Scopolamine

Properties

Safety Information

Description

Scopolamine is a type of alkaloid that exists in a variety of Solanaceae plants such as Scopolia japonica, Datura metel L., and so on. It is the main active ingredient in these plants.
Apart from scopolamine, several other chemical ingredients also exist in Scopolia japonica, including hyoscyamine, anisodamine, anisodine, and so on. Hyoscyamine is an inhibitor of parasympathetic nerve, with the analgesic and antispasmodic functions, especially for sciatica, sometimes for the treatment of epilepsy, seasickness, etc., and its pharmacological effects are similar to atropine. However, its clinical application is less because of its toxicity. The clinical applications of anisodamine are treating infectious toxic shock, vascular disorders, various neuralgia, smooth muscle spasms, vertigo, fundus disorders and sudden deafness, and other diseases. It has definite curative effect and is widely used in clinical in China. Its synthetic product is called “654-2,” which now still is an effective drug to treat infectious shock and other vascular diseases. While anisodine is used to treat vascular headache, retinal vasospasm, ischemic optic neuritis, cerebrovascular disease, acute paralysis, central dysfunction caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, tremor, paralysis, bronchial asthma, motion sickness, organophosphorus pesticide poisoning, and so on .