Clinical data | |
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Trade names | Transderm Scop, others |
Other names | Hyoscine, [1] Devil's Breath |
AHFS/Drugs.com | Monograph |
MedlinePlus | a682509 |
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Routes of administration | By mouth, transdermal, ophthalmic, subcutaneous, intravenous, sublingual, rectal, buccal, transmucosal, intramuscular |
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Pharmacokinetic data | |
Bioavailability | 20-40% [7] |
Metabolism | Liver (CYP3A4) [8] |
Elimination half-life | 5 hours [7] |
Excretion | Kidney |
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CompTox Dashboard (EPA) | |
ECHA InfoCard | 100.000.083 |
Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C17H21NO4 |
Molar mass | 303.358 g·mol−1 |
3D model (JSmol) | |
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Scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, [9] or Devil's Breath, [10] is a natural or synthetically produced tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic drug that is used as a medication to treat motion sickness [11] and postoperative nausea and vomiting. [12] [1] It is also sometimes used before surgery to decrease saliva. [1] When used by injection, effects begin after about 20 minutes and last for up to 8 hours. [1] It may also be used orally and as a transdermal patch since it has been long known to have transdermal bioavailability. [1] [13]
Scopolamine is in the antimuscarinic family of drugs and works by blocking some of the effects of acetylcholine within the nervous system. [1]
Scopolamine was first written about in 1881 and started to be used for anesthesia around 1900. [14] [15] Scopolamine is also the main active component produced by certain plants of the nightshade family, which historically have been used as psychoactive drugs, known as deliriants , due to their antimuscarinic-induced hallucinogenic effects in higher doses. [12] In these contexts, its mind-altering effects have been utilized for recreational and occult purposes. [16] [17] [18] The name "scopolamine" is derived from one type of nightshade known as Scopolia , while the name "hyoscine" is derived from another type known as Hyoscyamus niger , or black henbane. [19] [20] It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. [21]
Scopolamine has a number of formal uses in modern medicine where it is used in its isolated form and in low doses to treat: [22] [23]
It is sometimes used as a premedication, especially to reduce respiratory tract secretions in surgery, most commonly by injection. [22] [23] Common side effects include sleepiness, blurred vision, dilated pupils, and dry mouth. [1] It is not recommended in people with angle-closure glaucoma or bowel obstruction. [1] Whether its use during pregnancy is safe remains unclear, and use during breastfeeding is still cautioned by health professionals and manufacturers of the drug. [29]
Scopolamine enters breast milk by secretion. Although no human studies exist to document the safety of scopolamine while nursing, the manufacturer recommends that caution be taken if scopolamine is administered to a breastfeeding woman. [29]
Adverse effect incidence: [6] [30] [31] [32]
Uncommon (0.1–1% incidence) adverse effects include:
Rare (<0.1% incidence) adverse effects include:
Unknown frequency adverse effects include:
Physostigmine, a cholinergic drug that readily crosses the blood–brain barrier, has been used as an antidote to treat the central nervous system depression symptoms of a scopolamine overdose. [33] Other than this supportive treatment, gastric lavage and induced emesis (vomiting) are usually recommended as treatments for oral overdoses. [32] The symptoms of overdose include: [31] [32]
Scopolamine can be taken by mouth, subcutaneously, in the eye, and intravenously, as well as via a transdermal patch. [34]
