Evaluation of the ability of seven herbal resources to answer questions about herbal products asked in drug information centers

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the ability of seven widely known herbal references and electronic databases to answer questions about herbal products asked at drug information centers. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Five academic and institutional drug information centers. METHODS: Fifty-seven herbal-related questions were obtained from academic and institutional drug information centers. Seven herbal references and electronic databases were evaluated for their ability to answer these 57 questions: The Complete German Commission E Monographs: Therapeutic Guide to Herbal Medicines, 1st edition; Physicians' Desk Reference (PDR) for Herbal Medicines, 2001 edition; Tyler's Honest Herbal: A Sensible Guide to the Use of Herbs and Related Remedies, 4th edition; The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, 2001; Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database (electronically updated, 2001); The Natural Pharmacist (electronically updated, 2001); and AltMedDex (electronically updated, 2001). RESULTS: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database outperformed all other products evaluated, providing direct answers to 61% of questions. AltMedDex and The Natural Pharmacist performed similarly to one another, answering 49% and 44% of questions, respectively. The Lawrence Review of Natural Products, PDR for Herbal Medicines, The Complete German Commission E Monographs, and Tyler's Honest Herbal were the least helpful in providing direct answers to the questions (24%, 21%, 11%, and 9%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, AltMedDex, and The Natural Pharmacist outperformed all other evaluated herbal references and electronic databases in their ability to answer questions about herbal products posed in clinical practice.     

Genomics-directed activation of cryptic natural product pathways deciphers codes for biosynthesis and molecular function

Journal of Natural Medicines - Natural products, which can be isolated from living organisms worldwide, have played a pivotal role in drug discovery since ancient times. However, it has become more...     

天然药物化学课的课堂教学

天然药物化学是药学专业中一门重要的专业课程,随着中药现代化和国际化的发展趋势,其重要性不容忽视。笔者根据几年来天然药物化学的课堂教学实践,总结对此门课程的教学体会。     

加强天然药物化学课程中海洋天然产物章节教学的意义

天然药物化学课程是药学专业必修的专业课程,其中海洋天然产物一章是近年新增加的章节.简要总结和分析海洋天然产物研究的作用和意义,期望为药学专业教学和科研工作者带来一些启示.     

Current strategies for drug discovery through natural products

Importance to the field: Natural products are the most consistently successful source of drug leads, both historically and currently. Despite this, the use of natural products in industrial drug discovery has fallen out of favour. Natural products are likely to continue to be sources of new commercially viable drug leads because the chemical novelty associated with natural products is higher than that of any other source: this is particularly important when searching for lead molecules against newly discovered targets for which there are no known small molecule leads. Areas to be covered: Current drug discovery strategies involving natural products are described in three sections: developments from traditionally used medicines, random testing of natural compounds on biological assays and use of virtual screening techniques with structures of natural products. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain an insight into the potential for natural products in current drug discovery paradigms, particularly in the value of using natural products in virtual screening approaches. Take home message: Drug discovery would be enriched if fuller use was made of the chemistry of natural products.     

Natural products as aromatase inhibitors

With the clinical success of several synthetic aromatase inhibitors (AIs) in the treatment of postmenopausal estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, researchers have also been investigating the potential of natural products as AIs. Natural products from terrestrial and marine organisms provide a chemically diverse array of compounds not always available through current synthetic chemistry techniques. Natural products that have been used traditionally for nutritional or medicinal purposes (e.g., botanical dietary supplements) may also afford AIs with reduced side effects. A thorough review of the literature regarding natural product extracts and secondary metabolites of plant, microbial, and marine origin that have been shown to exhibit aromatase inhibitory activity is presented herein.     

Strategies for discovering drugs from previously unexplored natural products

Natural products are the most consistently successful source of drug leads. Despite this, their use in drug discovery has fallen out of favour. Natural products continue to provide greater structural diversity than standard combinatorial chemistry and so they offer major opportunities for finding novel low molecular weight lead structures that are active against a wide range of assay targets. As less than 10% of the world's biodiversity has been tested for biological activity, many more useful natural lead compounds are awaiting discovery. The challenge is how to access this natural chemical diversity.     

Update on natural product--drug interactions.

The interactions of natural products with drugs are discussed. Interactions between natural products and drugs are based on the same pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic principles as drug-drug interactions. Clinically important interactions appear to involve effects on drug metabolism via cytochrome P-450 isoenzymes, impairment of hepatic or renal function, and other possible mechanisms. Natural products that have been reported to interact with drugs in humans include coenzyme Q10, dong quai, ephedra, Ginkgo biloba, ginseng, glucosamine sulfate, ipriflavone, melatonin, and St. John's wort. In many cases, more research is needed to confirm these interactions and to determine whether other natural products may also interact with drugs. To effectively counsel patients about interactions involving natural products, pharmacists should be familiar with the most commonly used products and have access to information on more obscure products. In view of the less than stringent provisions of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, pharmacists should consult reliable, independent sources of information on natural products rather than rely on literature provided by manufacturers. Pharmacists should recommend only those products that are manufactured to high quality-control standards. Natural products can interact with drugs and with other natural products by the same mechanisms as drugs.     

