Atropa belladonna: Difference between revisions
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[[Donnatal]], or the generic belladonna, is an FDA approved prescription pharmaceutical that contains "natural belladonna alkaloids... combined with [[phenobarbital]] to provide peripheral [[anticholinergic]]/antispasmodic action and mild sedation." It is indicated and FDA approved as "possibly effective" for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and acute enterocolitis and as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of duodenal ulcers.<ref>[http://www.donnatal.com/donnatal/pi_extentabs.asp Donnatal Extentabs® : Prescribing Information]</ref> The modern medical application for these ailments is similar to the traditional and naturopathic applications, although the latter generally indicates use for a wider range of ailments.<ref>[http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/nighde05.html botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Nightshade, Deadly]</ref> |
[[Donnatal]], or the generic belladonna, is an FDA approved prescription pharmaceutical that contains "natural belladonna alkaloids... combined with [[phenobarbital]] to provide peripheral [[anticholinergic]]/antispasmodic action and mild sedation." It is indicated and FDA approved as "possibly effective" for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and acute enterocolitis and as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of duodenal ulcers.<ref>[http://www.donnatal.com/donnatal/pi_extentabs.asp Donnatal Extentabs® : Prescribing Information]</ref> The modern medical application for these ailments is similar to the traditional and naturopathic applications, although the latter generally indicates use for a wider range of ailments.<ref>[http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/n/nighde05.html botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Nightshade, Deadly]</ref> |
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Belladonna (as Atropa Belladonna Extract) can be found in some over-the-counter cold and flu medicines and anti-snore formulations (in small amounts) due to its [[pseudoephedrine]]-like qualities of clearing up nasal and other passages where mucus forms.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} |
Belladonna (as Atropa Belladonna Extract) can be found in some over-the-counter cold and flu medicines and anti-snore formulations (in small amounts) due to its [[pseudoephedrine]]-like qualities of clearing up nasal and other passages where mucus forms.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} |
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===Recreational drug=== |
===Recreational drug=== |
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Revision as of 19:43, 2 July 2008
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| Illustration from Koehler's Medicinal Plants 1887 | |
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| Species: | A. belladonna
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| Atropa belladonna | |
Atropa belladonna , commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a perennial herbaceous plant with leaves and berries that are extremely toxic, with hallucinogenic properties.
The species is native to Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, and has become naturalized in parts of North America. In areas where it has become naturalized it can often be found in shady, moist areas with a limestone-rich soil.
Description
Atropa belladonna is a branching herbaceous perennial growing to 5 metre tall, with 18 cm long ovate leaves; it has the heaviest leaf in its angiosperm group. The leaves have an oily, "poison ivy"-like feel and a dull green color. The bell-shaped flowers are purple and the fruits are black, shiny berries measuring approximately 1 cm in diameter. The berries are sweet, but the seeds contain toxic alkaloids. There is a pale yellow flowering form called Atropa belladonna var. lutea with pale yellow fruit.
It is not a winter-hardy perennial; transplantation often leads to its death. Germination is often difficult due to seed dormancy and generally occurs after several weeks under warm moist conditions. The seedlings need sterile soil to prevent damping off. It is an uncommon garden plant, and is considered a weed in some areas.
Naming and taxonomy
The common names for this species include, dwale, banewort, devil's cherries, naughty man's cherries, divale, black cherry, devil's herb, great morel, and dwayberry.[1] It is one of two species to be known as Deadly nightshade, the other is Solanum nigrum. The first botanical description was by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753.[2] It is in the nightshade family (Solanaceae), which it shares with potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, jimsonweed, tobacco, goji, and chili peppers.
Toxicity
Belladonna is one of the most toxic plants found in the Western hemisphere. All parts of the plant contain tropane alkaloids.[3] The berries pose the greatest danger to children because they look attractive and have a somewhat sweet taste;[1] children have died after eating as few as three berries. The root of the plant is generally the most toxic part, though this can vary from one specimen to another,[4] but ingestion of a single leaf of the plant can be fatal to an adult. Careless contact with Belladonna leaves can cause pus filled blisters.