The pharmacological effects of scopolamine are mediated through the drug's competitive antagonism of the peripheral and central muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Scopolamine acts as a nonspecific muscarinic antagonist at all four (M1, M2, M3, and M4) receptor sites. [35] [36]
In doses higher than intended for medicinal use, the hallucinogenic alteration of consciousness, as well as the deliriousness in particular, are tied to the compound's activity at the M1 muscarinic receptor. M1 receptors are located primarily in the central nervous system and are involved in perception, attention, and cognitive functioning. Delirium is only associated with the antagonism of postsynaptic M1 receptors and currently other receptor subtypes have not been implicated. [37]
Peripheral muscarinic receptors are part of the autonomic nervous system. M2 receptors are located in the brain and heart, M3 receptors are in salivary glands and M4 receptors are in the brain and lungs. [37] Due to the drug's inhibition of various signal transduction pathways, the decrease in acetylcholine signaling is what leads to many of the cognitive deficits, mental impairments, and delirium associated with psychoactive doses. Medicinal effects appear to mostly be tied to activation of the peripheral receptors and only from marginal decreases in acetylcholine signaling. [38]
Although often broadly referred to as simply being 'anticholinergic', antimuscarinic would be more specific and accurate terminology to use for scopolamine, as, for example, it is not known to block nicotinic receptors. [37]
Scopolamine undergoes first-pass metabolism and about 2.6% is excreted unchanged in urine. It has a bioavailability of 20-40%, reaches peak plasma concentration in about 45 minutes, and in healthy subjects has an average half-life of 5 hours (observed range 2 - 10 hours). [7] Scopolamine is primarily metabolized by the CYP3A4 enzyme, and Grapefruit juice decreases metabolism of scopolamine, consequently increasing plasma concentration. [8]
Scopolamine is among the secondary metabolites of plants from Solanaceae (nightshade) family of plants, such as henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), jimson weed ( Datura ), angel's trumpets ( Brugmansia ), deadly nightshade ( Belladonna ), mandrake ( Mandragora officinarum ), and corkwood ( Duboisia ). [39] [19]
The biosynthesis of scopolamine begins with the decarboxylation of L-ornithine to putrescine by ornithine decarboxylase. Putrescine is methylated to N-methylputrescine by putrescine N-methyltransferase. [40]
A putrescine oxidase that specifically recognizes methylated putrescine catalyzes the deamination of this compound to 4-methylaminobutanal, which then undergoes a spontaneous ring formation to N-methyl-pyrrolium cation. In the next step, the pyrrolium cation condenses with acetoacetic acid yielding hygrine. No enzymatic activity could be demonstrated to catalyze this reaction. Hygrine further rearranges to tropinone. [40]
Subsequently, tropinone reductase I converts tropinone to tropine, which condenses with phenylalanine-derived phenyllactate to littorine. A cytochrome P450 classified as Cyp80F1 [41] oxidizes and rearranges littorine to hyoscyamine aldehyde. In the final step, hyoscyamine undergoes epoxidation catalyzed by 6beta-hydroxyhyoscyamine epoxidase yielding scopolamine. [40]
Plants naturally containing scopolamine such as Atropa belladonna (deadly nightshade), Brugmansia (angels trumpet), Datura (Jimson weed), Hyoscyamus niger , Mandragora officinarum , Scopolia carniolica , Latua and Duboisia myoporoides have been known about and used for various purposes in both the New and Old Worlds since ancient times. [42] [43] [44] Being one of the earlier alkaloids isolated from plant sources, scopolamine has been in use in its purified forms, such as various salts, including hydrochloride, hydrobromide, hydroiodide, and sulfate, since its official isolation by the German scientist Albert Ladenburg in 1880, [45] and as various preparations from its plant-based form since antiquity and perhaps prehistoric times.
