Pharmacognosy And Traditional Medicine Department Full Curriculum

Pharmacognosy curriculum

Pharmacognosy and traditional medicine is a department in the faculty of pharmacy. It is believed to be the most difficult department in pharmacy. It is a department that touches how our forefathers treated diseases and infection using locally source materials. It is an interesting department if it is what we expected. That is list herbs for treating different ailments and how to prepare the concoction. Thereafter, the method of administration.
Read Also: Pharmacognosy department practical classes

But all that was just a fraction of it. In Fact that is just a course in the whole year in school. Everything about traditional medicine that we know changed completely.

Pharmacognosy Curriculum

The first course was in year two first semester. It was an introduction to pharmacognosy and traditional medicine. They started with the history of pharmacognosy and how it is the oldest profession on earth. Then define some terms and their meaning. No problem we agreed. That seems to be the easiest topic in the department. Yet it was troublesome during the examination. What will follow is the study of plant cells. Trust me many lecturers will skip this topic because it was part of year one topics in both botany and animal and environmental biology. The next topic was the classification of medicinal plants based on class of plant, disease it can treat, geographic background, etc. The description, taxonomy, morphology and other characteristics of some important medical plant was studied. They are many but the lecture will focus on very few. Some are digitalis, Senna, tobacco, ocimum, azadirachta indica, cinnamon, cassia bark, cinchona, rauwolfia, ginger, clove, cocoa, cast beans, Cannabis, sativa, etc. The practical classes involve the study of the macroscopic and microscope characteristics of these organised drugs.

Second semester of that same year one saw a turn of events. I still find it difficult to understand how everything went. It was on an unorganized drug. I was able to get the details of organised drugs but unorganized drugs sounded funny. Started hearing about fibre and surgical dress in pharmacognosy and traditional medicine courses. This does not look like herbal concoction for crying out loud. This was where pharmacognosy started to turn heads. This course talked about how some plants can be used for non drug use like surgical dressing. Plants under study include acacia, tragacanth, agar, beeswax, wool fat, jute, flax, hemp, silk, rayon, rayon dressing, bandages and dressing, cellulose wadding, adulteration, substitution and evaluation of surgical dressing, etc. Practical classes are the same macroscopic and microscopic of some unorganized drugs listed above.

The height of pharmacognosy lecture was in year three when the focus was on biosynthesis. Each compound in a plant is produced through a series of chemical reactions. These reaction series are called pathways. One pathway can lead to many compounds with few branches. The course evaluates how each of these important compounds is produced in a plant. Knowing the route of each compound can help in enhancing it's quantity by modifying the plant or extraction procedure. This course is the most difficult in pharmacy. You need to memorize all the pathways from the beginning to the end and write them out in an examination. Fail one of the reactions and end up with a wrong answer. It may come in the first semester.

Shikimic acid path is the most important of them all. The following where synthesize using different pathway; steroids, photosynthesis, hormones, flavonoids, glycosides, alkaloids, etc 

Another course that may follow in the coming semester is drugs of biological origin which can be combined with biosynthesis in some schools. The concept of each of the drugs is studied with classification and properties. Example is carbohydrate and related compounds, mannose and related compounds, glycosides and related compounds, proteins and related compounds. Others are vitamin, alkaloids, acetate and propionate derived from drugs, fats and wax, resins, oleoresin, coumarin, balsam, ligands, etc. Laboratory works follow. But don't expect laboratory work where you guys will follow the pathways in the laboratory.

You know some drugs are made from herbs or plant materials. And plants contains several compound. It requires separating technique to remove the active compound from the plant. And here, we take a look at all the methods a compound can be separated from others in pharmacognosy. This course can be fused into another or separated in any of the years of pharmacy school. But it most likely going to be in year two or three. But let us assume this one falls into year four. That is because the knowledge of separation techniques will be used in other topics. The separation technique includes maceration, percolation, extraction (hot or cold), chromatography and its types. All these techniques relies on the principle of partition of two immiscible liquid.
Read Also: Pharmacognosy department project work

Year five is where things really start to get a little easy for pharmacy students in the pharmacognosy department. The course here is mainly about some things we knew before we came to school. Here we talk about herbal remedies and how to prepare some local concoction. It is called herbal remedies in traditional medicine. It analyses the different approaches adopted by traditional herbal healers, their belief and what it means for pharmacists. It also talks about how some herbal remedies can interact with orthodox drugs and what to do in such a case. How the western world decided to adopt some traditional medicine approach using scientific evidence and further standardization was not left out. Lastly, what are the advantages and disadvantages of traditional medicine in modern Life. To end the semester, a field trip is scheduled for a herbal company.

The funny part is the voodoo aspect which could contribute to the healing process. It could be done in the form of a supernatural approach but looks more of a psychological thing. Some examples of the voodoo process were recited. Maybe we all have been initiated into a cult na. Lol.

Other topics can be added based on the local situation where the school is located. Most herbs discussed in each school is usually one that is everywhere or very popular in the location of the school.

Share On Social Media With Family And Friends To Show You Care!