Atropa Belladonna, Deadly Nightshade
J R Coll Physicians Edinb 2007; 37:77–84 PAPER © 2007 Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Solanaceae IV: Atropa belladonna, Deadly Nightshade MR Lee Emeritus Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland ABSTRACT The Deadly Nightshade, Atropa belladonna, is a plant surrounded by Published online March 2007 myth, fear and awe. In antiquity, the Greeks and the Romans knew that it contained a deadly poison. In medieval times, it was widely used by witches, Correspondence to MR Lee, 112 sorcerors and professional poisoners. Linnaeus later codified its remarkable Polwarth Terrace, Edinburgh, properties as the genus Atropa, the Fate that slits the thin spun life and the species EH11 1NN belladonna because of its power to dilate the pupils. In the 1830s, the pure tel. +44 (0)131 337 7386 alkaloid l-atropine was isolated from the plant. This proved to be a significant tool in the study of the autonomic nervous system leading to the identification of acetylcholine as an important neurotransmitter in mammals. When pure atropine became available, it caused a large number of deaths, whether by accident, suicide or homicide. KEYWORDS Acetylcholine,Atropa, belladonna, murder, poisoning, quinine DECLARATION OF INTERESTS No conflict of interests declared. In this, the final article of a short series on the Solanaceae, I describe the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna), a plant hallowed by long tradition as one of the classic poisons of antiquity. Extracted from the plant is the alkaloid atropine (dl-hyoscyamine) which was to prove a cornerstone in the study of autonomic pharmacology. The use of atropine as a homicidal poison seemed to have gradually faded away but then in the 1990s, Dr Agutter in Edinburgh attempted, in a spectacular fashion, to poison his wife with the pure alkaloid.
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