INTRODUCTION:

Traditional medicine means alternative to “Something else”. This” Something else” is western medicine or allopathy or orthodox medicine. Traditional medicine is one of the oldest types of medical treatment in human history and will be thought-about one of the forerunners of the modern pharmaceutical trade. According to the Indian ancient system of drugs or global traditional system, it's "the knowledge, skills and practices supported the theories, beliefs and experiences autochthonous to different cultures, utilized in the upkeep of health and within the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness¹." Alternative medicine exists in all cultures to some degree and terms such as indigenous medicine or folk medicine etc. are used to describe such practices.

These medicines date back hundred or even thousands of years depending n the country and culture concerned. There are more than 100 systems of alternative medicines still in practice all over the world². Every country, region or area has its own traditional system of health and medical care’s such as for the Chinese it is acupuncture, for French, magnetic healing; for the Germans, Heilpraxis; for the English, Herbalism; for India, ayurveda with Siddha being widely practice in the southern part of the country; for Japan, Shiatsu etc. Ayurveda was the muse of traditional knowledge in ancient times. Later, this ancient Ayurvedic wisdom morphed into a range of medical disciplines. Ayurveda is one of the world’s oldest and most often adopted ancient systems³. It emphasizes that good health is the result of a natural balance, and illness occurs when that balance is disturbed. Herbal treatments, diet, and natural therapies are all utilized to restore equilibrium. Herbal medicine is a treatment that comes from plants. As knowledge of the development of ideas connected to the use of medicinal plants as well as the evolution of awareness has risen, so has pharmacists' and physicians' ability to respond to the issues that have occurred with the proliferation of professional services in the facilitation of man's life⁴. Herbal medications are used to address the body's core demands for health. This is largely owing to the prevalent belief that herbal medications have no or few negative effects, are affordable, and are freely available. Botanical items have been used for therapeutic purposes since the dawn of time, and they are the source of modern medications⁵. Even a century ago, plant-based drugs were widely used. Aspirin (derived from willow bark, genus Salix), digoxin (derived from foxglove, Digitalis purpurea), Quinine (derived from Cinchona bark, Cinchona calisaya) and Morphine (from the opium poppy, Papaver sominferum) are a few examples⁶. It is commonly observed that medical history, from the beginning, is replete with descriptions of people who used herbs to heal the sick. It is common knowledge that medical history is filled with records of people who used herbs to treat sick people from the beginning. However, the rise of allopathic or synthetic medicine developed along with the dawn of the industrial era⁷.

History:

In the 20th century, our Indian scientists began to use indigenous remedies within the infrastructure by using Ayurveda medicines. Recently, the Government of India conducted a thorough review of the medicinal system. The Indian system of medicine is the most commonly accepted method of treatment and is strongly established in villages and towns, as well as being fully safe; for example, Ayurveda was the fundamental origin of all medicinal systems⁸. Other medical therapies were later introduced by India's rulers. Duringtheir time, they practiced the "Unani system of medicine." The terms "Homeopathy" and Alternative system of medicine" are the most recent to be adopted in our country⁹. The Ayurveda means "Life and Knowledge". The Ayurvedic system was brought into our society during the Vedic period. The Vedic period began before 2500 B.C. The Practitioner's acquired expertise was applied to the patient's ailments to cure them. During the "Lord Buddha" time, practitioners practiced both medicine and surgery. Surgery was not as advanced as it is now, but the medicine was extremely effective.¹⁰

Drugs developed from Traditional Medicines that follow the Traditional uses:

