Source Element of Drugs

·         Pilocarpine is the chief alkaloid obtained from the leaflets of South American shrubs of the genus Pilocarpus.

·         Physostigmine, also called eserine, is an alkaloid obtained from the Calabar or ordeal bean, the dried, ripe seed of Physostigma venenosum, Balfour, a perennial plant found in tropical West Africa. The Calabar bean once was used by native tribes of West Africa as an "ordeal poison" in trials for witchcraft.

·         The most potent curare alkaloids are the toxiferines, obtained from Strychnos toxifera.

·         morphine is obtained from opium or extracted from poppy straw. Opium is obtained from the unripe seed capsules of the poppy plant, Papaver somniferum. The milky juice is dried and powdered to make powdered opium, which contains a number of alkaloids. Only a few¾morphine, codeine, and papaverine¾have clinical usefulness.

·         Senna is obtained from the dried leaflets on pods of Cassia acutifolia or Cassia angustifolia and contains the rhein dianthrone glycosides sennoside A and B.

·         Cascara sagrada ("sacred bark") is obtained from the bark of the buckthorn tree and contains the glycosides barbaloin and chrysaloin.

·         The two common preparations of pancreatic enzymes for replacement therapy are obtained from the pancreas of the hog (Sus scrofa Linne var. domesticus Gray).

·         6-aminopenicillanic acid could be obtained from cultures of P. chrysogenum

·         The rifamycins (rifampin, rifabutin, rifapentine) are a group of structurally similar, complex macrocyclic antibiotics produced by Amycolatopsis mediterranei

·         Recombinant interferon alfa-2b (IFN-alpha 2, INTRON A) is obtained from Escherichia coli by recombinant expression.

·         Chorionic gonadotropin which mimics the action of LH, is obtained from the urine of pregnant women.

·         Menotropins [men-oh-TROE-pin] (human menopausal gonadotropins, or hMG) are obtained from the urine of menopausal women and contain FSH and luteinizing hormone LH.

·         Urofollitropin is FSH obtained from menopausal women and is devoid of LH.

·         Sirolimus is a recently approved macrolide obtained from fermentations of a soil mold. The earlier name and one that is sometimes still used is rapamycin.

·         Erythromycin: Streptomyces erythreus

·         Bacitracin: a polypeptide obtained from a strain (Tracy strain) of Bacillus subtilis