Symptoms of belladonna poisoning are the same as those for atropine (a tropane alkaloid), and include dilated pupils, tachycardia, hallucinations, blurred vision, loss of balance, a feeling of flight, staggering, a sense of suffocation, paleness followed by a red rash, flushing, husky voice, extremely dry throat, constipation, urinary retention, and confusion.[citation needed] The plant's deadly symptoms are caused by atropine's disruption of the parasympathetic nervous system's ability to regulate non-volitional/subconscious activities such as sweating, breathing, and heart rate. Heartbeat and breathing can become extremely irregular, and in fatal cases pulse turns rapid, and then feeble.[citation needed] The antidote for belladonna poisoning is physostigmine or pilocarpine, the same as for atropine.[5]
Atropa belladonna is toxic to many domestic animals and livestock. Belladonna poisoning can lead to colic, depression, weakness, and lack of coordination in horses, with fatalities reported even for small amounts from 1 to 10 pounds (0.5 to 5 kg).[citation needed] Many animals, such as rabbits, birds and deer, seem to eat the plant without suffering harmful effects, though dogs and cats are affected. [6][verification needed]
Uses
Cosmetics
The common name belladonna originates from its historic use by women - Bella Donna is Italian for beautiful lady. Drops prepared from the Belladonna plant were used to dilate women's pupils, an effect considered attractive.[7][8] Today it is known that the atropine in Belladonna acts as an antimuscarinic, blocking receptors in the muscles of the eye that constrict pupil size.[9] Belladonna is currently rarely used cosmetically, as it carries the adverse effects of causing minor visual distortions, inability to focus on near objects, and increased heart rate. Prolonged usage was reputed to cause blindness.
Medicine
The plant is an important source of atropine, which is an effective treatment for the effects of poisoning by cholinesterase inhibitors such as Parathion and Malathion.[citation needed] Atropine will also reverse the effects of poisoning by nerve agents designed for chemical warfare,[10] and in Europe, the plant is specifically cultivated for this purpose.[citation needed] While atropine can treat the symptoms of poisoning from these organophosphate compounds, the antidote to atropine is the unrelated compound pralidoxime.[citation needed] Atropine is also an important drug in ACLS protocols.
Optometrists and ophthalmologists use atropine for pupil dilation in eye examinations, though the dose used is small.[citation needed] Atropine degrades slowly, typically wearing off in 2 to 3 days, so tropicamide and phenylephrine are generally preferred as a mydriatic.[citation needed] Atropine is contraindicated in patients predisposed to narrow angle glaucoma.[citation needed]
Donnatal, or the generic belladonna, is an FDA approved prescription pharmaceutical that contains "natural belladonna alkaloids... combined with phenobarbital to provide peripheral anticholinergic/antispasmodic action and mild sedation." It is indicated and FDA approved as "possibly effective" for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and acute enterocolitis and as an adjunctive therapy in the treatment of duodenal ulcers.[11] The modern medical application for these ailments is similar to the traditional and naturopathic applications, although the latter generally indicates use for a wider range of ailments.[12]
Belladonna (as Atropa Belladonna Extract) can be found in some over-the-counter cold and flu medicines and anti-snore formulations (in small amounts) due to its pseudoephedrine-like qualities of clearing up nasal and other passages where mucus forms.[citation needed]
Recreational drug
Atropa belladonna has been used as a recreational drug. It is consumed raw, or in the form of a tea, and can produce vivid hallucinations described by many as a 'living dream'. [citation needed] Recreational users experience all the severe, adverse anticholinergic effects of the drug before and during any hallucination. Use of Belladonna for recreational purposes is considered extremely dangerous because of the risks of unintentional overdose.[citation needed]
Folklore
Stories claim that the devil has the exclusive rights to plant and harvest this plant. Hence, anyone eating it is visited and killed by the devil. Many also believed it was a temptation for greedy children as the berries seem to be offered on green, pentagram plates and look very appetizing.[citation needed]
In the past, it was believed by some that witches used a mixture of belladonna, opium poppy, and other plants, typically poisonous (such as monkshood and poison hemlock) in flying ointment they applied to help them fly to gatherings with other witches. Carlo Ginzburg and others have argued that flying ointments were preparations meant to encourage hallucinatory dreaming; a possible explanation for the inclusion of belladonna and opium poppy in flying ointments concerns the known antagonism between tropane alkaloids of belladonna (specifically scopolamine) and opiate alkaloids in Papaver somniferum (specifically morphine), which produces a dream-like waking state. This antagonism was known in folk medicine, discussed in Eclectic (botanical) medicine formularies[13], and posited as the explanation of how flying ointments might have actually worked in contemporary writing on witchcraft.[14] The antagonism between opiates and tropanes is the original basis of the Twilight Sleep that was provided to Queen Victoria to deaden pain as well as consciousness during childbrith, and which was later modified so that isolated alkaloids were used instead of plant materials, the whole belladonna herb especially being notable for its unpredictability of effect and toxicity.[15][16]
Belladonna in the Media
Belladonna appears in popular media, sometimes by the name "Deadly Nightshade".
