Scientists from Wrocław will recreate an old Polish mixture. Will it help in the fight against COVID-19?

Viper meat and beaver glands – these are just some of the ingredients needed to prepare an antiepidemic drug according to old Polish recipes. This unusual task has been undertaken by scientists from the Medical University of Wrocław and the University of Wrocław. As part of a project financed by the National Science Center, they are trying to recreate the drugs used in the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 2th and XNUMXth centuries and check whether they can work. Will researchers confirm its effectiveness and the potion known for centuries has a chance to be useful in the fight against the SARS-CoV-XNUMX pandemic?

1. Teriak is a multi-ingredient mixture used in medicine from antiquity until the XNUMXth century
2. However, this drug is very complicated, in the version we play, it requires the collection of 71 raw materials from three continents – says Dr. Danuta Raj from the Department and Department of Pharmacognosy and Plant Medicine of the Medical University of Warsaw
3. Scientists had to head hard to get the ingredients they needed. The discharge from the beaver scent glands was obtained thanks to … contraband seized by the customs services
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MedTvoiLokony talks with Dr. Danuta Raj from the Department of Pharmacognosy and Plant Medicine of the Medical University of Wroclaw, participating in a scientific project, about the idea of ​​recreating an old therapeutic recipe.

– The indications for the use of teriac were by no means a reason to undertake the reconstruction of this preparation – says Dr. Raj.

– Teriak was very popular and was used in the event of an epidemic or contact with toxins. This drug was also known as driakiew (while plants of the genus driakiew – Scabiosa spp. – have nothing to do with teriac and were not a component of it). However, faith in its effectiveness was so great that it was often included in other preparations. Hence, in order to be able to recreate the drugs used in the modern era (which is the main topic of the grant), the restoration of teriac turned out to be necessary. However, this drug is very complicated, in the version we recreate, it requires gathering 71 raw materials from three continents – he adds.

Potion known for centuries useful in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic?

Teriak, among many other uses, was supposed to protect against all blight. Will researchers confirm its effectiveness and the potion known for centuries has a chance to be useful in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic? According to Dr. Danuta Raj from the Chair and Department of Pharmacognosy and Plant Medicine of the Medical University of Wrocław, scientists are not yet able to answer the question about the real effectiveness of teriac. For this you will need laboratory tests of the reconstructed preparation.

– None of the individual components of this medicine show any outstanding antiviral activity. However, there is a certain chance that such a complicated preparation will have a synergistic effect, thanks to which the preparation as a whole will show effects that none of the individual ingredients has – explains Dr. Raj.

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– If the synergy is not confirmed, it remains to be assumed that the effectiveness of teriac reported by people of that time was based on the placebo effect. Unfortunately, laboratory tests are extremely long-lasting, so most likely by the end of the current pandemic, it will not be possible to get an answer to the question of the actual effectiveness of teriac. In addition, this drug contains opium, i.e. a narcotic substance, which practically excludes the wide use of this preparation in the original version – he adds.

Teriak – a cure for an epidemic

Teriak was known already in antiquity, his popularity lasted until the XNUMXth century. It was used all over Europe as an antidote to poisoning, and was especially appreciated during the epidemic. It was supposed to protect against illness and death, so it was also taken prophylactically. Not everyone could afford teriak, it was expensive and only licensed pharmacists were involved in the production. Venetian teriak was the most valued, its recipe was considered to be the model. Thanks to the licensing system, it has spread also in Poland.

In Europe, many recipes for teriak have survived to the present day, but Wrocław scientists decided to rely solely on the recipes created in the then Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

– We also wanted these recipes to be actually implemented in practice – says Dr. Danuta Raj. – We want to reproduce the medicine actually taken by people as accurately as possible.

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In search of old recipes, historians searched dozens of documents: old Polish diaries, letters, diaries, but also recipients, dispensatories, herbariums and city notes (some medicines had to be accepted by councilors). Laxatives dominated in the former pharmacy, because according to the humoral theory, in force from antiquity to the XNUMXth century, the source of most diseases was an excess of pathogenic substances in the body. You had to cleanse yourself of them to recover. Hence the popularity of laxatives, many of which are still used today (e.g. senna).