In recent years, several drugs from the Indian system of medicines have undergone or some drugs completed clinical trials to verify their efficacy. For example, Ashwagandha, Guggulu, Haridra, Kutki, Shatavari, Amruta, Brahmi, Guduchi, Amla and Ginger. Various complex herbal formulations (Rasagenthilehyam, Brahma Rasayana, Semecarpuslehyam, Triphala and other Rasayanas) were evaluated through preclinical studies and reported to possess positive effects¹¹. As a successful example of drug development from natural products, artemisinin and its analogues are presently in wide use for anti-malaria treatment. This shows how research using natural products has made a significant contribution to drug development¹². Catharanthusroseus, Taxusbaccata, and their equivalents are now widely regarded as successful drug development examples. Another example, Goldthread (Coptis chinensis), a herb used in traditional medicine and ayurvedic medicine over 3,000 years to treat inflammatory symptoms and various infectious disorders, was discovered to contain a "berberine" a substance with powerful antibiotic and anti-inflammatory properties. It would have been impossible to detect berberine's antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects through random screening if researchers had not been aware of the usage of goldthread in traditional medicines¹³.

Berberine has also been found in the goldthread literature to generate a variety of pharmacological activities that may have clinical implications in diseases like diabetes, cancer, depression, hypertension, and hypercholesterolemia. Rauwolfia alkaloids, psoralens, Holarrhena alkaloids, guggulsterone (a herbal supplement made from the sap of the Guggul), Mucuna pruriens, piperidines, bacosides, picrosides, phyllanthins, curcumins, withanolides, and many other steroidal lactones and glycosides have all yielded promising results in drug discovery using Ayurvedic knowledge. Lutein extracted from marigold has been shown to improve visual performance and help avoid cataracts. Tomato lycopene is known to help prevent certain types of cancer. Even though humans have perfected the technique of drug synthesis, plants continue to be a valuable source of drug discovery¹⁴.

Modern medicine:

The age of "modern" pharmaceuticals began at the turn of the nineteenth century. Friedrich Serturner, a young German pharmacist, discovered the first pharmacologically active chemical morphine from the poppy plant in 1805. As a result, a variety of active chemicals have been isolated from natural sources. Some adhere to their original uses, while others do not. Later, the development of synthetic techniques reduced the importance of natural items significantly, and there were concerns that the use of some natural ingredients for therapeutic purposes would be altogether prohibited¹⁵. Medicines used to cure and prevent various diseases have a long history in human history. The creation of novel drugs based only on modern technologies looks to have reached a snag. Since the 1980s, the pharmaceutical industry has tended to use high-throughput synthesis and combinatorial chemistry-based drug research to generate novel medications; nevertheless, despite significant efforts in this direction, drug productivity has not met expectations. The development of new products for some huge pharmaceutical corporations is proving to be extremely difficult. Natural products have received increased attention in the hunt for innovative medications in combination with new technologies, such as high-throughput selection, throughout the last decade¹⁶.

To combat the threat of serious illness and ensure the species existence, stronger treatments must be developed continuously. The usage of these natural ingredients as traditional medicine has grown throughout time. In two areas, modern medicine has profited greatly from traditional medicine: Medications with similar effects and drugs with effects that differ from those of traditional medicine¹⁷. Many medications have been seen in the history of drug development; several drugs were produced as a result of Traditional Medicine's inspiration. The riches of modern technology, such as synthesis, fermentation, pharmacology and pharmaco-dynamics, as well as biological diversity, chemo-diversity, and breakthroughs in evolutionary techniques or concepts, as well as a wealth of knowledge about natural products, will make it possible to build a large compound library for drug screening. This will expand the possibilities for individual disease treatment and prevention¹⁸.

Humanity can learn a lot from natural goods and ancient remedies. In therapeutic practice in China in the 1960's Schisandra chinensis, a traditional Chinese herb was found to offer clear enzyme lowering and hepatoprotective effects. The chemical components of S. Chinensis were then isolated by Chinese scientists¹⁹.

Fig- Schisandra chinensis

Researchers discovered that the intermediate molecule bifendate had a greater pharmacological action and that the cost of preparation was low in whole chemical synthesis and pharmacodynamic analysis of schisandrin C (which is one of the compounds of S. chinensis). They discovered that lowering the enzyme content might be used to cure the hepatitis B virus. Since the late 1980s, chemists and pharmacologists have been working together to investigate the structural and activity relationships of bifendate and its analogues²⁰.

