India is very much fortunate to have a rich natural diversity such that almost all kinds of plants, animals, minerals etc are found here from which medicinal substance can be derived. Ayurveda is one of the oldest medical science in the world is a gift to the world from India itself.
Now coming towards GPAT point of view, unfortunately, pharmacognosy is one of those subject which has to be mugged and many things like botanical name, microscopy, macroscopy, uses, structure, biochemical pathways like shikimic acid pathway, alkaloid synthesis pathway has to remembered and for all these you need PRACTICE and that too lot many times so that you perfectly remember at the day of exam.
TIPS- 1. In MICROSCOPY and MACROSCOPY studies try to focus more on those natural drugs which have unique features- For e.g.- Casperian stripes in case of Lobelia, acetic acid smell in case of karaya gum- why? etc
2. Be very much thorough with bio-genetic/ biosynthetic pathways, botanical names, structures.
3. Try to remember SPECIAL AND UNIQUE THINGS like the cultivation and collection of drugs like opium (the various traditional instruments used), tolu balsam, peru balsam etc, life cycle of ergot fungus, colchicum etc.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR PHARMACOGNOSY-
1. Biren Shah, A.K. Seth, "Textbook of Pharmacognosy and Phytochemistry", 2nd Edition, Elsevier Publishers (India) Pvt Ltd., , 2013.
2. W.C. Evans, "Trease and Evans Pharmacognosy", 16th Edition, Saunders Publishers, 2009.
NOTE- I have not mentioned chapter-wise books to refer for pharmacognosy because these two books are the 'BEST' for almost all the topics mentioned in the GPAT syllabus and I would say if you perfect these two books then there is no need to worry for pharmacognosy not only in GPAT but also in NIPER-JEE and other competitive exams.
This was all about 'PHARMACOGNOSY' part.. In the next part we would cover all miscellaneous topics included in GPAT syllabus like Forensic Pharmacy, Management, Microbiology (Although, microbiology is included in miscellaneous and not much important from GPAT point of view, its IMPORTANT for NIPER-JEE preparation.)
Hope you would have liked this part, too.. Any kind of feedback and suggestions are welcome by our team !!!
-Darwin
[GPAT-2014- All India Rank (AIR)- 619)
NIPER-JEE-2014 AIR-25 and
ICT-BPT-CET-2014 AIR-7 ]
Ist year M, Tech (Bioprocess Technology-BPT)-2014-16,
Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai.
Ist year M, Tech (Bioprocess Technology-BPT)-2014-16,
Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga, Mumbai.