Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Belladonna

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Essentials of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops

  • 501 Accesses

Abstract

Atropa belladonna, commonly known as deadly nightshade, is the most poisonous perennial sub-herb plant of the Solanaceae family. During the dark ages, it was employed as a beautifying, recreational, poisonous, and therapeutic agent. It contains various tropane alkaloids in several parts of the plant. The lower concertation of these alkaloids has diversified medicinal properties, including anticholinergic, antispasmodic, mydriatic, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and broncho-dilatory characteristics. This chapter provides a brief historical background of belladonna, its cultivation in various regions of the world, its chemical constituents, and their biosynthesis. It also highlights the pharmacodynamic and pharmacotherapeutic potential of tropane alkaloids, which are related to safe and regulated doses of belladonna extracts. The dosedependent application of belladonna seems to be quite effective in the treatment of acute encephalitis, parkinsonism, depression, airway obstructive diseases, motion sickness, gastro-intestinal and urinary infections, myocardial ischemia, and many other disorders

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Cano Ortiz, A., Piñar Fuentes, J. C., & Cano, E. (2022). Some medicinal plants of interest for their content in alkaloids I. Biomedical Journal of Scientific & Technical Research, 42(3), 33702–33705.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Fatur, K., & Kreft, S. (2021). Nixing the nightshades: Traditional knowledge of intoxicating members of the solanaceae among hallucinogenic plant and mushroom users in Slovenia. PLoS One, 16(2), e0247688.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Passos, I. D., & Mironidou-Tzouveleki, M. (2016). Hallucinogenic plants in the mediterranean countries. Neuropathology of drug addictions and substance misuse (pp. 761–772). Elsevier.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Maurya, V. K., Kumar, S., Kabir, R., Shrivastava, G., Shanker, K., Nayak, D., et al. (2020). Dark classics in chemical neuroscience: An evidence-based systematic review of belladonna. ACS Chemical Neuroscience, 11(23), 3937–3954.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kwakye, G. F., Jiménez, J., Jiménez, J. A., & Aschner, M. (2018). Atropa belladonna neurotoxicity: Implications to neurological disorders. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 116, 346–353.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Lacković, Z. (2017). “Bunanje”: XX century abuse of atropa belladonna halucinogenic berries in continental Croatia. Psychiatria Danubina, 29(3), 379–382.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Berdai, M. A., Labib, S., Chetouani, K., & Harandou, M. (2012). Case report-atropa belladonna intoxication: A case report. Pan African Medical Journal, 11(1).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Smulyan, H. (2018). The beat goes on: The story of five ageless cardiac drugs (pp. 441–450). Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Zhang, X. C., Farrell, N., Haronian, T., & Hack, J. (2017). Postoperative anticholinergic poisoning: Concealed complications of a commonly used medication. The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 53(4), 520–523.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Carruthers, D. M. (2015). Lines of flight of the deadly nightshade: An enquiry into the properties of the magical plant, its literature and history. Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature, 48(2), 119–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Ruck, C. A. (2014). Entheogens in ancient times. In History of toxicology and environmental health: Toxicology in antiquity (Vol. 2, pp. 116–125). Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Dajić Stevanović, Z., Petrović, M., & Aćić, S. (2014). Ethnobotanical knowledge and traditional use of plants in Serbia in relation to sustainable rural development. In Ethnobotany and biocultural diversities in the balkans (pp. 229–252). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Öz, M., Fidan, M. S., Baltaci, C., Ücüncü, O., & Karatas, S. M. (2021). Determination of antimicrobial and antioxidant activities and chemical components of volatile oils of atropa belladonna L. growing in Turkey. Journal of Essential Oil Bearing Plants, 24(5), 1072–1086.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Alamgir, A. (2017). Cultivation of herbal drugs, biotechnology, and in vitro production of secondary metabolites, high-value medicinal plants, herbal wealth, and herbal trade. In Therapeutic use of medicinal plants and their extracts: Volume 1 (pp. 379–452). Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Tian, H., Ghorbanpour, M., & Kariman, K. (2018). Manganese oxide nanoparticle-induced changes in growth, redox reactions and elicitation of antioxidant metabolites in deadly nightshade (atropa belladonna L.). Industrial Crops and Products, 126, 403–414.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bieńkowski, A. O., & Orlova-Bienkowskaja, M. J. (2016). Key to holarctic species of epitrix flea beetles (coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) with review of their distribution, host plants and history of invasions. Zootaxa, 4175(5), 401–435.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Deczynski, A. M. (2016). Morphological systematics of the nightshade flea beetles epitrix foudras and acallepitrix bechyné (coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Galerucinae: Alticini) in America North of Mexico. All theses. 2479.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Parfentjev, I. (1921). Insect pests of medicinal plants in the crimea. Bulletin de la Société de Pathologie Exotique, 14(3), 164–167.