Atropa belladonna

Effects

Overview

Atropa belladonna, commonly referred to as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a plant in the tomato family Solanaceae, which is native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia. It has deliriant tropane alkaloids. The foliage and berries are extremely toxic, containing tropane alkaloids. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine which cause a bizarre delirium and hallucinations (analogous to datura), and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics. PW

Atropa bella-donna, commonly known as deadly nightshade or belladonna, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant. It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey, its distribution extending from England in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada, North Africa and the United States.[1][2] WP

The foliage and berries are extremely toxic when ingested, containing tropane alkaloids. It can also be harmful to handle or touch these plants. These toxins include atropine, scopolamine, and hyoscyamine, which cause delirium and hallucinations, and are also used as pharmaceutical anticholinergics. Tropane alkaloids are of common occurrence not only in the Old World tribes Hyoscyameae (to which the genus Atropa belongs) and Mandragoreae, but also in the New World tribe Datureae—all of which belong to the subfamily Solanoideae of the plant family Solanaceae.[2–6] WP

Consumption of Atropa bella-donna has unpredictable effects. The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.[3][7] WP

The highly toxic ripe fruit can be distinguished from that of black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) by its larger berry size and larger stellate calyx (with long, broad and somewhat accrescent lobes protruding beyond the fruit) and the fact that A. bella-donna bears its berries singly, whilst S. nigrum bears spherical berries resembling tiny tomatoes in umbellate clusters. WP

History

History

Atropa bella-donna has a long history of use as a medicine, cosmetic, and poison. Known originally under various folk names (such as "deadly nightshade" in English), the plant was named Atropa bella-donna by Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) when he devised his classification system. Linnaeus chose the genus name Atropa because of the poisonous properties of these plants. Atropos (lit. "unturning one"), one of the Three Fates in Greek mythology, is said to have cut a person's thread of life after her sisters had spun and measured it. Linnaeus chose the species name bella-donna ("beautiful woman" in Italian) in reference to the cosmetic use of the plant during the Renaissance.[4][8][9] WP

Extracts of plants in the deadly nightshade family have been in use since at least the 4th century BC, when Mandragora (mandrake) was recommended by Theophrastus for treatment of wounds, gout, and sleeplessness, and as a love potion. In the first century BC, Cleopatra used atropine-rich extracts from the Egyptian henbane plant (also a nightshade) for the above-mentioned purpose of dilating the pupils of her eyes. WP⚠ Wikipedia itself has flagged this text: citation needed.

The use of deadly nightshades as a poison was known in ancient Rome, as attested by the rumour that the Roman empress Livia Drusilla used the juice of Atropa bella-donna berries to murder her husband, the emperor Augustus.[10] WP

In the first century AD, Dioscorides recognised wine of mandrake as an anaesthetic for treatment of pain or sleeplessness, to be given prior to surgery or cautery. The use of nightshade preparations for anaesthesia, often in combination with opium, persisted throughout the Roman and Islamic empires and continued in Europe until superseded in the 19th century by modern anaesthetics.[11] WP

The modern pharmacological study of Atropa bella-donna extracts was begun by the German chemist Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge (1795–1867). In 1831, the German pharmacist Heinrich F. G. Mein (1799–1864) succeeded in preparing a pure crystalline form of the active substance, named atropine.[12–15] WP

Legal status

Legal status

Cultivation is legal in Europe, Pakistan, North America, and Brazil. Belladonna leaves and roots can be bought with a medical prescription in pharmacies throughout Germany. In the United States, drugs containing tropane alkaloids such as atropine are prescription-only, and the FDA regards any over-the-counter products claiming efficacy and safety as an anticholinergic drug to be illegal.[16][17][18] WP

Pharmacology

Chemistry

Pop culture

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References

1. Other Plants of the World Online. 2012-06-01
2. Other Kennedy, David O. Plants and the Human Brain. 2014
3. Journal / agency Ulbricht, C; Basch, E; Hammerness, P; Vora, M; Wylie Jr, J; Woods, J. An evidence-based systematic review of belladonna by the natural standard research collaboration. Journal of Herbal Pharmacotherapy. 2004. doi:10.1080/J157v04n04_06 · PMID 15927926
4. Journal / agency Belladonna. 23 February 2015
5. Journal / agency Fatur, Karsten; Kreft, Samo. Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe - A review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018). Toxicon. April 2020. doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2020.02.005 · PMID 32217234
6. Other Kuhn, Cynthia; Swartzwelder, Scott; Wilson, Wilkie; Wilson, Leigh Heather; Foster, Jeremy. Buzzed. The Straight Facts about the Most Used and Abused Drugs from Alcohol to Ecstasy. 2008
7. Other Potter, Samuel O.L. A Handbook of Materia Medica Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 1893
8. Other Cult Presents: Sherlock Holmes – Bert Coules Interview
9. Journal / agency Fatur, Karsten. "Headless Her still in ICU at A time" in Ethnobotanical Perspective: A Historical Review of the Uses of Anticholinergic Solanaceae Plants in Europe. Economic Botany. June 2020. doi:10.1007/s12231-020-09498-w
10. Other According to the historian Tacitus, Livia was rumored to have squeezed the juice of the berries into a plate of figs which she fed to Augustus: Tacitus, Annals 1.5. See also John Emsley, Molecules of Murder: Criminal Molecules and Classic Cases, ch. 3.6, "History of Atropine as a poison
11. Journal / agency Robert S. Holzman, MD. The Legacy of Atropos. Anesthesiology. July 1998. doi:10.1097/00000542-199807000-00030 · PMID 9667313
12. Other Heinrich Friedrich Georg Mein
13. Other Heinrich Friedrich Georg Mein. Annalen der Pharmacie. 1833
14. Other Geiger; Hesse. Annalen der Pharmacie. 1833
15. Other Geiger; Hesse. Annalen der Pharmacie. 1833
16. Other Raetsch, Ch. The encyclopedia of psychoactive plants: ethnopharmacology and its applications. 2005
17. Other Lindequist, U. Haegers Handbuch der pharmazeutischen Praxis. 1992
18. Journal / agency Sec. 310.533 Drug products containing active ingredients offered over-the-counter (OTC) for human use as an anticholinergic in cough-cold drug products. 1 April 2018

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