As a result of their research, several novel chemicals have been developed. After screening with a variety of chemical and pharmacological liver injury models, the hepato-protective activities of the compounds were discovered to be closely linked. As a result, a novel chemical called bicyclol was created. In comparison to bifendate, bicyclol had superior in vivo absorption, bioavailability, and biological activity. Pharmacological investigations identified bicyclol' santifibrotic and hepatoprotective effects²¹.

Status of traditional medicines in India and worldwide:

About 65% of people use traditional medicine especially for their health care needs. Inequalities in access to modern health care make herbal medicines popular in rural and remote areas. The demand for traditional medicine in developed countries is also increasing ²².About 40-50% of the German population, 42% in the USA, 48% in Australia and 49% in France use traditional medicine. By the 21st century, herbal remedies and herbal products are increasingly being adopted in developed countries and among people who can afford the most expensive allopathic medicines, in the hope of a more environmentally friendly, friendly, and safer treatment²³. Plant chemicals are still used to treat heart disease, hypertension, mental illness, pain, cancer, asthma, neurological disorders, dyspepsia, liver disease, and other diseases. Several prescription medications were available for purchase. The discovery of anti-cancer agents has reignited interest in plant product research. Bryostatin, a bioactive chemical found in marine organisms, has been shown to have memory-enhancing properties. Bryozoans (Bugula neritina) and the taxol, a powerful new chemotherapeutic agent. Despite the growing interest in herbal therapy, there is still a stigma attached to it. Despite the increased interest in herbal therapy, a rising number of elderly traditional healers are dying with their vast knowledge and expertise undocumented²⁴. At the same time, forests all too often vanish without a trace. To the academic community Almost 12.5 percent of all plant species are under urgent threat extinction. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), most botanists regard the company's headquarters in Gland, Switzerland, near Geneva, as genuine. Since it only includes species known to science, although there are numerous undiscovered species unrecorded and unspoken devastation from the planet²⁵.

Future Prospects:

Patients throughout the world are becoming more interested in herbal therapy and dissatisfied with current drug therapy to heal their diseases because herbal therapy and treatment have no adverse effects. The World Health Organization has recently expressed interest in herbal medicine. The World Health Organization and the International Federation for the Promotion of Natural Therapy work on traditional medicine debates²⁶. Some countries rely on herbal remedies to treat their citizens' health, and this partnership between a natural therapy group and the World Health Organization would have to be a step forward towards herbal treatment. True, no country will ever be entirely reliant on modern medicine²⁷. Traditional third-world remedies can benefit from Western medicine's finest approaches and vice versa. The medical establishment is progressively embracing herbal medicine. The treatments are inexpensive. Without a doubt, it is anticipated that the pharmaceutical business will spend unimaginable amounts of money developing natural treatments during the next 20 years. Medical herbalists will keep practicing their time-honored skill, claiming triumphs where modern medicine fails²⁸.

CONCLUSION:

During the ancient period, the treatment procedure was not properly documented. At the time, treatment was based on the practitioner's procedure. An ancient, global system of medicine that uses plants to prevent and cure disease. Herbal medicine has grown in popularity among people all over the world. Because it is therapeutic and has no side effects, herbal medicine is finally being regarded seriously by the medical establishment. Schisandrin C, discovered in Schisandra chinensis, has led to the discovery and development of two potent pharmacological derivatives, bifendate and bicyclol. At least ten novel medications have been developed from artemisinin extracted from Artemisia annua. As a result, the use of herbal/plant medicine has been the single most successful technique for the creation of novel therapeutic molecules, and this trend is expected to continue.

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Received on 13.05.2023 Modified on 21.10.2023

Res. J. Pharmacognosy and Phytochem. 2024; 16(2):121-124.

DOI: 10.52711/0975-4385.2024.00023