49754 - Plant Biology including Pharmaceutical Botany elements

Course contents

INTRODUCTION Characteristic of the living. Plants and animals. Notion of vegetal organism. Classification of vegetals : Thallophyte and Cormophyte. Importance of vegetals.

CYTOLOGY Cellular theory. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic cell. Vegetal eukaryotic cell : shapes, sizes and compartmentalizations. Meristematic cell and adult cell. Cell wall in Plants : formation, growth, chemical composition, structure, functions; middle lamella, primary wall, secondary wall; secondary mo difications of wall; bordered pits, poro channel and plasmodesma; phragmoplast, symplast and apoplast. Cell wall in Algaes and Mushrooms. System of vacuoles : origin, development, structure and functions; tonoplast and cell sap; including solids and products of secondary metabolism. Plastids : origin, development, structure, types and functions. Chloroplasts, Chromoplasts, Leucoplasts, Gerontoplasts. Primary and secondary starch. Starches of F.U.I. Cellular components of pharmaceutical interest and diagnostic character.

HISTOLOGY Colonies, pseudo-tissues, tissues. Meristematic tissues (primary and secondary); tegmenic tissues (rhizoderm, epidermis, endoderm, esoderm, cork); Stomas and Stomatic Index of F.U.I.; parenchymatic tissues (chlorophyllian parenchyma, reserve parenchyma, conducting parenchyma, air parenchyma, water parenchyma); mechanical tissues (collenchyma and sclerenchyma); conducting tissues (xylem and phloem). Histological diagnostic characters.

ORGANOGRAPHY The whole plant; herbaceous planta, woody plants (trees and shrubs); vital cycle of plants. Root : functions and external organization; anatomy : meristematic zone, primary structure zone and secondary structure zone; metemorphosis of root. Stem : functions and external organization; anatomy : meristematic zone, primary structure zone and secondary structure zone; secondary wood in Gymnosperms and woody Dicotyledones; metemorphosis of stem. Leaf : functions and external organization; anatomy of bifacial, equifacial, acicular; metemorphosis of leaves. REPRODUCTION BIOLOGY Asexual and sexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction in Angiosperms. Structure of flower, pollen and pollination, formation of fruit and seed, shedding and germination. Seeds. True fruits, false fruits and infructescence. Pharmaceutical importance and diagnostic characters concerning root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. ELEMENTS OF PHYSIOLOGY Metabolism : anabolism and catabolism; autotrophism and heterotrophism. Photosynthesis : brief outline of basic mechanisms.

Monographs of medical plants:

Aloe sp., Atropa belladonna., Matricaria recutita, Catharanthus roseus, Chamaemelum nobile. Cannabis sativa,  Cassia sp., Cinchona sp., Digitalis purpurea, Erythroxylon coca,  Eucalyptus globulus, Gentiana lutea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Hypericum perforatum,  Menta x piperita, Papaver somniferum, Rhamnus pursiana,  Rheum sp., Ricinus communis,  Taxus baccata,  Valeriana officinalis.

Readings/Bibliography

 A. BRUNI ET AL. biologia farmaceutica. 2014, PEARSON ITALIA, MILANO

MAUGINI E. et al. Manuale di Botanica Farmaceutica, VIII ed. 2006 PICCIN PADOVA

 SPERANZA, CALZONI, Struttura delle piante in immagini . Ed.Zanichelli, Bologna, 1996.

Assessment methods

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Office hours

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