Phytotherapy

Department of Pharmacognosy and Medical Botany

Phytotherapy is a section of clinical medicine, based on the use of herbal medicine by a specialist in the treatment and rehabilitation of the patient, as well as the prevention of diseases.

Information base of phytotherapy – historical heritage, pharmacognosy and phytochemistry, phytopharmacology, pathomorphology and pathophysiology, biophysics, psychotherapy, medical experience.

Pharmacognosy is one of the pharmaceutical sciences that studies medicinal raw materials of plant and animal origin, as well as the products of its primary processing.

Phytopharmacology is a section of pharmacology that studies the interaction of plants and their active ingredients with living organisms.

Herbal medicines are biogenetically formed complexes of active plant ingredients that are maximally bioavailable to the patient’s body. Basically, it is the raw multicomponent charges or extracts (aqueous or alcoholic), which are given in relatively large doses and have a generally general effect on the body (infusions, tinctures, decoctions, teas, extracts, juices, powders) ). Phyto-agents may include a filler. If the medicinal product additionally contains a chemically defined active substance, a synthetic compound, or even a substance extracted from the plant material, it is not considered as a phyto-agent.

Phyto-preparations – unlike phyto-agents, they are made from phytochemicals by extraction (galenical preparations), subsequent purification (non-galenic preparations) or isolation of individual compounds with pharmacological activity (pharmaceutical preparations of plant origin).

Phytotherapeutic effect – the expected therapeutic effect of a medicinal plant due to the formation of a pharmacological vector in the influence of its active ingredients.

Biologically (physiologically, pharmacologically) active substances have the ability to influence biological processes in the body and determine the therapeutic value of a medicinal plant.

Primary metabolites are formed in all living organisms and include proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, vitamins and enzymes.

Substances of secondary metabolism are formed in vegetatively sedentary groups of living organisms – plants and fungi, and in animals they are supplied with plant food. Many have the ability to influence different systems and organs of humans and animals. they are divided into three broad classes: alkaloids, terpenoids (isoprenoids), phenolic compounds and their derivatives. The latter include such known groups as coumarins, flavonoids, tannins, anthracene derivatives, lignans and lignins, flavolignans.