title: Anglo-Saxon pharmacopoeia revisited: a potential treasure in drug discovery.
abstract: Three of the four major Anglo-Saxon collections reporting medicinal formulations in England from the 10th century, the Old English Herbarium, Bald's Leechbook and the Lacnunga, could contain leads and insights into new medicinal uses. Previous pharmacological studies of medicinal plants mentioned in Anglo-Saxon medical texts suggested that some were effective and led to the identification and isolation of natural compounds. For example, matricin from yarrow Achillea millefolium L., is a proprionic acid analogue that yields chamazulene carboxylic acid with cyclooxygenase-2 activity similar to that of ibuprofen. As we discuss here, multidisciplinary projects could further explore historical texts to discover additional plant metabolites with potential pharmacological applications.
authors.affiliation: Medicines Research Group, School of Health and Bioscience, University of East London, Romford Road, London E15 4LZ, UK.
authors.forename: Frances
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Watkins
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pendry
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Corcoran
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanchez-Medina
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055808:Drug Discovery / Q000379:methods*; D004739:England; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D010602:Pharmacopoeias as Topic / Q000266:history*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal