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Plants need to defend themselves from attack by micro-organisms, in particular fungi, and they do this by producing anti-fungal chemicals that are toxic to fungi. Because fungal and human cells are similar at a biochemical level it is often the case that chemical compounds intended for plant defence have an inhibitory effect on human cells ...
Many of these plants are used intentionally as psychoactive drugs, for medicinal, religious, and/or recreational purposes. Some have been used ritually as entheogens for millennia. [1] [2] The plants are listed according to the specific psychoactive chemical substances they contain; many contain multiple known psychoactive compounds.
Paclitaxel is one of several cytoskeletal drugs that target tubulin. Paclitaxel-treated cells have defects in mitotic spindle assembly, chromosome segregation, and cell division. Unlike other tubulin-targeting drugs, such as colchicine, that inhibit microtubule assembly, paclitaxel stabilizes the microtubule polymer and protects it from ...
Over a hundred of the 224 drugs mentioned in the Huangdi Neijing – an early Chinese medical text – are herbs. [11] Herbs also commonly featured in the medicine of ancient India, where the principal treatment for diseases was diet. [12] A sample of raw opium. Opioids are among the world's oldest known drugs.
[70] [71] Plant-based laxatives made from such plants include senna, [72] rhubarb [73] and Aloe. [63] The cardiac glycosides are powerful drugs from medicinal plants including foxglove and lily of the valley. They include digoxin and digitoxin which support the beating of the heart, and act as diuretics. [55]
Sinecatechins, the first botanical drug approved by the US FDA, is an extract from the leaves of Camellia sinensis.. A botanical drug is defined in the United States Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as a botanical product that is marketed as diagnosing, mitigating, treating, or curing a disease; a botanical product in turn, is a finished, labeled product that contains ingredients from plants.
Non-drug uses of peyote in religious ceremonies by the Native American Church and its members is exempt from registration. [51] This law has been codified as a statute in the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, and made part of the common law in Peyote Way Church of God, Inc. v. Thornburgh , (5th Cir. 1991); [ 52 ] it is also in ...
Entheogenic drugs and the archaeological record; Hallucinogenic fish; List of plants used for smoking; List of psychoactive substances and precursor chemicals derived from genetically modified organisms; List of psychoactive substances derived from artificial fungi biotransformation; List of substances used in rituals; Medicinal fungi