Handbook on Drugs from Natural Sources

Natural products have played an important role throughout the world in treating and preventing human diseases. Natural product medicines have come from various materials including terrestrial plants, terrestrial microorganisms, organisms etc. Historical experiences with plants as therapeutic tools have helped to introduce single chemical entries in modern medicine. About 40% of the drugs used are derived from natural sources. Most are pure substances which are isolated from various organisms & used directly or after chemical modification. Natural products will continue to be important in three areas of drug discovery: as targets for production by biotechnology as a source of new lead compounds of novel chemical structure and as the active ingredients of useful treatments derived from traditional systems. Biotechnology will contribute more new natural products for medicinal use. Plants provide a fertile source of natural products many of which are clinically important medicinal agents. Natural products have traditionally provided most of the drugs in use. Despite the achievements of synthetic chemistry and the advances towards rational drug design, natural products continue to be essential in providing medicinal compounds and as starting points for the development of synthetic analogues. With the increasing power of screening programs and the increasing interest in the reservoir of untested natural products, many future drug developments will be based, at least in part, on natural products. The major contents of the book are plant products produced in cell culture , application of genetic engineering to the production of pharmaceuticals , anti transpirants and plant growth regulators based , the potential and the problems of marine natural products, marine sterols, plants as a source of anti-inflammatory substances, anti hepatotoxic principles in oriental medicinal plants, immune stimulants of fungi and higher plants, amanita muscaria in medicinal chemistry, ergot alkaloids and their derivatives in medicinal chemistry and therapy, development of drugs from cannabinoids, etc. This book contains development of new drugs from plants, work on some Thai medicinal plants, plant growth based on Jasmonates, marine sterols, bleomycin and its derivatives, drugs from cannabinoids, bioactive compounds from nature, fungi and higher plants, biological active compounds from British Marine, microbial phytotoxins as herbicides and many more. This book will be very helpful to its readers, upcoming entrepreneurs, scientists, existing industries, technical institutions, druggist etc.