The plant origins of active ingredients

(Image: Pixabay CC0) Since the dawn of time, humans have used plants to heal themselves. But it wasn't until the 18th century that we began to understand that this healing power came from certain specific compounds: active ingredients. In a collective work for the general public entitled 'Plantes soignantes' (Healing plants), the contributions of two biology researchers from the University of Neuchâtel, Emmanuel Defossez and Sergio Rasmann, retrace the major stages in this quest, the potential of which remains largely unexplored . The idea behind our approach was to understand how it was possible to isolate and then identify the chemical composition of natural plant products of medical interest to humans", explains Sergio Rasmann, Professor of Biology and Director of the Functional Ecology Laboratory. In other words, how, over the course of civilizations, knowledge of the medical effects of plants passed from the realm of magic to that of alchemy, before modern science and its tools were able to provide answers at the molecular level. We can cite three fundamental stages that led to the identification of substances responsible for medically interesting properties", notes Emmanuel Defossez, Senior Lecturer at the Functional Ecology Laboratory. During the Renaissance, although focused on minerals and rooted in a more mystical than scientific approach, the alchemical quest marked a first step towards the molecular description of living matter.