Solanaceous

Atropiae (41), isolated from the deadly nightshade Airopa belladonna L.) is the racemic form, as isolated, of (—)-hyoscyamine [which is not isolated, of course, from the same plant but is typically found ia solanaceous plants such as henbane (HyosQiamus mgerl. )]. Atropiae is used to dilate the pupil of the eye ia ocular inflammations and is available both as a parasympatholytic agent for relaxation of the intestinal tract and to suppress secretions of the saUvary, gastric, and respiratory tracts. In conjunction with other agents it is used as part of an antidote mixture for organophosphorus poisons (see Chemicals in war). 

The names, formulae and structures of these alkaloids are given in the following table. The esters of tropine or -tropine are known as tropeines or -tropeines respectively. The first eleven items in the table are sometimes called the solanaceous alkaloids, but they are not the only alkaloids, or even the only type of alkaloid, found in the botanical family Solanaceas. They are also sometimes referred to as the mydriatic alkaloids though other alkaloids also exert this action. 

The British Pharmacopoeia (1932) recognises three of these solanaceous drugs and specifies for them minimum requirements per cent, of total alkaloids, calculated as hyoscyamine, viz. belladonna, leaves 0-3, root 0-4 henbane, leaves and flowering tops 0-05 stramonium, leaves and flowering tops 0-25. The United States Pharmacopoeia, XIII, specifies the same minimum limits for belladonna leaves and stramonium and for henbane, 0-04. 

Solanaceous alkaloids, 64 analytical methods, 69 distribution in plants, 65-7 pharmacological action, 105 Solandra spp., 66, 82 Solandrine, 82 Solaneine, 662... 

Tropane Group. SolanaceOus Alkaloids, Convolvine and Allied Alkaloids, Dioscorine, Alkaloids of Coca Leaves (Erythroxylon coca). ... 

This theory has stimulated activity in two main directions, suggestions for changes in detail in the steps of processes for particular alkaloids, and work on laboratory syntheses of known alkaloids, using the reactions specified and operated under conditions which might obtain in a plant, i.e., under what are now described as physiological conditions. All the results indicate that the theory is well-founded, and it seems possible that a technique may eventually be found by which the process may be observed in operation, direetly or indirectly, in situ, say in a solanaceous plant. 

Of the remaining types of solanaceous alkaloids, the nor- bases, such as norhyoscyamine, could be provided for by an alternative suggestion, based on the observation that a mixture of the ammonium salts of aa -diaminoadipic and citric acids could be oxidised by hydrogen peroxide to nortropinone. 

According to Rowson, polyploids of solanaceous plants, induced by the action of colchicine, show an increased content of alkaloids, but the relative proportions of hyoscine and hyoscyamine remain the same and are characteristic for the species. 

Many alkaloids are obtained in such small quantities that it is not possible to describe them in detail, and recourse must be had to giving characteristics for picrates, aurichlorides and similar compounds. The reineckates, first used by Christensen and later by Rosenthaler, are a useful addition to such compounds, and have been so used recently by Evans and Partridge for the characterisation of solanaceous alkaloids. 

The fruit of a number of solanaceous plants, including tomato Lycopersicon esculentum), potato Solanum tuberosum) and eggplant Solarium melongena esculentum), have cholinesterase-inhibiting effects (Krasowski et al. 1997). They contain solanaceous glycoalkaloids o-solanine and o-chaconine, which are triglycosides of solanidine, a steroidal alkaloid derived from cholesterol. They are the only plant chemicals known to inhibit both acetlycholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase, both in vitro and in vivo. 

Levels of solanaceous glycoalkaloids can be significant, occasionally causing toxicity in humans and livestock. Symptoms of potato poisoning include gastrointestinal disturbances, apathy, drowsiness, mental confusion, visual disturbances, dizziness, hallucinations, and trembling. Symptoms may perist 2-24 hours after consumption, and one recent outbreak showed reduced butyrylcholinesterase levels six days later, which then returned to normal in 4 to 5 weeks. 

Potatoes, other solanaceous plants Gastric distress, headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea... 

As a result of the widespread global distribution of solanaceous plants (atropine containing members of the potato family), a variety of cultures have employed them Similar poisoning occurred among Colonial troops in Virginia in 1676. The affected soldiers needed confinement for eleven days (a surprisingly long... 

Similarly, the French soldiers who poisoned themselves in 1813 by naively consuming wild berries containing solanaceous alkaloids also soon became delirious. M. Gaultier, the attending military physician, described the victims as ... 

A. Alkaloids 1. Belladonna-type solanaceous tropane alkaloids [Atropine (1), (—)-Hyoscyamine (2), Scopolamine ((—)-Hysoscine)(3)] Atropa belladonna L. (belladonna), Datura metel L., D. stramonium L. (jimson weed), Hyoscyamus niger L. (henbane), Mandragora officinarum L. (European mandrake), and other solanaceous species Anticholinergics (parasympatholytics)... 

Kursinszki, L., Hank, H., Laszlo, 1. and Szoke, T. 2005. Simultaneous analysis of hyoscyamine, scolopanine, 6 beta-hydroxyhyoscyamine and apoatropine in solanaceous hairy roots by reversed-phase high-perfomance liquid chromatography. Journal of Chromatography, A 1091 32-39. 

Miller, K.D., Strommer, J., and Taylor, L.P., Conservation in divergent solanaceous species of the unique gene structure and enzyme activity of a gametophytically-expressed flavonol 3-0-galactosyltransferase. Plant Mol. Biol, 48, 233, 2002. 

Petunia parviflora Many records Solanac. Aerial p., ext. 214 ... 

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