As an example of bulbous drugs we can consider the Scylla, cardioactive drug characterized by active principles (bufadienolides and cardienolides) that can be coded with certain reagents.
Onion is a bulb drug characterized by sulfur active ingredients, with expectorant power, while garlic, from the same family, has antihypertensive power. Drugs, of course, do not appear as we imagine them, but with dried biological structures, therefore with all the histological and organographic difficulties that may arise in their recognition. Bulb drugs can present themselves in LISTARELLE, in WEDGES or WHOLE. If they occur in strips, the recognition of Scylla is almost immediate; in other cases, if not the pharmacognostic criteria of drying are respected, it could also be other drugs, such as onion, in wedges or scales.This recognition process, which implements botanical, organographic and histological knowledge, is often associated with drug quality control, thus carrying out histochemical investigations.
The process obviously becomes more complicated for pulverized drugs, a mode of presentation typical of pharmacognosy, which presents greater difficulties in macroscopic botanical recognition. Examples of pulverized drugs are both vegetable, such as starch (a whitish drug), and mineral, such as diatomaceous earth. The latter is characterized by the external siliceous structure of diatoms and is often used to adulterate other types of drugs. . Diatomaceous earth, in fact, has macroscopic characteristics very similar to starch and for this reason it is used in frauds; however, its presence is recognizable because it does not color easily in the presence of iodine. Starch, on the contrary, in the presence of solutions alcoholic iodine - iodized, takes on a bluish or purplish color and is thus easily distinguishable from diatomaceous earth.
Under the microscope, it is possible to identify the starch drug because its granules, typical of each plant species, are recognized, therefore the source of derivation of the drug.
Even diatomaceous earth, if observed under a microscope, can easily be traced back to the source of origin; thanks to the identification and synoptic tables it is possible to identify the exoskeletons of the different types of diatoms.
Another pulverized drug is clay, of mineral origin, is presented in the form of a whitish powder. However, there are different types: some rich in iron (reddish), others rich in aluminum (yellowish), ensure that their recognition in a mixture of powders is more immediate. Through morphological and chemical investigations, the clay can be identified and easily discriminated from the others; its granulometry is different from both diatomaceous earth and starch and above all presents a very different reactivity to histochemical reagents. Lycopodium, the same pollen, camala, hops and goa are other types of pulverized drugs.
Other articles on "Drugs and their recognition: Bulb and powder drugs"
- Histochemical assays on fresh and dried drugs
- Pharmacognosy
- Drugs and their recognition