Topic overview

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Plant sources provide most crude drugs, with leaves, bark, roots, seeds, and other parts offering different constituents; correct identification and careful handling are important to plant-drug quality. Animal materials supply products such as hormones, enzymes, and oils, while microbial sources yield compounds including antibiotics and vitamins. Marine organisms are sources of structurally distinctive compounds, though limited access and biomass can affect supply. Mineral materials have uses ranging from adsorbents and protectants to supplements. Comparing these origins shows how source characteristics shape processing and quality considerations, including biosafety, cultivation, fermentation, collection, and testing. The lesson also introduces semisynthesis as a way of upgrading crude metabolites.