An innovative model for regulating supplement products: natural health products in Canada

On 1 January 2004, Health Canada officially added a new term to the global list of synonyms for dietary supplements: natural health products (NHP). Developed with the intent of providing Canadian consumers with ready access to NHP that are safe, effective, and of high quality, the Natural Health Products Regulations (the NHP regulations) are applicable to the sale, manufacture, packaging, labelling, importation, distribution, and storage of NHP, and are administered by the recently formed Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) within Health Canada. This paper provides an overview of the process for regulating supplement products in Canada.     

Natural products of dietary origin as lead compounds in virtual screening and drug design

Natural products have been found to be useful in the treatment of several diseases across the ages. In this article, we review the use of natural products, obtained from dietary sources, as lead compounds in developing novel therapeutic agents. These compounds have shown tremendous promise in the prevention and as well as treatment of a variety of chronic ailments. In addition, to being patentable and biocompatible, these compounds are a rich source of novel scaffolds to invigorate the pipelines of the pharmaceutical industry. In this communication, we also focus on studies which show how natural products have proved useful as lead compounds in virtual screening and structure-based drug design programs. Natural dietary constituents, such as resveratrol, curcumin and caffeine as well as other compounds, are discussed to illustrate this approach.     

The 1st Euro-Mediterranean Workshop: Natural Products in Health and Diseases: Cairo,Egypt, March 2, 2015

Natural plant products have been used for centuries for health maintenance and treatment of a variety of diseases in various traditional systems of medicine in Egypt and other African countries, India, China, and other countries around the world. Over the past several decades, the popularity of herbal and other natural products has gradually increased in many western countries. Despite the increasing popularity of natural products, both the public and the professionals are skeptical about the use of these products. Reasons for this skepticism include, but are not limited to, the lack of proper documentation about the source and formulations used; standardization of the composition, batch-to-batch consistency, documented safety of herbal products; and information about the mechanisms of action of these products. The 1st Euro-Mediterranean Workshop: Natural Products in Health and Diseases was organized by the Euro-Mediterranean Association of Life Sciences (EMALS) and various other local organizations to review and discuss the above-mentioned strengths and limitations of the use of natural products. The aim of this workshop was to share best practices and expertise about natural products, and to identify opportunities for collaboration among researchers, health professionals, and business personnel in a productive atmosphere.     

Correction to: Computationally-assisted discovery and structure elucidation of natural products

Journal of Natural Medicines - The article Computationally-assisted discovery and structure elucidation of natural products, written by Alfarius Eko Nugroho and Hiroshi Morita, was originally...     

Clerodane diterpenoids from Casearia kurzii and their cytotoxic activities

Journal of Natural Medicines - A search for bioactive natural products as anticancer lead compounds resulted in the isolation of one previously undescribed and three known clerodane diterpenoids...     

Identification of pheophorbide a as an inhibitor of receptor for advanced glycation end products in Mallotus japonicus

Journal of Natural Medicines - Accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) plays an important role in diabetes, immunoinflammation, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases....     

Siphonaxanthin,a carotenoid from green algae,suppresses advanced glycation end product-induced inflammatory responses

Journal of Natural Medicines - Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) induce inflammation and contribute to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Although many studies have demonstrated the...     

Correction to: Screening for natural products that affect Wnt signaling activity

Journal of Natural Medicines - The article Screening for natural products that affect Wnt signaling activity, written by Masami Ishibashi, was originally published electronically on the...     

Effects of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-activating alkaloids on anxiety-like behavior in zebrafish

Journal of Natural Medicines - Alkaloids are a structurally complex group of natural products that have a diverse range of biological activities and significant therapeutic applications. In this...     

Characteristic metabolites of Hypericum plants: their chemical structures and biological activities

Journal of Natural Medicines - Plants belonging to the genus Hypericum (Hypericaceae) are recognized as an abundant source of natural products with interesting chemical structures and intriguing...     

Appetite-enhancing effects of vanilla flavours such as vanillin

Journal of Natural Medicines - Vanilla flavour is familiar to consumers through foods, cosmetics, household products and some medicines. Vanilla flavouring agents typically contain vanillin or its...     

Regulatory science of natural products

Journal of Natural Medicines - Foods and pharmaceuticals play key roles in public health and welfare and ensuring that these products meet their quality assurance standards is a top priority in...