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Friday, July 24, 2009
Preponderance of Plant Alkaloids In Nature
With the number of plant alkaloids known to man exceeding 10,000, it’s not surprising they are complex in diversity, and can come in forms ranging from therapeutic medicines to deadly poisons to addictive drugs.
One scientific definition says an alkaloid is a plant-derived compound that is toxic or physiologically active, contains a nitrogen in a heterocyclic ring, is basic, has a complex structure, and is of limited distribution in the plant kingdom.
Yet another definition says, though most alkaloids come from plants, they’re also found in mammals, frogs, butterflies, marine organisms, and certain bacteria.
Facts about a few types of alkaloids include:
* Sumerian tablets dated 3500 BC record the use of morphine alkaloids, derived from opium poppy
* 1600s Spanish Jesuits in Lima Peru learn the alkaloid quinine, from the South American Cinchona tree, cures malaria
* Taken in right amounts, many alkaloids have therapeutic value for humans
* Pyrrolidine alkaloids, among other things, can stimulate digestive secretions, oppose physiological effects of the sympathetic nervous system, constrict eye pupils, slow the heart, and dilate blood vessels
* Pyridine and piperidine alkaloids include venomous hemlock and tobacco
* Indole alkaloids include strychnine and the hallucinogen mescaline, which is built chemically much like the brain neurotransmitter dopamine
* One plant in the indole alkaloid family, Madagascar periwinkle, is the source of an alkaloid credited with improving the survivability from Hodgkin’s disease from about zero to about 90 percent
* Isoquinoline alkaloids include alkaloids from the opium poppy, including heroine, and morphine
* Purine alkaloids, with a molecular arrangement similar to the purine base adenine found in DNA, includes coffee, tea, and cacao alkaloids
And this is just a sample of plant alkaloids and what they can do for us.
by Rocky Wilson
Author of Sharene
