Pharmacognosy (2^nd Ed.) Fundamentals, Applications, and Strategies

Pharmacognosy: Fundamentals, Applications and Strategies, Second Edition represents a comprehensive compilation of the philosophical, scientific and technological aspects of contemporary pharmacognosy. The book examines the impact of the advanced techniques of pharmacognosy on improving the quality, safety and effectiveness of traditional medicines, and how pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics have a crucial role to play in discerning the relationships of active metabolites to bioavailability and function at the active sites, as well as the metabolism of plant constituents.

Structured in seven parts, the book covers the foundational aspects of Pharmacognosy, the chemistry of plant metabolites, their effects, other sources of metabolites, crude drugs from animals, basic animal anatomy and physiology, technological applications and biotechnology, and the current trends in research. New to this edition is a chapter on plant metabolites and SARS-Cov-2, extensive updates on existing chapters and the development of a Laboratory Guide to support instructors execute practical activities on the laboratory setting.

Section 1: Pharmacognosy 101 1. Background to pharmacognosy 2. Traditional medicine 3. Plant anatomy and physiology 4. Plant constituents: carbohydrates, oils, resins, balsams, and plant hormones 5. Plant crude drugs Section 2: Plant metabolites: their chemistry 6. Evolutionary perspectives on the role of plant secondary metabolites 7. Glycosides 8. Alkaloids 9. Tannins 10. Terpenoids 11. Other plant metabolites 12. Vitamins Section 3: Plant metabolites: their effects 13. Chemotherapeutics 14. Bioactive plant molecules, sources, and mechanisms of action in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases 15. Plant metabolites for treating diseases 16. Psychoactive drugs Section 4: Metabolites from other sources 17. Marine metabolites: oceans of opportunity 18. Animal metabolites: from amphibians, reptiles, Aves/birds, and invertebrates 19. Fungal metabolites: a focus on endophytes Section 5: Crude drugs from animals 20. Fats 21. Waxes Section 6: Basic animal anatomy and physiology 22. Basic animal anatomy and physiology 23. Proteins 24. Pharmacokinetics 25. Pharmacodynamics— a pharmacognosy perspective 26. Drug metabolism Section 7: Technological applications using biological systems 27. Biotechnology: principles and applications Section 8 Current trends in pharmacognosy research 28. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in drug discovery 29. Metabolomics approach in pharmacognosy 30. Novel targets in drug discovery 31. Nanotechnology: creating, manipulating, and observing nanostructured systems in biology and medicine 32. Ethical aspects of working with local communities and their biological resources 33. Factors to consider in development of nutraceutical and dietary supplements 34. The global regulatory framework for medicinal plants

Dr. Badal McCreath is a distinguished young scientist who holds the 2014 Elsevier Early Career Woman Scientist award in Chemical Sciences for the Latin America and Caribbean region. She has over 10 years’ experience in natural products research and holds a patent pending for the anticancer potential of natural products using cancer and normal cell lines.

Dr. Badal McCreath holds a number of national and international awards and distinctions. At the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, she was the 2010 Inaugural Luther Speare Scholar in addition to being the Young Scientist/Technologist awardee at the biennial 23rd Science and Technology Conference and Expo hosted by the Scientific Research Council and the Jamaica Public Service Co. She along with collaborators was also the recipient of the 2013-2014 Principal’s award for best work in anticancer research, UWI, Mona. She is a current member of various editorial boards including: The Journal of Cancer Science & Clinical Research and American International Journal of Biology. She is also an advisory board member and reviewer affiliated with Open Access Biochemistry, London.

Dr. Badal McCreath is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences at the UWI, Mona, Jamaica. In addition to having taught Pharmacognosy for 3 years at the University of Technology, Jamaica, her current work involves pioneering the development of novel Jamaican prostate cancer (PCa) cell lines - a project that received national funding totaling approximately 100,000 USD. As PCa incidence and mortality rates are highest among men of African descent, the development of these tools representative of PCa tumors will be available to the global scientific community in order to delineate reasons for the reduced survivorship among this group. These novel cell lines can be used to screen potentially derived natural drug leads for anticancer efficacy utilizing a personalized framework.

Dr. Badal McCreath is a wel

• Covers the main sources of natural bioactive substances
• Contains practice questions and laboratory exercises at the end of every chapter to test learning and retention
• Describes how pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics play a crucial role in discerning the relationships of active metabolites to bioavailability and function at active sites
• Includes a dedicated chapter on the effect of plant metabolites on SARS-CoV-2