- Daniel Lanois created an instrumental album called Belladonna. One track is entitled "The Deadly Nightshade".
- The 1998 fantasy movie Practical Magic had Sandra Bullock's character mix it in tequila to sedate the abusive boyfriend of Nicole Kidman's character, but he dies instead.
- The fictional character, Sally, in the 1993 film, The Nightmare Before Christmas used Deadly Nightshade in the movie to sedate her master, Doctor Finklestein.
- Belladonna appears in the 2007 PBS mini-series Cranford where Dr. Frank Harrison administers it to his beloved and critically ill Sophie Hutton to help save her from Typhoid Fever.
- Belladonna ingestion kills the character played by Nicki Aycox in the 2007 movie Perfect Stranger, and she is found with her pupils dilated by the substance.
- In Jagex's Runescape, there is a belladonna plant that you can farm.
- In Hukkle (2002), an old woman in a small Hungarian village produced a belladonna concoction she sold to other women to kill their husbands.
- In Louisa May Alcott's book Little Women, Beth is told by the doctor to take some belladonna after the Hummels' baby dies of Scarlet Fever.
- Author and Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson reports having undergone a "so-called belladonna therapy" while hospitalized for what would become his final encounter with alcohol in 1935.[17][18]
- Appears in The Mangler (based on a Stephen King story) as a reference to the catalyst that would unleash the demon from the machine. In this instance, the "belladonna" or "hand of glory" (Similar concept) were the pills of the first woman who was "consumed" by the machine.
- Appears in Revelation a C. J. Sansom novel as part of the dwale infusion.
- In Jilly Cooper's novel Riders, Tory takes belladonna in a suicide attempt, but is saved.
- In the new Sims 2 game, Apartment Life, the new Neighborhood is called Belladonna Cove. This referring to the new creature in the game, witches.
- In King's Quest VI, the character is tempted to eat nightshade berries by the evil genie, causing him to die if he chooses to.
- Deadly Nightshade is a novel by Cynthia Riggs, in which deadly nightshade is used as a poison.
See also
References
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (December 2007) |
- ^ a b Grieve, Margaret (1971). Modern Herbal. Courier Dover Publications. p. 584. ISBN 0486227995.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Solanaceae Atropa belladonna L." Plant Name Details. IPNI. 2003-07-02. Retrieved 2008-03-01.
Solanaceae Atropa belladonna L. Species Plantarum 2 1753 "Habitat in Austriae, Angliae montibus sylvosis."
- ^ European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products
- ^ Harrison's Principle's of Internal Medicine. (11th edition, page 842: "Antimuscarinic Compounds: fatalities have occurred from as little as 10 mg atropine, but doses of 500 mg have been non-fatal. Young children are particularly susceptible to poisoning with belladonna alkaloids.")
- ^ Potter, Samuel O.L. (1893). A Handbook of Materia Medica Pharmacy and Therapeutics. London: P. Blakiston's. p. 53.
- ^ Poisons
- ^ Hofmann, Albert; Evans Schultes, Richard; Plants of the Gods, Origins of Hallucinogenic Use (Hutchinson, 1980), page 88.
- ^ research has demonstrated that men tend to perceive women with larger pupils as more attractive. Tombs, Selina and Irwin Silverman. "Pupillometry: A sexual selection approach." Evolution and Human Behavior; 25:4, 211-228. 2004. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6H-4CTB5VH-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=0a4aa71156e45fe83eda01ac2c20c088
- ^ http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/medicines/100002958.html
- ^ Sedgwick County Emergency Medical Services, November 22, 2001. available online
- ^ Donnatal Extentabs® : Prescribing Information
- ^ botanical.com - A Modern Herbal | Nightshade, Deadly
- ^ King's American Dispensatory
- ^ Kuklin, Alexander (February 1999). How Do Witches Fly?. DNA Press. ISBN 0966402707.
- ^ Kowalchik, Claire (1987). Herb gardening. Rodale. pp. 1 and 158. ISBN 087596964X.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Harner, Michael J, (Editor) Hallucinogens and Shamanism (Oxford University Press, 1973), pages 123-150.
- ^ Wilson, Bill (2001 fourth edition). Alcoholics Anonymous "Big Book (PDF). Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc. p. 7. ISBN 1-893007-16-2.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Pittman, Bill (1988). AA - The Way It Began. Seattle, Washington: Glen Abbey Books. pp. 164–166, 168. ISBN 0934125082.
External links
- botanical.com
- Erowid - Belladonna Information (on recreational uses)
- "Compounds in deadly nightshade". USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. [Online Database] National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
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