Course Details
Course Information Package
| Course Unit Title | PHARMACOGNOSY | ||||||||
| Course Unit Code | PHA404 | ||||||||
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| Number of ECTS credits allocated | 6 | ||||||||
| Learning Outcomes of the course unit | By the end of the course, the students should be able to:
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| Mode of Delivery | Face-to-face | ||||||||
| Prerequisites | PHA204 | Co-requisites | NONE | ||||||
| Recommended optional program components | NONE | ||||||||
| Course Contents | · Most important and extensively used in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Industry and Perfumery plant products, and their chemical constituents, i.e. primary metabolites such as carbohydrates and derivatives, e.g. glycosides, proteins, lipids, and secondary metabolites, such as terpenoids, steroids, polyphenols (phenolic acids, alcohols, esters, flavonoids, coumarins, antraquinones, tannins), essential oils, alkaloids, pigments, vitamins. Appearance, anatomical, histochemical characteristics of each plant product, distribution in the plant, binomial botanical name of the producing plant and its family. Description of the plant and its phytogeography. Action and use of the plant products and their main active constituents. Control and assays for detecting adulteration, i.e. physical state, appearance, anatomical characteristics and chemical analysis. Emphasis will be given to plants used as crude therapeutic agents for extraction of the active material, or used as such, e.g. for obtaining anticancer, antiviral or antineurodegenerative drugs. · Non conventional methods, e.g. plant cell cultures, hairy roots and genetic engineering, for amelioration of medicinal plants. Social, ethical and other questions arising from the human intervention in the plant cell genetic material. Differences between plant and animal cells in this respect. Medicinal and aromatic plants of Cyprus. Research and efforts for adaptation of foreign plants of high economic value, as sources of medicine or aromatic constituents, to the environmental conditions of Cyprus, e.g. climate, temperature, humidity and chemical constitution of the soil. · Safe use of herbal medicinal products by the pharmacists and Regulatory Affairs: Directive of EU 2001/83 EC as amended by 2004/24/EC (European Medicines Agency - EMA) and its Committee responsible for Herbals (HMPC- Herbal Medicinal Products Committee) · Laboratory: Preparation of an extract from a pharmaceutical plant containing, e.g. alkaloids, anthraquinones sugars and/or flavonoids, saponins; Separation of a mixture and identification of at least three alkaloids; Field work, finding and identification of at least eight medicinal or aromatic plants; Steam distillation or extraction of essential oil from aromatic plants; Chemical, physicochemical and physical characterisation of the obtained essential oils. | ||||||||
| Recommended and/or required reading: | |||||||||
| Textbooks |
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| References |
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| Planned learning activities and teaching methods | The taught part of course is delivered to the students by means of lectures, conducted with the help of computer presentations. Lecture notes and presentations are available through the web for students to use in combination with the textbooks. Lectures are supplemented with laboratory work carried out in a pharmaceutical analysis laboratory. | ||||||||
| Assessment methods and criteria |
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| Language of instruction | Greek | ||||||||
| Work placement(s) | NO | ||||||||
