Did You Know? The Natural World Inspires Essential Medicines
Nature has been used in medicine and research for tens of thousands of years, whether providing a substance to derive a new treatment, lending inspiration for innovation, or building upon old ideas to refine them. Plants have contributed to approximately 40% of all modern medicines, resulting in lifesaving research and improving quality of life. Some plants have contributed to the most essential or everyday medicines currently available, from pain relief to heart and glucose medications. Both medicines described below are on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines. Published every two years, this list includes medicines that “satisfy the priority health care needs of a population.”
Willow trees to aspirin
Dating back to 3000 B.C.E., Egyptians and Sumerians used willow trees as a painkiller, extracting salicin from the bark and using it for pain relief. From here, a long path to find the best and most effective way to extract and administer the pain relief drug began. There is an old myth that Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician that many call the father of medicine, was the first to use aspirin. While he may not have been the first, it is likely that he did use it, as many ancient Greek and Roman physicians are known to have used willow bark and leaf extracts in their pain treatments for patients. It was commonly chewed or brewed into tea to ease pain, but the salicin wasn’t strong enough in that form to be effective. In the latter half of the 1700s, Edward Stone in England used dried, powdered willow bark in curing fevers, and he reported that this dried form concentrated the salicin. In the early 1800s, chemist Henri Leroux succeeded in extracting the active ingredient from willow trees, and shortly afterward, a scientist in Germany, Joseph Buchner, purified the ingredient and officially named it salicin (the Latin word for willow being “salix”). Then, later that century, another chemist, Felix Hoffmann, found that adding an acetyl group to salicylic acid makes it more effective and less irritant, giving us what is known today as aspirin. The first tablet form was produced and distributed in 1900.
Foxglove to digoxin
Digitalis (common name: foxglove) is a genus of 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants that are used in some heart medications. While it is possible that it was used earlier, the first written record of foxglove was made in 1542 by German physician and botanist Leonhart Fuchs. But medicinally, it wasn’t highly speculated on until English physician William Withering documented its use in 1775 for edema. Similar to the account above regarding the use of dried, powdered willow bark and leaves, Withering found that dried and powdered foxglove leaf was more effective than just the leaves themselves or steeped in tea. While his clinical trials were not perfect, and there was some skepticism over toxicity, he did succeed in bringing the potential uses of foxglove to attention. Digitalis had sporadic use for a while after that, and research was conducted to investigate different plant species in that genus. Until the 1930s, Digitalis purpurea was the main species used, but a transition began when Digitalis lanata began showing promise for being more potent and effective. In fact, an extraction of a new substance from this species by researcher Sydney Smith was named digoxin. Digoxin is now one of the most commonly used cardiac glycosides as treatments for heart failure, slowing the heart rate and helping the heart muscle pump with more force.
As researchers learn more and have access to funding and the latest technologies, not only can new ideas emerge, but old ideas can inspire improvements and innovations. The vast majority (85%) of Americans believe that the federal government should support basic scientific research that advances the frontiers of knowledge, even if there is no immediate benefit. Over time, humans try more, discover more, and learn more. Looking into old research or observing the world around us could lead to life-changing medical and health research to benefit us all.