Drugs obtained from Barks

Drugs obtained from Barks

Nature gives us too much essential products. Now let you know about some drugs that are obtained from Bark of some plant.

1. Cascara

This familiar drug is obtained from the reddish- brown bark of the western buckthorn (Rhamnus Purshiana), a tree of the north-western United States and adjacent Canada. It ranks first among the drugs of North American origin, and it is occasionally cultivated. It was early used by the western Indians and by the pioneer Spanish settlers, who called it cascara sagrada, or sacred bark.

For commercial purposes the bark is peeled off in long strips during the summer and dried on racks. It should be kept for a year before use. Cascara is a tonic and laxative.

2. Slippery Elm

The inner bark of the slippery elm, a large tree of Eastern North America, is the source of this non- poisonous drug. Slippery elm bark has a very characteristic odour. The bark is removed in the spring and the outer layers are discarded, while the inner portion is dried. It contains mucilage and is used for its soothing effect on inflamed tissues, either in the crude state or in the form of lozenges.

3. Curare

The Indians of Northern South America have long used a variety of poisonous extracts prepared from various woody lianas as arrow poisons. The identification of the constituent plant materials in curate has been difficult, as the sources vary in different places. Strychnos toxifera, Chondodendron tomentosum, species of Abuta and Cocculus, and other species of strychnos are all utilized. New sources are continually being brought to light. In making curare, portions of the bark, roots, stems, and tendrils are boiled down, the impurities skimmed off and the residue filtered. Catalyctic agents are added, and the whole mass is boiled to a syrup. This is exposed to the sun and dried to a paste, which is kept in tightly covered gourds or bamboo tubes.

Curare causes progressive paralysis with eventual cardiac failure. The lethal effects are due to several alkaloids. One of these, curarine, has now been made available to medicine for use in shock therapy, as it is an ideal muscle relaxant. Curarine is also used for chronic spastic conditions, in surgical operations and tetanus, and as a powerful sedative.

4. Quinine

Quinine is one of the most important drugs known, and it has been a great boon to mankind, as it is the only adequate cure for malaria. Although atabrine and similar synthetic products are valuable, they only complement quinine and are not substitutes for it. Quinine is obtained from the hard thick bark of several species of the genus Cinchona, handsome evergreen trees native to the Andes of South America.

C. Calisaya, C. Officinalis, C. Ledgeriana, and C. Succirubra have all been utilized.

In addition to its use in the treatment of malaria, it is valuable as a tonic and antiseptic and in treatment of fevers.

Save Nature Love Nature