Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration)

Pharmacognosy & Phytotherapy


Name of Department:                              Department of Pharmacognosy & Phytotherapy 
Name of Ag.Head Of Deparment:           Dr. Sulieman Mikailu        
Contact E-mail:                                         mukailu.suleimanThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Contact Phone Number(s):                      08033920993

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION FOR PHARMACOGNOSY & PHYTOTHERAPY

YEAR TWO              FIRST SEMESTER

PCG 211.1:    Pharmacognosy 1 (Introduction to Organized Vegetable Drugs) 3 Units

Introduction to Pharmacognosy. Historical, scope, application and literature. Classification of natural drugs. The microscope and its use. Optical principles and techniques; macroscopy, microscopy and chemomicroscopy. Basic plant histology, micromorphology and anatomy of barks, roots, herbs, leaves, fruits, flowers, seeds and rhizomes. Examples from Nigerian flora. The cell and cell wall structure. Cell inclusions, Monographs, plant collection, processing and storage. Herbarium specimens. Field trip.

 

PCG 212.1:    Practical Pharmacognosy 1              1 Unit

Laboratory exposure on topics covered in PCG 211.1 such as use of microscope, techniques in microscopy and chemomicroscopy of organized vegetable drugs.

 

YEAR TWO              SECOND SEMESTER

PCG 213.2:    Pharmacognosy II (Introduction to Unorganized Vegetable Drugs)   2 Units

Introduction to plant products of primary metabolism. Photosynthesis and its significance to production of natural products. Saccharides (monosaccharaides, disaccharides, trisaccharides and polysaccharides); classification, natural sources, processing and identification. Commercial starches. Alginic acid and alginate. Pharmaceutical gums, mucilage, resins and balsams, Honey, Fibres and surgical dressings.

 

PCG 214.2:    Practical Pharmacognosy II             1 Unit

Laboratory exposure on topics in PCG 213.2. This includes examination   and identification of saccharides, starches, gums, resins etc.

 

YEAR THREE         FIRST SEMESTER

PCG 311.1:    Principles of Phytochemistry & Drugs of Biological Origin          2 Units

Phytochemical methods. Principles of extraction, detection and uses of medicinal plant constituents and drugs from natural sources. Concept of plant secondary metabolism. Importance of secondary metabolites as drugs. Drugs of biological origin:- Glycosides, flavonoids, lipids. Resins and balsams. Separative techniques. Principles and application of chromatography in Pharmacy. Partition and adsorption chromatography. Factors affecting resolution on paper, thin layer, gel – filtration, electrophoresis. Gas – liquid chromatography. High performance Liquid chromatography, Iron exchange chromatography, DCCC, flash chromatography etc. qualitative and quantitative considerations.

 

PCG 312.2:    Practical Pharmacognosy III           1 Unit

Laboratory exposure on phytochemical methods, seperative techniques and drugs from natural sources.

 

YEAR THREE         SECOND SEMESTER

PCG 313.2:    Principles of Phytochemistry & Drugs of Biological Origin II      2 Units

Drugs of biological origin:- Alkaloids (tropane, indole, isoquinoline, quinoline, imidazole, purine and piperidine derivatives). Volatile oils. Introductory systematic and chemotaxonomy. Vitamins and Enzymes of Pharmaceutical importance. Contributions of plants and plant products in treatment of diseases; anti-cancer, anti-malarial, schistosomicides, sickle cell anaemia, immunomodulators, cardiovascular drugs etc. Pesticides, herbicides.

 

PCG 314.2:    Practical Pharmacognosy IV           1 Unit

Laboratory exposure on phytochemical methods, separative techniques and drugs from natural sources

 

YEAR FOUR                        FIRST SEMESTER

PCG 411.1     Phytopharmaceuticals & Medicinal Herbals          3 Units

Introduction to traditional medicines. Definitions; incantation, medicinal plants, herbalist traditional medical practitioners. Advantages and limitations of traditional medicines. Methods and techniques. Formulation and production of herbal remedies. Traditional medicine as a veritable source of new drugs, lead compounds and new methods of treatment. Role of traditional medicine in health care delivery in Africa. Medicinal plants of local importance. Methods of obtaining information on medicinal plants. Scientific evidence supporting some remedies. Common poisonous plants and fungi in Nigeria. Circumstances of poisoning and toxic manifestations of poisoning. Mechanism of actions. Antidotes and treatment. Plant and plant products under legal control: Indian hemp, coca, opium and other regulated natural drugs. Natural products and pharmaceutical raw materials.

 

PCG 412.1:    Practicals & Field Trip         1 Unit

Field trips and practical exposures on topics treated in PCG 411.1

 

 

YEAR FOUR                        SECOND SEMESTER

PCG 413.2:    Biogenesis of Natural Products        2 Units

The significance of study of biogenetic pathways. Unit transformations. Methods of investigation. Sources of energy. Enzymes. Evolutionary relationship. Natural origin of isoprene units and pathways leading to production of terpenoids. Shikimic acid pathways and pathways leading to the formation of natural aromatic drugs. Therapeutic significance of secondary metabolites.

 

 

YEAR FIVE              FIRST SEMESTER

PCG 511.1     Quality Assurance of Herbal Products & Surgical Dressings       2 Units

Evaluation and standardization of vegetable drugs and herbal remedies. Quality assurance with respect to identity, purity and potency. Ash determinations Extractive values. Determination of residual moisture in dried vegetable drugs. Dean-Stark apparatus, Karl-Fischer titrimetric methods. Biological and physic-chemical assays. Monograph compilation. Prospects and problems of standardization of herbal remedies. Chemical races and variations. Regulatory requirements for standardization of herbal products (WHO, NAFDAC and other regulatory bodies)

 

PHA 502.2      Project            6 Units

Each student is expected to carry out an individual research project supervised by an academic staff. Such project will be assigned at the beginning of final year (500 level).