Tropane alkaloids are a class of alkaloids with tropane ring in their strucure, found primarily in the plant family Solanaceae. Most famous members of this plant family are Atropa belladonna, Datura stramonium, Mandragora officinarum, Duboisia myoporoides, Hyoscyamus niger and Scopolia carniolica. The latter is a part of Slovenian endemic ethnological history. These plants present anticholinergic actions on muscarinic receptors owing to high atropine and scopolamine content, where they act as competitive antagonists of acetylcholine. First ancient civilizations were familiar with such effects, which allowed these plants to be used in medicine for conditions like asthma, inflammation, restlessness, pain, infertility etc. on one hand and in recreational purposes on the other (parties, orgies, thefts, witchcraft). The exact role of these so-called »hexing herbs« is not defined, as preserved literature lacks details and is limited in scope, however they surely played an important role as medicines and intoxicants in the past, whereas their use today is obsolete.
The aim of present research was to recreate traditional preparations mentioned in the folk literature and to compare content of tropane alkaloids in preparations. We used root powder of Scopolia carniolica from which we prepared hot and cold tea, a tincture, an unguent and a wine extract. Active substances were quantitatively evaluated using HPLC.
Results showed that a tincture extraction was the most efficient way of extracting atropine and scopolamine, followed by fortified wine extractions, hot tea generally yielded higher alkaloid concentrations than cold tea, while no alkaloids were extracted from unguents. Regarding these results, it can be concluded that alkaloids are extracted in higher concentrations when plant material is soaked in a solvent for a longer time. Type and the temperature of a solvent are also of immense importance. It can not be confirmed that effects of certain preparations are stronger than the others, because different volumes of preparations have to be considered as well as the route of administration (oral or topical) which all contribute to its final effects in an organism. Tinctures were probably used for topical purposes, wines and teas were consumed orally, whereas unguents, from which we did not extract any alkaloids, are mentioned in the literature mostly in connection with witchcraft indicating their important role in history.
|
