1 / 8

Healing Nature - Plant Medicines and Biodiversity

Explore the power of plants in medicine, from ancient remedies like willow bark to groundbreaking discoveries like Taxol. Discover how biodiversity holds the key to future cures.

fuller
Télécharger la présentation

Healing Nature - Plant Medicines and Biodiversity

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Chapter 3Living Resources Section 4 Search for New Medicines Notes 3-4

  2. Plants and Medicines • Plants have the ability to heal and fight disease • Moss can be used on cuts or wounds to heal • Bark of the willow tree was once used to make aspirin • Results from the plants ability to adapt to their environment • Produce chemicals to protect them • Some can be used also to help us

  3. Taxol • Pacific yew tree is resistant to disease and insects • As scientist studied it to determine why, they found crystals in its bark • Crystals are made from a chemical called taxol • This protects the tree from disease and insects

  4. Taxol • This substance causes cancer cells to stop dividing • Usually cancer cells divide and spread quickly • Taxol builds a cage around the cell to prevent it from dividing • Now used to treat cancer patients • Stopped cancer from spreading • Caused tumors to decrease in size

  5. Threatened Supply of Taxol • It takes bark from 3 Pacific yew trees to make enough taxol for one cancer patient. • Scientists are concerned that the Pacific yew tree is becoming threatened • Taxol is a complex chemical • It was not synthesized until 1996 • Hopefully it will help save the Pacific yew tree

  6. Chemical Structure of Taxol

  7. Biodiversity and Medicine • Almost half of the medicines used today have an origin in nature. • Not all species of plants and animals have been found yet • There may still be cures out there • American Medical Association asked for protection of earth’s biodiversity • Hopefully it will help save any cures yet to be found

More Related