| Author: | Patricia Ligon |
| Level: | High School |
| Content Area: | Chemistry, Biotechnology, Forensics |
Lesson Plan 1 (Day 1)
Lesson Plan 2 (Day 2)
Lesson Plan 3 (Day 3)
Resources and References:
Books:
Unit I Videos:
Websites of Interest:
Webquests:
Other:
Unit 1 introduction and History
Many substances that historically have been used for murder, magic and folk medicine are currently clinically acceptable drugs. Synthetic chemistry started in the 1930’s but Mother Nature has been working for over 3.5 billion years.
Now, scientists hang by ropes in the Rain Forests to collect spiders, dive below ice caps for fish to obtain antifreeze that preserves organs for transplantation and search the desert for viper poison for high blood pressure medicine.
In his book, "Medicine Quest, In search of Nature's Healing Secrets", Marc Plotkin pleads with a shaman to treat a woman collapsed in the jungle with diabetic symptoms. The shaman finally makes a thick red liquid potion to treat the woman. He gives her two teaspoons a day and after three days, the woman was working in her garden and the gangrene was healing.
Marc Plotkin is an ethnobotanist, a plant hunter, and a shaman’s apprentice in search of natural compounds to treat diseases.
Interesting Quotes:
1. "Nature distributed medicine everywhere. - Pliny the Elder circa A.D. 77 Plotkin, Mark J. "Medicine Ques, In search of Nature’s Healing Secrets " p. xi (read first paragraph)
2. "The difference between a deadly poison and a life-saving medicine can be very small; in fact, it is sometimes merely a question of dosage: Dr. R.E. Schultes, 1980 died 2001 from p. 3 Plotkin, Mark J. "Medicine Quest, In search of Nature’s Healing Secrets"
3. Remember that "The dose is the poison" Paracelsus – the Grandfather of Pharmacology Levine, Ruth R. “Pharmacology, Drug Actions and Reactions.” p. 8,9.
I. Pharmacology is the study of chemical agents (xenobiotics – drugs substances foreign to the body) and living organisms (different cell types) and all aspects of their interactions i.e. a biological response. These xenobiotics may include: pollutants, food additives, contaminants and DRUGS.
A. These substances can be:
B. Primitive man identified edible and poisonous plants and animals that were:
C. Physicians used drugs as therapeutic agents
D. Interest and concerns: take drugs over long time
E. Medicines as old as human race combat illnesses/plants around them ease pain:
F. Poisons- helped provide valuable discoveries –
G. Examples of uses for Toxins or Poisons currently being investigated for medicinal purposes: can be man-made or natural products
H. Toxins work by:
I. Other Toxin Examples
J. Rainforest: 22 years
Marc Plotkin asks these questions:
More Resources to answer some questions:
.Unit 1 (continued) History of Pharmacology
(Medicines and Religions have been intertwined over the years, “If we want to see ahead, we must look back” -Albert Szent-Gyorgyi years (pg. 1Levine, Ruth R. “Pharmacology, Drug Actions and Reactions.”)
I. Egypt and Babylonia 1600 B.C. Papyrus listing and characterizing 700 diseases
A. Egyptians used mythology for their welfare
B. Materia Medica (p.458, Levine, Ruth R. “Pharmacology, Drug Actions and Reactions.”): remedies for disease, sources, nature and preparation of drugs
C. Babylonians believed the world was full of hostile demons
D. India: Sushruta (500B.C.) Hindu Prof. Of medicine:
II. India and Greece
A. medicine and religion are a close alliance until the Code of Hammurabi.
B. Greece: medicinal pharmacy "History of Plants" 300 B.C.
1st ethics Hippocrates 400B.C. : freed medicine from mysticism and philosophy “Father of Medicine” with emphasis on medical ethics.
C. Dioscorides: Nero’s surgeon described 600 plants This was the chief source of pharmacological knowledge till 16th century "Father of Materia Medica" (later in Europe)
D. Anatomy & Physiology
Sensory and motor nerves
E. Erasistratus 0 AD antiquity, function of arteries – physiologist
Herophilus: anatomist 19 centuries before Harvey "Circulation of Blood"
F. Roman Era: Galen "described humors" blood phlegm yellow and black bile and earth air fire, water
G. Middle Ages: no significant developments in Europe till 1500 AD Paracelsus
H. Greeks (B.C./A.D.)
I. Many advances were made with Arabs and Jews
J. Crusades later brought these discoveries to Europe
III. Arabs
A. Arabs made many contributions: precision in observation, control in experimentation meticulous record keeping. They developed The Experimental Method
B. Moslems: 1st apothecary shop, 1st pharmacy school, 1st standards regulations of drugs.
C. 15th century alchemy of Arabs – Europe relatively pure substances for medical use Sulfur, Iron, Arsenic and Laudanum "tincture of opium" (the active part morphine), Mercury was used to treat syphilis.
D. Standards established, storage and preparation of drugs was standardized, 1st consumer protection punished by law if deceptive practices occurred.
IV. 13th century medicinals come to Europe
Paracelsus: "Grandfather of Pharmacology"
"the dose is the poison"
A. Rise of Pharmacology:
Humans concerned with digestive organs specifically bowels
17th cent. England – bimonthly purging for good health, many substances used for murder, magic, and folk
Notes for unit I Introduction and History of Pharmacology are based on
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