Papaver somniferum sites

Pharmacodynamics considers the sites, modes, and mechanisms of action of drugs. For example, if a patient with multiple fractures receives a subcutaneous injection of 10 to 15 mg of morphine sulfate (Papaver somniferum, Chapter 47), analgesia, sedation, respiratory depression, emesis, miosis, suppression of the gastrointestinal tract, and oliguria may ensue. These diversified effects occur at multiple peripheral and central sites through the action of numerous modes and mechanisms. 

There is some evidence that the production of the minor alkaloids, such as narcotine and papaverine, is more dependent upon locality. Narcotine has been reported as absent from opium produced in France and to be particularly abundant (up to 7-11%) in that from Japan (139). It is present in opium from most of the usual sources derived from Papaver somniferum var. album, and it is absent from the latex of P. somniferum var. nigrum. It is possible that in this instance the locality difference is due to difference of strain. The presence or absence of papaverine, on the other hand, is said to be determined by locality in samples all derived from var. album. It has been found in samples from Asia Minor, China, America, France, Persia, and Egypt, and not in those from Bengal, Patna, and Benares. It is, of course, possible, though not in any way proved, that local strains may have been developed in these diverse sites. 

Studies of the isolation and the constitution of alkaloids of the Papaveraceae family have led to the investigation of the effect of various types of drying on the quantity of alkaloids in the leaves of Macleaya (Bocconia) microcarpa (52), the stability of some Papaver alkaloids (in different solvents) to sunlight (294), the accumulation of alkaloids in the latex of the Papaveraceae (243), the site of origin of the alkaloids in the studied plants (295, 296), the different geographical zones (297, 298), the time after flowering (299), and the seasonal variations in the content of the individual groups of alkaloids, particularly in P. somniferum (300). 

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