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THE INTERCONNECTION BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MEDICINE AND
PHARMACOGNOSY CONTENT EXPLORING THE SIMILARITIES AND
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO DISCIPLINES THROUGH PLANT BASED
HEALING PRACTICES
Shodmonova Aziza Adiz qizi
Scientific Secretary of the Department of Scientific Research and Innovations
Bukhara State Medical Institute
Annotation:
This article highlights the global significance of traditional plant-based medicines,
emphasizing their longstanding use in various cultural and medicinal systems such as AYUSH,
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and Islamic medicine. It explores how traditional healers
have historically used various plant parts in different formulations to treat illnesses and how this
knowledge has been passed down through generations. Despite the existence of around 30,000
medicinal plants used globally, only a small percentage have been scientifically studied for their
bioactivity. The article explains the process of drug development from plant sources, including
extraction, isolation, characterization, and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds. It
underscores the integration of modern analytical techniques like NMR, mass spectrometry,
chromatography, and bioassays with ethnobotanical knowledge to validate and standardize
traditional remedies. The collaboration between botanists, ethnobotanists, pharmacologists,
chemists, and biotechnologists is considered essential for developing safe and effective plant-
derived drugs. The article concludes that although drug development from plants is time-
consuming and costly, it remains a reliable and authentic approach to discovering new
medicines based on centuries-old traditional knowledge.
Key Words:
Traditional Medicine
,
Medicinal Plants
,
Plant-based Drugs
,
Ethnobotany
,
Phytochemicals
,
Bioactive Compounds
,
Drug Discovery
,
Herbal Medicine
,
Pharmacognosy
,
Botanical Identification
,
Extraction Techniques
,
Structural Elucidation
,
NMR and Mass
Spectrometry
,
Bioassays
,
Pharmacological Activity
,
AYUSH
,
Traditional Chinese Medicine
,
Indigenous Knowledge
,
Herbal Pharmacology
,
Natural Product Chemistry
Globally the use of plants for food and medicines have been mentioned and documented from
ancient times. As per WHO approximately 80% of people utilizes plant in the form of
medicines either in traditional practices or in the form of modern plant based medicines [1]. The
plant based traditional medicines are very commonly used in Asian and African countries as
compared to that in western world, however few records of traditional plant based medicines
are found in Native American tribes [2]. The practices of AYUSH in India, TCM (Traditional
Chinese medicine) in China, traditional Islamic and Arabic medicines in Arab countries and
Central Asia, KAMPO medicines in Japan very commonly utilizes plants for the treatment of
various ailments [3].World Herbal Encyclopedia published by Patanjali Research Foundation in
India documents the use of plants by 2000 tribes of world highlighting their traditional
medicinal uses, chemical composition, pharmacological evidences, and other valuable
information including their vernacular names [4]. In Flora of Uzbekistan more than 1200
medicinal plants have been reported, however about 600 of them are used in traditional
medicines and only 200 species have been investigated for their phytochemicals [5].
Since ancient times the traditional healers in a community utilizes various parts of plants in the
form of powder, decoctions, ointments, lotions, dried infusion, tinctures, concoctions for
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management of various disease [6]. The use of plants was based on their wisdom and methods
of their own native society [7] and passed through generations, keeping it secret in their own
family [8]. The traditional healers were well aware about the identification of plant as well as
the specific use of medicinal plant. Some plants were used both for edible as well as medicinal
purpose as Allium cepa L., Allium sativum L., Beta vulgaris L.,Chenopodium album L.,Carum
carvi L.,Brassica rapa L.,Cucumis sativus L.,Cucurbita pepo L. , and many more. Globally
approximately 30,000 plants species are used traditionally for medicinal practices [9] and only
16% of them have been evaluated for their biological activity [7].Understanding the mode of
action of these natural herbs is a complex process because usually the mixture of materials or
partitioned fractions are used medicinally and more or less synergistic mechanism plays an
important role during treatment from herbal medicine[10].Therefore the recent researches are
focused on development of analytical methods for isolation procedures, characterization and
identification of new compounds, their elucidation of structures , chemical reactivity ,
mechanism of action , safety of consuming them as medicines[11].
