Month: January 2017

Example of drugs from plants are:

Aspirin, quinine, morphine and many more. However a large proportion of drugs made from plants are not medically used.

Drugs must be tested before given out to people to use. This is because they are substances that cause changes to the body. If they are not created correctly for the person, it could cause harm instead of help them. The first stage to testing a drug is with human cells grown in a laboratory to make sure it is not toxic to us, make sure it is safe. This first stage is very crucial as this is probably the first version of the drug and it may not be developed right. It is common for the substance to fail this first test. After the first stage the drugs are tested on animals. A specific amount is given and then the animal is monitored very carefully for more or less the whole time, looking for any effect to appear. If the drug passes the second stage it is tested on healthy human volunteers. They are given a miniscule amount to make sure that there are no problems. Finally an optimum dose of the drug is tested on them and they are monitored. There is always the possibility that the dose could have unexpected side effects that harm, causing the drug to undergo more development, costing more and more money.

Antibodies play a key role in our immune system. They are proteins that are produced by the immune system to target and fight off antigens trying to cause an infection. For example this could be bacteria, a virus or another organism that is invading our body.

A pathogen will enter our body and soon our cells will recognise that it is an invader, an antigen. Then the particular white blood cells called lymphocytes would be alerted of these intruders and start creating antibodies. The antibodies are specifcally made to fight that certain antigen. Eventually the invader will be engulfed by numerous white blood cells known as macrophages or phagocyte. They are both called T-cells.

When the antigens have been dealt with, the antibodies still remain in case the same antigen attacks again. This means those antibodies will be ready the next time and respond almost instantly. For example if chicken pox returns for the second time, the antibody created by the immune system would remember how to fight it and kill it before the infection even starts. This is known as immunity.