In 1899, Dr. Schneiderlin recommended the use of scopolamine and morphine for surgical anaesthesia, and it started to be used sporadically for that purpose. [14] [46] The use of this combination in obstetric anesthesiology (childbirth) was first proposed by Richard von Steinbuchel in 1902 and was picked up and further developed by Carl Gauss in Freiburg, Germany, starting in 1903. [47] The method, which was based on a drug synergy between both scopolamine and morphine came to be known as Dämmerschlaf ("twilight sleep") or the "Freiburg method". [46] [47] It spread rather slowly, and different clinics experimented with different dosages and ingredients. In 1915, the Canadian Medical Association Journal reported, "the method [was] really still in a state of development". [46] It remained widely used in the US until the 1960s, when growing chemophobia and a desire for more natural childbirth led to its abandonment. [48]
Hyoscine hydrobromide is the international nonproprietary name, and scopolamine hydrobromide is the United States Adopted Name. Other names include levo-duboisine, devil's breath, and burundanga. [17] [49]
A bush medicine developed by Aboriginal peoples of the eastern states of Australia from the soft corkwood tree ( Duboisia myoporoides ) was used by the Allies in World War II to stop soldiers from getting seasick when they sailed across the English Channel on their way to France during the Invasion of Normandy. Later, the same substance was found to be usable in the production of scopolamine and hyoscyamine, which are used in eye surgery, and a multimillion-dollar industry was built in Queensland based on this substance. [50]
While it has been occasionally used recreationally for its hallucinogenic properties, the experiences are often unpleasant, mentally and physically. It is also physically dangerous and officially classified as a deliriant drug, so repeated recreational use is rare. [51] In June 2008, more than 20 people were hospitalized with psychosis in Norway after ingesting counterfeit rohypnol tablets containing scopolamine. [52] In January 2018, 9 individuals were hospitalized in Perth, Western Australia, after reportedly ingesting scopolamine. [53]
The alkaloid scopolamine, when taken recreationally for its psychoactive effect, is usually taken in the form of preparations from plants of the genera Datura or Brugmansia , often by adolescents or young adults in order to achieve hallucinations and an altered state of consciousness induced by muscarinic antagonism. [54] [55] In circumstances such as these, the intoxication is usually built on a synergistic, but even more toxic mixture of the additional alkaloids in the plants which includes atropine and hyoscyamine.
Historically, the various plants that produce scopolamine have been used psychoactively for spiritual and magical purposes, particularly by witches in western culture and indigenous groups throughout the Americas, such as Native American tribes like the Chumash. [18] [56] [57] [58] When entheogenic preparations of these plants were used, scopolamine was considered to be the main psychoactive compound and was largely responsible for the hallucinogenic effects, particularly when the preparation was made into a topical ointment, most notably flying ointment. [59]
Scopolamine is reported to be the only active alkaloid within these plants that can effectively be absorbed through the skin to cause effects. [13] Different recipes for these ointments were explored in European witchcraft at least as far back as the Early Modern period and included multiple ingredients to help with the transdermal absorption of scopolamine, such as animal fat, as well as other possible ingredients to counteract its noxious and dysphoric effects. [59]
In the Bible, there are multiple mentions of Mandrake, a psychoactive and hallucinogenic plant root that contains scopolamine. It was associated with fertility and (sexual) desire for which it was yearned by Rachel, who was "barren" (infertile) but trying to conceive. [60] [61]
The effects of scopolamine were studied for use as a truth serum in interrogations in the early 20th century, [62] but because of the side effects, investigations were dropped. [63] In 2009, the Czechoslovak state security secret police were proven to have used scopolamine at least three times to obtain confessions from alleged antistate dissidents. [64]
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Ingestion of scopolamine can render a victim unconscious for 24 hours or more. In large doses, it can cause respiratory failure and death. The most common seems to be recorded in Colombia, where unofficial estimates put the number of annual scopolamine incidents at approximately 50,000. A travel advisory published by the U.S. Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) in 2012 stated:
One common and particularly dangerous method that criminals use to rob a victim is through the use of drugs. Scopolamine is most often administered in liquid or powder form in foods and beverages. The majority of these incidents occur in nightclubs and bars, and usually, men, perceived to be wealthy, are targeted by young, attractive women. It is recommended that to avoid becoming a victim of scopolamine, a person should never accept food or beverages offered by strangers or new acquaintances, nor leave food or beverages unattended in their presence. Victims of scopolamine or other drugs should seek immediate medical attention. [65]
