PubMed · 4591326
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I C Andrews, B L Belonsky. 1974. Parasympatholytics.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4591326/
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The tropane alkaloid scopolamine is a medicinally important anticholinergic drug present in several solanaceous plants. Hyoscyamine 6 beta-hydroxylase (EC 1.14.11.11) catalyzes the oxidative reactions in the biosynthetic pathway leading from hyoscyamine to scopolamine. We introduced the hydroxylase gene from Hyoscyamus niger under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter into hyoscyamine-rich Atropa belladonna by the use of an Agrobacterium-mediated transformation system. A transgenic plant that constitutively and strongly expressed the transgene was selected, first by screening for kanamycin resistance and then by immunoscreening leaf samples with an antibody specific for the hydroxylase. In the primary transformant and its selfed progeny that inherited the transgene, the alkaloid contents of the leaf and stem were almost exclusively scopolamine. Such metabolically engineered plants should prove useful as breeding materials for obtaining improved medicinal components.
Serious poisoning with atropine-like substances may produce symptoms which can be confused with acute psychosis. The diagnosis in a case of acute poisoning may be difficult and diagnostic treatment with physostigmine may be considered. A case of serious atropine poisoning caused by consumption of the fruits of deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) which commenced with psychosis in a boy of nine years is described. It was known that the child had eaten 20-25 of the berries. He survived after treatment with intravenous administration of physostigmine.
A new kind of flow-through sensor for atropine has been studied. It exhibits Nernstian response for atropine with a slope of 54 +/- 1 mV/decade over the concentration range of 0.02-200 mmol/L at pH 5-8. The sensitivity coefficients of common compounds were determined. Only bromo-geramine, clonidine, strychnine and amantadine showed remarkable interference. Direct potentiometry for determination of atropine showed an average recovery of 99.2% and a relative standard deviation of 1.3%. It has been used in flow injection analysis (FIA) of atropine, anisodamine and scopolamine and belladonna preparations. Rate of analysis of as high as 60-100 samples/h was achieved.