Pipes and potions : testing the efficacy of European folk preparation methods for anticholinergic Solanaceae plants

Fatur, Karsten (author), Ravnikar, Matjaž (author), Fras, Vitjan (author), Kreft, Samo (author)

The present article sought to evaluate the efficiency of various folk preparation methods commonly used in Europe for employing anticholinergic Solanaceae plants. The study aimed to uncover which folk methods were effective for the extraction of the anticholinergic tropane alkaloids of these plants, atropine and scopolamine. The folk extractions that were tested sought to simulate the preparation of teas, cold-water infusions, unguents, tinctures, fortified wines, and smoking. All preparation types and a control were then put through an extraction process to see what amount of the alkaloids had been maintained. These extractions were then analysed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cold- and hot-water preparations, tinctures, and fortified wines all proved to be effective means of extracting atropine and scopolamine from plant material under conditions seen in folk usage. Smoking and the oil-based unguent, however, yielded no alkaloids, suggesting a lack of efficiency for these preparations, a problem with our methodology, or possible chemical changes and losses associated with the preparation procedure.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Solanaceae, anticholinergic alkaloids, ethnobotany, traditional knowledge, ethnopharmacology
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FFA - Faculty of Pharmacy
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: 12 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 11, iss. 1, art. 126
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-136752
• UDC: 547.94:615.322
• ISSN on article: 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants11010126
• COBISS.SI-ID: 91864835
• Publication date in RUL: 19.05.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Plants
• Shortened title: Plants
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2223-7747
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523345433

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 04.01.2022

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: Solanaceae, antiholinergični alkaloidi, etnobotanika, tradicionalno znanje, etnofarmakologija, zdravila naravnega izvora, alkaloidi

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty