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Atropa Belladonna
and
Scopolamine
Michelle Pryce
Chemistry 211
13 June 2008
Atropa belladonna
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Scopolamine is derived
from the Atropa
belladonna plant.
This plant is commonly
known as the “Deadly
Nightshade”.
The plant is a perennial
herbaceous plant that
can grow to over 5m in
height.
Atropa Belladonna
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The leaves are dull,
but shiny green. They
are similar in texture to
poison ivy.
It produces purple,
bell-shaped flowers.
The flowers then
produce shiny black,
sweet berries.
Atropa Belladonna
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Atropa belladonna also goes
by the following other names:
dwale, banewort, devil's
cherries, naughty man's
cherries, divale, black cherry,
devil's herb, great morel, and
dwayberry.
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The plant is native to Central
and Southern Europe, North
Africa, and Southwest Asia, it
and has been successfully
cultivated in North and South
America as well as parts of
Russia.
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It is considered one of the
deadliest plant in the Western
Hemisphere.
Toxicity of Atropa Belladonna
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Atropa belladonna is one of
the most toxic plants found on
Earth.
Children have been poisoned
by eating as few as three
berries.
Ingestion of a leaf of the A.
belladonna can be fatal to an
adult.
The root of the plant is
generally the most toxic part of
the plant. Belladonna leaves,
if handled carelessly, can
cause pus filled blisters on the
hands.
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Symptoms of A. belladonna
poisoning include dilated
pupils and blurred vision.
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Also included are husky voice,
hallucinations, loss of balance,
a feeling of flight, staggering, a
sense of suffocation, paleness
followed by a red rash,
flushing, extremely dry throat,
constipation, tachycardia,
urinary retention, and
confusion.
Historic Uses of A. belladonna
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Belladonna is Italian for ‘beautiful lady’ and was
used cosmetically for hundreds of years.
Belladonna was used by women in order to dilate
the pupils.
This produced a dreamy, intoxicated state that
was considered the epitome of beauty at one
time.
However, repeated use caused fuzzy vision and
eventually blindness.
Medicinal uses of A. belladonna
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Atropine—
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Used in ACLS protocol for
symptomatic bradycardia.
Used to reverse effects of
nerve agent in chemical
poisoning.
Used to treat organophosphate poisoning.
Used by ophthalmologists
for pupil dilation in eye
exams.
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Scopolamine—
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Used to treat nausea and
vomiting.
Used to treat motion
sickness and vertigo.
Used to treat IBS,
enterocolitis, and duodenal
ulcers to stop intestinal
spasms.
Used in cold/flu medicines
to help dry up excess
mucus
Folklore and historical references
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Some of the first anesthetics, dating back to the days of Pliny the
Elder (1st century AD), were derived from the Atropa family of
plants.
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“Witches’ Brew”
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A tea made from the leaves of the plant produce hallucinations
in which the drinker thinks he thinks he is flying.
Devil’s Cherries
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According to folklore, the devil has exclusive right to use the
plant in any form.
Anyone who uses the plant without the devil’s permission will be
visited and killed by the devil.
Historical references
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In Homer’s Odyssey, Circe’s
transformation of Odysseus’
fellows into pigs is attributed to
hallucinations caused by A.
belladonna.
Belladonna is the plant that
poisoned the troops of Marcus
Antonius during the Parthian
wars.
According to the History of
Scotland (1582), Macbeth
poisoned an entire army with a
drink containing an infusion of
belladonna and alcohol.
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Juliet of Romeo and Juliet took
an infusion of belladonna to
produce her death-like sleep.
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Mentioned in Little Women as
a sleeping aid.
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Mentioned in the movies The
Nightmare Before Christmas,
Perfect Stranger, Robocop 2,
and Practical Magic as ways to
sedate or kill a nemesis and in
the TV shows CSI and House
as a way to commit criminal
activities.
Scopolamine
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The name Scopolamine is
derived from Dr. J A Scopoli, a
chemist, naturalist, and
instructor of chemistry and
metallurgy, who isolated some
beneficial properties of A.
belladonna while working in
Slovenia in the 1750’s and
1760’s.
Dr. Scopoli was also a
physician who was assigned
to treat miners in the mines of
Slovenia.
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He was trying to isolate a cure
for mercury poisoning when he
isolated the derivative of
scopolamine.
He did not find a cure form
mercury poisoning, however,
scopolamine is a very useful
drug.
Today, it is used medicinally
for treatment of motion
sickness, gastrointestinal
cramping, and recovery from
anesthesia and surgery.
Other uses of scopolamine
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1940’-1960’s- used by obstetrics in combination
with morphine a to produce a tranquilized ‘twilight
sleep’ for mothers in labor.
Used in 1950’s by CIA and others in Project
MKULTA, as an interrogation drug.
Used in 1950’s and 60 in Asthmador, a drug to
treat asthma and bronchitis.
Used up to 1990 as OTC sleep aid.
Used today illegally as date rape drug in
Colombia and Thailand.