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Hančinský, R., Mihálik, D., Mrkvová, M., Candresse, T., & Glasa, M. (2020). Plant viruses infecting solanaceae family members in the cultivated and wild environments: A review. Plants, 9(5), 667.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Wendt, S., Lübbert, C., Begemann, K., Prasa, D., & Franke, H. (2022). Poisoning by plants. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 119(18), 317.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  21. Marín-Sáez, J., Romero-González, R., Garrido Frenich, A., & Egea-González, F. J. (2018). Screening of drugs and homeopathic products from atropa belladonna seed extracts: Tropane alkaloids determination and untargeted analysis. Drug Testing Analysis, 10(10), 1579–1589.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Biastoff, S., Brandt, W., & Dräger, B. (2009). Putrescine n-methyltransferase–the start for alkaloids. Phytochemistry, 70(15–16), 1708–1718.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Bandyopadhyay, B., Das, S., Sengupta, M., Saha, C., Das, K. C., Sarkar, D., et al. (2010). Decreased intensity of Japanese encephalitis virus infection in chick chorioallantoic membrane under influence of ultradiluted belladonna extract. American Journal of Infectious Diseases, 6(2), 24–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Ziegler, J., & Facchini, P. J. (2008). Alkaloid biosynthesis: Metabolism and trafficking. Annual Review of Plant Biology, 59, 735.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Riad, M., & Hithe, C. C. (2021). Scopolamine. Statpearls [internet]. StatPearls Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Prusakov, P. (2014). Belladonna alkaloids. Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Vol. 1, pp. 244–245). Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Agrawal, S. (2018). Atropine: The sagacious molecule. Journal of Traditional Medicine and Clinical Naturopathy, 7(264), 2.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Fatur, K., & Kreft, S. (2020). Common anticholinergic solanaceaous plants of temperate Europe-a review of intoxications from the literature (1966–2018). Toxicon, 177, 52–88.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Vengamma, R., Ramani, U., & Swapna, P. (2019). Bioactive alkaloid markers-an overview. International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews, 6(1), 2349–5138.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Reddy, T. A., & Sreevidhya, J. (2022). A clinical study to assess the effectiveness of belladonna in various potencies in primary dysmenorrhoea of adolescent girls. International Journal of Research in AYUSH Pharmaceutical Sciences, 6, 610–614.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Dulawa, S. C., & Janowsky, D. S. (2019). Cholinergic regulation of mood: From basic and clinical studies to emerging therapeutics. Molecular Psychiatry, 24(5), 694–709.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Anacker, C. (2018). New insight into the mechanisms of fast-acting antidepressants: What we learn from scopolamine. Biological Psychiatry, 83(1), e5–e7.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  33. Kwakye, G. F., Jiménez, J., Jiménez, J. A., & Aschner, M. (2018). Atropa belladonna neurotoxicity: Implications to neurological disorders. Food and Chemical Toxicology (Vol. 116, pp. 346–353). Elesevier.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Keshavarz, B., & Golding, J. F. (2022). Motion sickness: Current concepts and management. Current Opinion in Neurology, 35(1), 107–112.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Demirhan, A., Tekelioğlu, Ü. Y., Yıldız, İ., Korkmaz, T., Bilgi, M., Akkaya, A., et al. (2013). Anticholinergic toxic syndrome caused by atropa belladonna fruit (deadly nightshade): A case report. Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, 41(6), 226.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Glatstein, M., Alabdulrazzaq, F., & Scolnik, D. (2016). Belladonna alkaloid intoxication: The 10-year experience of a large tertiary care pediatric hospital. American Journal of Therapeutics, 23(1), e74–e77.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Government College University, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Sadia Javed & Asmara Ahmad

  2. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Government College University Faisalabad, Faisalabad, Pakistan

    Muhammad Sajid Hamid Akash

  3. Department of Pharmacy, The Women University Multan, Multan, Pakistan

    Kanwal Rehman

  4. Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Arwa A. Al-Huqail

Authors
  1. Sadia Javed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Asmara Ahmad
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Muhammad Sajid Hamid Akash
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kanwal Rehman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Arwa A. Al-Huqail
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sadia Javed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Office of Research, Innovation and Commercialization, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan

    Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq

  2. Department of Biology, College of Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

    Arwa Abdulkreem AL-Huqail

  3. Department of Pharmacy, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University, Sheringal Dir Upper, Pakistan

    Muhammad Riaz

  4. Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Government College University, Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Umar Farooq Gohar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Javed, S., Ahmad, A., Akash, M.S.H., Rehman, K., Al-Huqail, A.A. (2023). Belladonna. In: Zia-Ul-Haq, M., Abdulkreem AL-Huqail, A., Riaz, M., Farooq Gohar, U. (eds) Essentials of Medicinal and Aromatic Crops. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35403-8_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation