La BELLADONNA, Atropa belladonna, Solanaceae family, is a herbaceous plant whose dried leaves are used as a drug; the leaves of the nightshade have interesting cytological and histological characteristics (stomatal index and type of stomata, palisade index, presence of hairs and calcium oxalate granules that form small aggregates inside the leaf cells, similar to microcrystalline sand) to be able to easily identify in the species Atropa belladonna.
The active principles that characterize belladonna are tropane alkaloids; the tropane group that identifies atropine is located at the top, where nitrogen is present; atropine is a C7 ring with an upper nitrogen bridge.
Atropine is a particular molecule, which has a carbon atom with optical isomerism, in particular it is a racemic compound, which as such has the D form and the L form, of a molecule called hyoscyamine. In the dry drug we find in equal proportion the D and L forms of hyoscyamine, forming the raceme known generically as atropine.In the fresh plant, on the other hand, L-hyoscyamine is almost exclusively present, which is the active form.
From a technical point of view, the fresh plant has almost exclusively 100% L form, therefore the active form of our interest; the drying, on the other hand, leads to a 50% of L-hyoscyamine and a 50% of D-hyoscyamine; therefore it means that in the passage of that artificial factor which is the harvest, there was a reduction of 50% of the active compound in favor of the genesis of an inactive compound, that is the stereoisomer D; in fact, this involves a 50% reduction in the activity of the source. This is an element, an artificial, important factor that can be associated with belladonna, because it is macroscopic, but also inevitable, because drying is absolutely necessary to preserve the drug, regardless of the deterioration of the active ingredient.
From the herbal point of view, belladonna is mainly used in the homeopathic department, this is because in the allopathic sector (traditional medicine) it represents a pharmaceutical drug in all respects. In fact, belladonna has spasmolytic and mydriatic activities (ability to dilate the pupil).
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