It was in 1785 that the medicinal use of Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) was used to prepare
cardiac drug containing digioxin as principle biomolecule. Similarly, Salix alba (willow plant)
was used traditionally by healers for fevers and pain, and later on identified with potent
biomolecule salicyclates leading to discovery of aspirin [12]. Other few medicines developed
from plant based molecules includes quinine (Cinchona officinalis L.) [13], reserpine
(Rauvolfia serpentina (L.) Benth.ex Kurz [14], atropine (Atropa belladonna L.)[15], morphine,
(Papaver somniferum L.)[16] and many more. However, with the advent of science in more
structured manner the proper identification and authentication of the natural source both plants
and animals for using as medicine became of prime importance. The documentation of
traditional knowledge is also one of the important step and is considered as the first and
foremost important step in pharmacognosy[17].
The plants provide biomolecules with therapeutic potential which serves as source for
development of new drug development ideas [18]. The preparation of drug from natural source
require a thorough study of plant to extract and isolate the bioactive molecule from it. The
elucidation of its comprehensive structure and properties, mode of action including its potential
therapeutic effects and medicinal properties of the active compound are essential part of drug
development [19,20]. The botanist and ethnobotanist plays an important role in identifying and
collecting the authentic plant sample from the fields. It is considered to be an important phase
[21]. The procedure for extraction of active biomolecule from plants depends on the nature of
material i.e., plant and the chemical composition of the active molecule. [22]. However, some
commonly used methods includes Soxhlet extraction, supercritical extraction, pressurized hot
water extraction etc. As the extracted material can contain other metabolites also thus to
separate the bioactive and other material procedures like HPLC, column chromatography,
solvent partitioning etc are used for the segregation. Thereafter the in-vitro and in-vivo
bioassays are used for the evaluation of the efficacy, safety, and probable mechanism of action
of these drugs. The establishment of chemical structure is also a critical step which utilizes
NMR and mass spectroscopy which establishes the comprehensive insight of functional groups
and spatial arrangements of atoms in the molecules. All these steps are usually nowadays
combined with various computational modelling, synthetic chemistry initiatives, chemical
informatics research as well as unique screening approaches in pharmaceutical laboratories
along with biotechnology laboratories [23-25].In several studies the isolated bioactive
molecules from various plants have been studied for their pharmacological efficacy including
antioxidant activity , immunomodulatory functions , hepatoprotective activity, antiproliferative
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activity etc. Overall the development of plant based drug involves the active participation of
botanist, plant ecologist along with the researchers in the field of pharmacognosy, medicinal
and organic chemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, biochemistry [26,27]. The current
need in development of drug from plants require a unique collaboration between the researchers
/students of various departments (Figure).
Based on the traditional medicinal information, the suitable plant material can be collected,
identified through authentic source by a botanist. Thereby various extraction procedures along
with other specific methods can be performed to get the desired drug. However sometimes this
method of drug development seems to be too length and costly also but provides a validated and
authentic means to develop plant based drug based on traditional medicinal information of a
nation used since ancient times. The traditional healing method by the use of plants utilizes the
information passed through generations in a community and today this information is
synchronized with the use of modern instrumental techniques to obtain a unique phytochemical
responsible for a targeted reaction against a disease.
References :
1. Gurib-Fakim, A. (2006). Medicinal plants: traditions of yesterday and drugs of
tomorrow. Molecular aspects of Medicine, 27(1), 1-93.
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continues to hold promisehttps://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/traditional-
medicine-has-a-long-history-of-contributing-to-conventional-medicine-and-continues-to-hold-
promise
3.Ansari, S. (2021). Overview of traditional systems of medicine in different continents.
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4.Balkrishna, A. (2023). World herbal encyclopedia. Journal of Research in Ayurvedic
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5. Khojimatov OK. 2021. Medicinal plants of Uzbekistan (properties, application and rational
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