Douglas Kinghorn A
Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, University of Illinois at Chicago, 60612, USA.
J Pharm Pharmacol. 2001 Feb;53(2):135-48. doi: 10.1211/0022357011775334.
The term pharmacognosy as a constituent scientific discipline of pharmacy has been in use for nearly 200 years, and it refers to studies on natural product drugs. During the last half of the 20th century, pharmacognosy evolved from being a descriptive botanical subject to one having a more chemical and biological focus. At the beginning of the 21st century, pharmacognosy teaching in academic pharmacy institutions has been given new relevance, as a result of the explosive growth in the use of herbal remedies (phytomedicines) in modern pharmacy practice, particularly in western Europe and North America. In turn, pharmacognosy research areas are continuing to expand, and now include aspects of cell and molecular biology in relation to natural products, ethnobotany and phytotherapy, in addition to the more traditional analytical method development and phytochemistry. Examples are provided in this review of promising bioactive compounds obtained in two multidisciplinary natural product drug discovery projects, aimed at the elucidation of new plant-derived cancer chemotherapeutic agents and novel cancer chemopreventives, respectively. The systematic study of herbal remedies offers pharmacognosy groups an attractive new area of research, ranging from investigating the biologically active principles of phytomedicines and their mode of action and potential drug interactions, to quality control, and involvement in clinical trials.
生药学作为药学的一门构成性科学学科已经使用了近200年，它指的是对天然产物药物的研究。在20世纪后半叶，生药学从一门描述性的植物学学科演变为一门更侧重于化学和生物学的学科。在21世纪初，由于现代药学实践中，尤其是在西欧和北美，草药（植物药）的使用呈爆发式增长，学术药学机构中的生药学教学有了新的意义。相应地，生药学研究领域也在不断扩大，除了更传统的分析方法开发和植物化学外，现在还包括与天然产物、民族植物学和植物疗法相关的细胞和分子生物学方面。本综述提供了两个多学科天然产物药物发现项目中获得的有前景的生物活性化合物的实例，这两个项目分别旨在阐明新的植物源癌症化疗药物和新型癌症化学预防剂。对草药进行系统研究为生药学团队提供了一个有吸引力的新研究领域，范围从研究植物药的生物活性成分及其作用方式和潜在药物相互作用，到质量控制以及参与临床试验。
