Pretty Woman

BELLADONNA, Atropa belladonna, Solanaceae family, is a herbaceous plant whose dried leaves are used as a drug; the leaves of the belladonna have interesting cytological and histological characteristics (stomatal index and typology of stomata, palisade index, presence of hairs and granules of calcium oxalate which form small aggregates inside the leaf cells, similar to microcrystalline sand) to be able to easily to identify in the species Atropa belladonna.

The active principles that characterize the belladonna are tropanic-type alkaloids; the tropanic group that identifies the atropine is located at the top, where nitrogen is present; atropine is a C7 ring with a higher nitrogen bridge.

Atropine is a particular molecule, which has a carbon atom with optical isomerism, in particular it is a racemic compound, which as such has the form D and the form L, of a molecule called hyoscyamine. In the dry drug we find in equal proportion the form D and L of hyoscyamine, to form the raceme known generically as atropine. In the fresh plant, however, L-hyoscyamine is almost only present, which is the active form.

From a technical point of view the fresh plant has almost exclusively 100% L shape, therefore the active form of our interest; drying, on the other hand, leads to having 50% of L-hyoscyamine and 50% of D-hyoscyamine; it therefore means that in the passage of that artificial factor which is the collection, there has been a reduction of 50% of the active compound in favor of the genesis of an inactive compound, or stereoisomer D; in fact, this results in a 50% reduction in the activity of the source. This is an element, an artificial factor, important, associated with belladonna, because macroscopic, but also inevitable, because drying is absolutely necessary to preserve the drug, regardless of the deterioration of the active ingredient.

From a herbalistic point of view, belladonna is used mainly in the homeopathic department, this because in the allopathic sector (traditional medicine) it represents a pharmaceutical drug in all respects. In fact, the belladonna has spasmolytic and mydriatic activity (ability to dilate the pupil).