Medicinal Plants: Drugs For The Future?

756 Pages·2007·12.06 MB·English

by  Christophe Wiart

MEDICINAL PLANTS
OF THE AISA-PACIFIC:
DRUGS FOR THE FUTURE?
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MEDICINAL PLANTS
OF THE AISA-PACIFIC:
DRUGS FOR THE FUTURE?
CHRISTOPHE WIART
University of Malaya, Malaysia
World Scientific
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MEDICINAL PLANTS OF THE ASIA-PACIFIC
Drugs for the Future?
Copyright © 2006 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
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Preface
Lookingglobally,thereisaconsiderableinteresttofindcurefromnature.We
allknowthatinsomesensethereare drugsawaitingdiscoveryinnatureand
especially in medicinal plants.The question that grips us is, why? Why are
thesedrugsundiscoveredinspiteofenormoustechnicalachievements.Ifthe
scientific techniques of pharmacological evaluations are so well mastered, it
isnaturaltoexpectanincreasingnumberofimportantdrugsdiscoveredfrom
plants,thusimprovinghumanhealthdrastically.Instead,weobservethatcan-
cers and microbial infections are still life threatening.This observation raises
severalquestions:
1. Whatisthepresentrationaleintermsoftheresearchofdrugsfromplants?
2. Shouldwereconsiderourstrategiesinassessingmedicinalplantsandopt
foranalternativeapproach?
3. In regard to the pharmacological activities measured so far, why should
thesebecircumjacentofplantspecies?
4. Do they exist above the level of the plant species, where subclasses and
ordersmightexperiencemacrolevelintrinsiccontent?
5. Arewetargetingthecorrectgroupsofleadcompounds?
6. Isethnopharmacologyreallyusedasatooltoexcavatedrugs,orisitamere
transitoryfashion?Inotherwords,whatroledoesethnopharmacologyreally
playintoday’shightechnologicalworldofdrugdiscovery?
Byconstitutivelyinterconnectingseveralaspectsofphylogeny,taxonomy,eth-
nology,structure–activityrelationship,molecularpharmacologyandtoxicology,
I attempt to answer these questions from the first principles with a premier
reference source for traditional medicine and the development of drugs from
plants,especiallyfromthemedicinalplantsofaregionIhadtheopportunityto
explore:Asia-Pacific.Thismayseemlikeanextraordinaryprojectbecausethe
topicsofbotany,chemistryandpharmacologyareindividualandindependent
disciplines as its own. It is not clear that thumping them together will really
help us crack them open.My burden is to argue that they need to be treated
together,andtoshow,inaveryconcretemanner,howtheydogohand-in-hand
inopeningthelittledoorofscientificconsciousness.
vii
viii Preface
Thisbookproposesaplaceforconsciousnessinethnopharmacology,and
to a more general sense, an alternative approach to the discovery of drugs
from plants;an approach I would like to call phytopharmacology.The frame-
work developed here is ambitious in its scope and detail. It ties experience
with a theory of the botanical and ethnological foundations of plant bioactiv-
ities. Scholars should see it as an attempt to advance in the development
of Mark J. Plotkin’s Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature’s Healing Secrets,
byborrowingsomeinspirationfromCronquist’ssystemoftaxonomy.General
readers can simply see it as an attempt to explain the why of a medicinal
property.
Within the book, I often point to the lack of pharmacological and/or toxi-
cological scientific evidences on specific plants or taxa.I believe this frame-
work should at least cause some stirs in pharmacologists, by showing that
most plants on the verge of extinction, remain yet to be assessed. No one
should rest comfortably with any assumption that the present approach in
drug discovery must lead to unreasonableness.At the next level of ambition,
I hope to challenge the readers.Pharmacologist’s strongest support has so
far been the widespread use of massive automated screenings to guarantee
the discovery of lead compounds in an acceptable way.A first challenge that
this book propose is by showing that the pharmacological profile of a given
plant or taxa is understandable and therefore predictable, we need a more
thoughtfulandsensitiveapproach.Pharmacologicalactivitiesmakesenseonly
against a detailed background theory of botanical and chemical causation.
A second challenge is to see whether the ideas lead to fruitful avenues of
research, or whether they lead to a dead end instead. The book presents
a framework, providing a new perspective from which we could understand
nature.
Atathirdlevel,Ihopetoactuallystimulatefurtherresearchonthediscovery
of drugs from the medicinal plants of Asia-Pacific.To date, there is a lack of
books on medicinal plants in Asia-Pacific, one of the richest region in terms
of biodiversity as well as a rich source for traditional medicines. This book
provides a very detailed ethnopharmacological accounting of over 400 plant
species, enhanced by more than 300 original pictures, 400 chemical struc-
tures,voucherplants,pharmaceuticalinterestandthousandsofbibliographic
references.
Ihavemadethebookasaccessibleandinterestingaspossibletothegen-
eralpublic,eventothosewhohavelittleornospecifictraininginbiologicalsci-
ences.Myintentionwasnottopontify,butmerelytocreatesomethingwhere
itsimportanceliesbeyondthedetailsofitspresentation.Iconsiderthistobe
primarily a book of personal thoughts. Of all my hopes, my dearest is that
Medicinal Plants of Asia–Pacific:Drugs for the Future? should provide inspi-
ration to those looking for drugs from plants.In the space of ideas, I believe
Preface ix
that this book acts as a pointer to the existence of originality, where readers
couldfreelyexploreendlesslyontheirown.
ChristopheWiartPharm.D.
AssociateProfessorofPharmacognosy
DepartmentofPharmacy
UniversityofMalaya
50603KualaLumpur
Malaysia