Scientists decided to restore teriac in the first place because it was, as such or in a processed form, a component of many other reconstituted preparations. So despite the fact that it consists of as many as 71 ingredients, they decided to try to create it. As a basis, they adopted a prescription used by a licensed pharmacist in 1630, the use of which has been confirmed historically. Of course, the whole process was quite difficult. According to Dr. Danuta Raj, one of the problems with identifying the ingredients of pre-Linnaeus drugs is the non-standardized nomenclature. Pharmacists wrote in Latin, often used their own abbreviations, but the worst part was that one substance could have different names, depending on the region or even the author.

– Some of the names today mean something different than they used to be. This was the case, for example, with cardamom, one of the ingredients of the teriak we recreate. Under the name of “cardamom” on the recipe in Toruń there was an ingredient called “paradise grain”, and the actual cardamom was called Amomi Fructus. It was not difficult to make a mistake, but we solved this puzzle – says Dr. Raj.

Getting the ingredients of the blight medicine

Getting the individual components of the drug was not easy. Some plants are under strict protection, some are no longer used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, so no one grows them. You have to look for them in the regions where they occur – in the Mediterranean countries, in Madagascar or in Uganda. Scientists use any means, writing hundreds of e-mails and sending out tenders wherever they can. They ask for help from embassies, religious communities, but also friends, travelers, botanists – thanks to them we manage to obtain new ingredients from all over the world.

Where to get the meat of the viper, which is a protected species in Poland, necessary for the production of teriak? Researchers from Wrocław contacted the State Forests, and foresters approached the matter with understanding and collected specimens of reptiles that died under the wheels for research purposes. Sometimes scientists are lucky. The so-called the beaver outfit, i.e. the secretion from the scent glands of our native beaver, was obtained thanks to… contraband seized by the customs services.

– We read by accident in the newspaper about the detention of such unusual goods on the Polish-Belarusian border – says Dr. Maciej Włodarczyk from the Department and Department of Pharmacognosy and Plant Medicine at the Medical University in Wrocław. – In Belarus, beaver glands are still used to make traditional tinctures, so smuggling is flourishing. We asked the National Revenue Administration to hand over the seized goods to us for research purposes. It required a lot of formalities, but thanks to the kindness of the Podlasie Customs and Tax Office officials, we managed to have several pieces of “beaver clothing” for our teriak.

Scientists already have most of the ingredients in teriac

Scientists from Wrocław have already obtained most of the ingredients of teriak. The only thing they lack is opium, the purchase of which requires the consent of the GIF, because it is a narcotic substance. When this problem is solved, the restoration process will begin, during which scientists will turn into old Polish pharmacists.

– During the phytochemical analysis, we check which active ingredients are in the preparation – explains Dr. Raj. – It often turns out that due to the method of preparation, they have lost their original properties. An example is the lily of the valley, the flowers of which contain cardiac glycosides. Preparations made of it could be used as cardiac, if seventeenth-century pharmacists did not prepare a distillate from it. Glycosides do not pass into the distillate, so the preparation is deprived of what is the most therapeutically valuable in the plant.

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Scientists at the Pharmacy Museum of the Medical University of Wrocław help in the use of old methods of drug production, which makes its exhibits available for the project – centuries-old mortars, old piglets for the production of “healing balls” and other pharmacy relics of the past in the modern laboratory of the Department of Pharmacognosy and Plant Medicine of the Medical University of Warsaw get a second life . After the medicine is reconstituted, the researchers will review it thoroughly. They will show whether the high price and reputation of teriac were justified not only because for many centuries it was only an effective placebo.

Can Medicines Based On Natural Ingredients Be Effective Against A Virus Like COVID-19?

According to Dr. Danuta Raj, there are plant substances with proven immunomodulatory or, specifically, antiviral properties, so as a rule, raw materials of natural origin can potentially prove effective in the fight against viruses, including coronaviruses.

– However, I would like to emphasize that neither teriac nor any other preparation based on plant substances can be used as a drug for COVID-19, because there are no studies confirming such effectiveness – he emphasizes.

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