Professor Georg Dragendorff (1836-1898) as a Toxicologist

The professor of pharmacy, Johann Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836-1898) is primarily known in the history of pharmacy as a pharmacognosist and forensic chemist, so far he has been less described as a toxicologist. He worked for 30 years (1864-1894) at the University of Dorpat (Tartu) in Estonia, and had been invited from Germany, developing here one of the pharmaceutical research centers in all of Europe. Dr. Dragendorff supervised 90 theses of Master of Pharmacy and 87 theses of Doctor of Medicine in Tartu/Dorpat. Dragendorff's supervised master's theses reveal his particular interest in phytochemistry. Of the 87 doctoral dissertations supervised by Dragendorff, are related to forensic chemistry (26 works), and toxicology with pharmacology (21). This work introduces Dragendorff as a toxicologist, discusses the theses supervised by him and his textbooks. Dragendorff's development as a toxicologist was logical considering his extensive scientific activities and the drugs characteristic of the 19 th century. These, especially alkaloids and mercury preparations, are introduced in more detail in this study.

Dragendorff's reagent: Historical perspectives and current status of a versatile reagent introduced over 150 years ago at the University of Dorpat, Tartu, Estonia

The well-known Dragendorff's reagent (DR) was introduced by an Estonian-German Professor Johann Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836-1898) in the middle of the 19th century (1866). Dragendorff, who was a full-time professor in pharmacy at the university of Dorpat (Tartu) used his reagent originally for the rapid screening of herbal products to find traces of alkaloids. DR is a solution of potassium bismuth iodide composing of basic bismuth nitrate (Bi(NO₃)₃), tartaric acid, and potassium iodide (KI), and when contact with alkaloids DR produces an orange or orange red precipitate. In this review article, we make a short historical overview on the biography and scientific research work of Professor Dragendorff at the University of Dorpat. The chemistry, method of preparation, mechanism of action, and practical uses of DR in various disciplines in various European countries including the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Finland, Ukraine, Moldova, and in Asia (Vietnam), are also discussed. Over several decades, DR and its modifications have found uses in many new applications and disciplines, and a number of commercial DRs are also currently available on the market. Today, DR is used for example in the production of surfactants, where non-ionic surfactant is precipitated in water solution with modified DR (KBiI₄+BaCl₂+glacial acetic acid). Total six different potassium iodobismuthate (DR) solutions are also presented in the European Pharmacopoeia. In conclusion, DR (after more than 150 years of its invention in Estonia) has still an important role in pharmaceutical and related sciences all over the world.

THE EFFECT OF COMMON SAGE EXTRACTS ON THE INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA IN EXPERIMENTAL INFECTIOUS COLITIS

Nowadays, the etiological treatment of infectious diarrhea in both acute intestinal disorders and in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases is based on the use of antibiotics.Given the global formation of antibiotic-resistant strains of many pathogens, their rapid spread and the pronounced negative side effects of antibiotics on the macro-organism, the current trend is the search and creation of new drugs based on natural raw materials. Common Sage (CS) which antimicrobial effect is known, can be used to create drugs for the complex treatment of intestinal diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the use of CS extracts for the treatment of dysbiotic disorders that occurred in experimental infectious colitis in rats. To create experimental dysbiosis, animals were administered a suspension of microorganisms S. aureus, C. perfringens, C. albicans. The effect of 50% CS extract, complex of CS phenolic compounds with L-lysine was compared with the action of the antibiotic rifaximin and placebo on different groups of animals. The study found that the use of CS extracts of the drug show in the experiment in vivo antagonistic effect, in the comparison with the antibiotic, on microorganisms, but did not inhibit the representatives of normal gut microbiota. Thus, certain efficacy of CS for the correction of dysbiotic disorders has been revealed, which may be promising for further study of the use of CS extracts in the complex treatment of colitis.