Table Of ContentPharmacodynamic
Basis of
HERBAL
MEDICINE
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CRC PR ESS
Boca Raton London New York Washington, D.C.
Manuchair Ebadi, Ph.D., F.A.C.C.P.
School of Medicine and Health Sciences
University of North Dakota
Grand Forks
Pharmacodynamic
Basis of
HERBAL
MEDICINE
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International Standard Book Number 0-8493-0743-0
Library of Congress Card Number 2001043781
Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ebadi, Manuchair S.
Pharmacodynamic basis of herbal medicine / by Manuchair Ebadi.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8493-0743-0 (alk. paper)
1. Herbs—Therapeutic use. I. Title.
RM666.H33 E23 2001
615′.321—dc21
2001043781
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v
In books lie the soul of the whole past time,
the articulate audible voice of the past,
when the body and material substances
of it have altogether vanished like a dream.
Thomas Carlyle
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vi
I dedicate this book to my beloved grandchildren,
Jesse Manu Ebadi,
Caylin Jane McCormick,
Christine Pari McCormick,
and Jolie Manizeh Ebadi.
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vii
PREFACE
Hippocrates (460–377 B.C.), who used many of the herbal medicines described in
this book, lamented, “Life is short, and the art long; the occasion fleeting; experience
fallacious; and judgment difficult.”
Herbal remedies have become a major component of American health care.
Botanicals like ginseng, ma huang, St. John’s wort, and valerian are now
household words throughout the world, and the sales of herbal medicine are
increasing exponentially.
Alternative therapies include acupuncture, energy healing, folk medicines,
herbal medicines, homeopathy, massage, and megavitamins, to name only a few.
Millions of people in the third world have used and will always use herbal
medicines because they believe in them and regard them as “their” medicine, in
contrast to the “allopathic” (conventional Western) system of medicine brought
in from “outside.” These medicinal herbs are available locally and are prescribed
by traditional practitioners of medicine who are part of the community and in
whose presence the patient feels comfortable. In Western countries, there is now
an increased use of herbal medicines, largely because of a belief that powerful
synthetic agents used in Western medicine can exert more unwanted side effects
and are too often used indiscriminately and irrationally. Many of our present
medicines are derived directly or indirectly from higher plants. Although several
classic plant drugs have lost much ground to synthetic competitors, others have
gained a new investigational or therapeutic status in recent years. In addition, a
number of novel plant-derived substances have entered into Western drug markets.
The word pharmacodynamic may be defined as the study of the actions
and effects of drugs on organ, tissue, cellular, and subcellular levels. Therefore,
pharmacodynamics provides us with information about how drugs bring about
their beneficial effects and how they cause their side effects. By understanding
and applying the knowledge gained in studying pharmacodynamics, physicians
and other members of the health-care delivery team are able to provide effective
and safe therapeutic care to their patients. Western physicians prescribing synthetic
drugs may want to believe in herbal medicines and use them in their patients,
but wish to see scientific documentation as they have learned in their pharma-
cology and therapeutic courses in medical school. Eastern physicians yearn to
find out how their drugs, proven efficacious for thousands of years in ancient
civilizations such as Chinese, Indian, Persian, and Egyptian, work and bring about
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viii
�
Pharmacodynamic Basic of Herbal Medicine
their beneficial effects. This book bridges the past to the present and shows at
the molecular level how the herbal medications most often used work. For
example:
�
This book shows how Eastern physicians used meadow saffron, which
is good for gout, but also provides evidence that meadow saffron possesses
colchicine, an antigoutic medication, and provides the mechanisms of
action for it.
�
This book shows how Eastern physicians used belladonna alkaloid for
Parkinson’s disease but also provides evidence that belladonna alkaloid
contains anticholinergic drugs, which counterbalance the dopamine
deficiency syndrome seen in Parkinson’s disease.
�
This book shows how Indians used Rauwolfia serpentina to reduce
blood pressure and as an antipsychotic, but also shows that it contains
reserpine, which depletes norepinephrine in the periphery bringing about
its antihypertensive effects and depletes dopamine in the mesocortical
system causing tranquility.
�
This book compares the actions of fluoxetin, the most frequently used
antidepressant in the world, with those of St. John’s wort, in altering the
uptake of serotonin.
�
This book compares the hypnotic and sedative actions of valerian used
for thousand years to treat insomnia with those of benzodiazepine deriv-
atives in altering GABAergic transmission.
�
This book describes the existence of drugs isolated from food substances
such as horseradish, garlic, and rhubarb, and provides their mechanisms
of action.
�
This book describes the efficacy of Shing Jing in male infertility and
erectile dysfunction and compares its efficacy with those brought about
by levodopa, amylnitrite, vitamin E, and sildenafil (Viagra).
The majority of believers in alternative medicine are more educated, but they
report poorer health status. They take herbal medicine not so much because they
are dissatisfied with conventional medicines, but largely because they find these
health-care alternatives to be more congruent with their own values, beliefs, and
philosophical orientations toward health care and life in general.
M. Ebadi
Grand Forks, ND
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ix
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author expresses his appreciation to Liz Covello, the former publisher of life
sciences for CRC Press LLC, and Barbara Ellen Norwitz, the current publisher of
life sciences for CRC Press LLC for a gracious invitation to prepare a book on herbal
medicine. The author acknowledges the support of Tiffany Lane, editorial assistant,
and the magnificent contribution of Gail Renard, production editor, for polishing
and refining the book.
The author extends his expression of admiration to Debra Jean Kroese, Dawn
Halvorson, Lacy Kay Boushee, and Haley Ann Kroese for gathering reference mate-
rials and for typing certain sections of the book.
The author remains indebted to Victoria Swift, the director of the art department
at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences for her
marvelous artistic talent in completing many of the diagrams; and to Betty Ann
Karolski, the associate director, Biomedical Communications Information Technol-
ogy Services at the University of Nebraska Medical Center for her support in
completing this book.
The author extends his grateful appreciation and eternal sense of indebtedness
to KayLynn Marie Bergland for her magnificent dedication to her job, marvelous
work ethics, and incredible skills in typing, reading, editing, proofing, and revising
the entire book.
The author pays an affectionate tribute and extends his heartfelt gratitude to H.
David Wilson, M.D., the eminent Dean and Vice President for Health Affairs,
University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, for his unyield-
ing support, Solomonic wisdom, and genuine friendship in facilitating the comple-
tion of this book.
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