Question

What do you mean by biological testing of herbal drugs?

Answer 1

Answer:

Natural products have been applied to human healthcare for thousands of years. Drug discovery in ancient times was largely by chance and based on clinical practices. As understanding of therapeutic benefits deepens and demands for natural products increase, previously serendipitous discoveries evolve into active searches for new medicines. Many drugs presently prescribed by physicians are either directly isolated from plants or are artificially modified versions of natural products. Scientists are looking for lead compounds with specific structures and pharmacological effects often from natural sources. Experiences and successes of Chinese scientists in this specialized area have resulted in a number of widely used drugs. The tremendous progress made in life sciences has not only revealed many pathological processes of diseases, but also led to the establishment of various molecular and cellular bioassays in conjunction with high-throughput technologies. This is advantageous and permits certain natural compounds that are difficult to isolate and purify, and compounds that are difficult to synthesize, to be assayed. The transition from traditional to empirical and to molecular screening will certainly increase the probability of discovering new leads and drug candidates from natural products.

Explanation:

Answer 2

Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of botany and the use of medicinal plants. Plants have been the basis for medical treatments through much of human history, and such traditional medicine is still widely practiced today.[1] Modern medicine makes use of many plant-derived compounds as the basis for evidence-based pharmaceutical drugs. Although herbalism may apply modern standards of effectiveness testing to herbs and medicines derived from natural sources, few high-quality clinical trials and standards for purity or dosage exist.[2] The scope of herbal medicine is sometimes extended to include fungal and bee products, as well as minerals, shells and certain animal parts.

Herbal medicine is also called phytomedicine or phytotherapy.[3] Paraherbalism[4] describes alternative and pseudoscientific practices of using unrefined plant or animal extracts as unproven medicines or health-promoting agents.[1][2][4][5] Paraherbalism differs from plant-derived medicines in standard pharmacology because it does not isolate or standardize biologically active compounds, but rather relies on the belief that preserving various substances from a given source with less processing is safer or more effective – for which there is no evidence.[4] Herbal dietary supplements most often fall under the phytotherapy category.[5]