Antiseptics, antibiotics and chemotherapy
Michael J. O’Dowd in The History of Medications for Women, 2020
This great gynecologist of antiquity had an intimate working knowledge of puerperal fever and realized that the condition frequently had its base in the uterus, although he was also aware of the toxic effects of breast abscess. He recognized that ‘there are many conditions which precede the inflammation of the uterus, but the more frequent are cold, likewise pain, miscarriage, and a badly managed delivery, none of which make any difference in the treatment ... Inflammation [phlegmone] derives its name from inflame [phlegein], and not, as Democritus said, from phlegm [phlegma] being its cause’. Soranus mentioned the symptoms and signs of puerperal fever in great detail and offered various treatments. His materia medica included relaxing or warm olive oil, relaxing clysters, cupping, fomentations, leeches, poultices, scarification and wine. When fever and pain developed he prescribed the juice of nightshade (Temkin, 1956). Nightshade (Atropa sp.) is the narcotic herb from which atropine was obtained.
Cholinergic Antagonists
Sahab Uddin, Rashid Mamunur in Advances in Neuropharmacology, 2020
Atropa belladonna (A. belladonna) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Solanaceae Juss family. Since ancient times, this medicinal plant has been well known for spasmolytic and mydriatic effect. Atropine, an alkaloid isolated from the plant, is used by physicians to examine patients’ retina. Like atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine have some sedative effect and causes relaxation of smooth muscles. The high alkaloid content was observed in roots and leaves of A. belladonna which has promising spasmolytic activities (Genova, 1984). The belladonna alkaloid, atropine, is one of the earlier antimuscarinic compounds. The advancement in the knowledge of neurotransmission resulted in the effective use of these drugs. The type of antimuscarinic agents includes the naturally occurring alkaloids, such as atropine and hyoscine (which is also known as scopolamine); the semisynthetic derivatives, such as homatropine and ipratropium; and the synthetic congeners, such as darifenacin (Sharma and Sharma, 2017).
Von Economo’s encephalitis
Avindra Nath, Joseph R. Berger in Clinical Neurovirology, 2020
Anticholinergic medications were often beneficial, well tolerated, and tolerated in high doses [1]. These were the chief means of treatment until the availability of l-dopa. Mainly in the German literature there were multiple reports of the alkaloids, Harmin or Banisterine [91]. They chiefly affected the rigor and the hypokinesia with improvement in voluntary motor activity, strength and duration. Tremor was not affected [92]. Therapeutic effect on patients was variable. Long term treatment did not seem to have a negative effect on response [93]. Hyascin, which had a similar effect though with less dramatic improvement, made in general the patients subjective well-being better, so it was often used concomitantly [94]. Other authors achieved some therapeutical effect with high doses of Atropa belladonna, also known in the literature as the “Bulgarian treatment” [95].
Atropine in topical formulations for the management of anterior and posterior segment ocular diseases
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery, 2021
Ines García Del Valle, Carmen Alvarez-Lorenzo
Atropine is an alkaloid extracted from Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Datura stramonium (jimsonweed), and Hyoscyamus niger (henbane) plants that belong to the Solanaceae family. It is synthetized in the roots, with an alkaloid content that runs between 0.01% and 3% [2]. Atropine acts as a competitive, nonselective muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, affecting the central and peripheral nervous system by blocking receptors in exocrine glands, smooth and cardiac muscle, ganglia and intramural neurons [3]. According to different studies conducted on animals and humans, this alkaloid is widely distributed in tissues [4] and has a binding affinity constant in the range of 0.4–0.7 nM [5] for all five subtypes of muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M1 to M5) [6,7]. Therapeutically, atropine has a wide range of indications [2,3]. It is used as premedication for anesthesia and surgical procedures, as antisialagogue to inhibit salivation and excessive secretions, and as antivagal agent to prevent cholinergic effects during surgery [8]. Furthermore, this compound is able to reverse muscle relaxant effects [9].
Anticholinergic syndrome after atropine overdose in a supposedly homeopathic solution: a case report
Published in Clinical Toxicology, 2022
Sabrina Schmoll, Katrin Romanek, Gabriel Zorn, Hans Eiglmeier, Florian Eyer
Extracts of the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and its tropane alkaloid atropine are extensively (and controversially) used in high dilutions in homeopathic medications for the supportive treatment of diseases ranging from sunstroke, infections and inflammatory illnesses to neurological and respiratory conditions [1,2]. Homeopathic decimal dilutions (noted as “D”) are made by taking a “mother tincture” or DØ plant extract in ethanol and repeating a 1:10 dilution a set number of times. For a D4 solution a 1:10 dilution is repeated four times. Homeopathic atropine solutions in dilutions of D4 or higher are exempt from the prescription-only legislation in Germany as they do not contain enough atropine to plausibly have a pharmacological effect.
Prevalence of Stimulant, Hallucinogen, and Dissociative Substances Detected in Biological Samples of NPS-Intoxicated Patients in Italy
Published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2021
Pietro Papa, Antonella Valli, Marcello Di Tuccio, Eleonora Buscaglia, Elena Brambilla, Giulia Scaravaggi, Mariapina Gallo, Carlo Alessandro Locatelli
Tropane alkaloids. Atropine and scopolamine were identified in 38 cases (50% of hallucinogen positive cases) and in 35% of positive cases both molecules were present. This finding would suggest the use of psychoactive plants/herbs (i.e., Atropa belladonna) that contain both alkaloids. Positivity for other NPS emerged only once, in a urine positive for atropine and MDPV. Positive cases were equally distributed within the considered period.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Anticholinergic
- Antispasmodic
- Atropa Belladonna
- Mydriasis
- Solanum
- Atropine
- Scopolamine
- Hyoscyamine
- Tropane Alkaloid
- Deliriant