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 .