Between 1998 and 2004, 13% of emergency-room admissions for "poisoning with criminal intentions" in a clinic of Bogotá have been attributed to scopolamine, and 44% to benzodiazepines. [17] Most commonly, the person has been poisoned by a robber who gave the victim a scopolamine-laced beverage, in the hope that the victim would become unconscious or unable to effectively resist the robbery. [17]
Beside robberies, it is also allegedly involved in express kidnappings and sexual assault. [66] In 2008, the Hospital Clínic in Barcelona introduced a protocol to help medical workers identify cases. In February 2015, Madrid hospitals adopted a similar working document. [66] Hospital Clínic has found little scientific evidence to support this use and relies on the victims' stories to reach any conclusion. [66]
Although poisoning by scopolamine appears quite often in the media as an aid for raping, kidnapping, killing, or robbery, the effects of this drug and the way it is applied by criminals (transdermal injection, on playing cards and papers, etc.) are often exaggerated, [67] [68] [69] especially skin exposure, as the dose that can be absorbed by the skin is too low to have any effect. [66] Scopolamine transdermal patches must be used for hours to days. [34]
There are certain other aspects of the usage of scopolamine in crimes. Powdered scopolamine is referred to as "devil's breath". In popular media and television, it is portrayed as a method to brainwash or control people into being defrauded by their attackers. [70] There is debate whether these claims are true. [71] [72] [73]
Scopolamine is used as a research tool to study memory encoding. Initially, in human trials, relatively low doses of the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine were found to induce temporary cognitive defects. [74] Since then, scopolamine has become a standard drug for experimentally inducing cognitive defects in animals. [75] [76] Results in primates suggest that acetylcholine is involved in the encoding of new information into long-term memory. [77] Scopolamine has been shown to exert a greater impairment on episodic memory, event-related potentials, memory retention and free recall compared to diphenhydramine (an anticholinergic and antihistamine). [78]
Scopolamine produces detrimental effects on short-term memory, memory acquisition, learning, visual recognition memory, visuospatial praxis, visuospatial memory, visuoperceptual function, verbal recall, and psychomotor speed. [79] [75] [76] It does not seem to impair recognition and memory retrieval, though. [76] Acetylcholine projections in hippocampal neurons, which are vital in mediating long-term potentiation, are inhibited by scopolamine. [76] [80] Scopolamine inhibits cholinergic-mediated glutamate release in hippocampal neurons, which assist in depolarization, potentiation of action potential, and synaptic suppression. Scopolamine's effects on acetylcholine and glutamate release in the hippocampus favor retrieval-dominant cognitive functioning. [76] Scopolamine has been used to model the defects in cholinergic function for models of Alzheimer's, dementia, fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome. [76] [81] [82] [83]
Scopolamine has been identified as a psychoplastogen, which refers to a compound capable of promoting rapid and sustained neuroplasticity in a single dose. [84] It has been and continues to be investigated as a rapid-onset antidepressant, with many small studies finding positive results, particularly in female subjects. [85] [86] [87] [88]
NASA agreed to develop a nasal administration method. With a precise dosage, the NASA spray formulation has been shown to work faster and more reliably than the oral form to treat motion sickness. [89]
Although a fair amount of research has been applied to scopolamine in the field of medicine, its hallucinogenic (psychoactive) effects as well as the psychoactive effects of other antimuscarinic deliriants haven't been extensively researched or as well understood compared to other types of hallucinogens such as psychedelic and dissociative compounds, despite the alkaloid's long history of usage in mind-altering plant preparations. [90]
Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets or mad apple. Other English common names include moonflower, devil's weed, and hell's bells. All species of Datura are extremely poisonous and psychoactive, especially their seeds and flowers, which can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmias, fever, delirium, hallucinations, anticholinergic toxidrome, psychosis, and death if taken internally.
Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Recreational drugs are commonly divided into three categories: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Acetylcholine (ACh) is an organic compound that functions in the brain and body of many types of animals as a neurotransmitter. Its name is derived from its chemical structure: it is an ester of acetic acid and choline. Parts in the body that use or are affected by acetylcholine are referred to as cholinergic.
Datura stramonium, known by the common names thornapple, jimsonweed, or devil's trumpet, is a poisonous flowering plant in the Daturae tribe of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Its likely origin was in Central America, and it has been introduced in many world regions. It is an aggressive invasive weed in temperate climates and tropical climates across the world. D. stramonium has frequently been employed in traditional medicine to treat a variety of ailments. It has also been used as a hallucinogen, taken entheogenically to cause intense, sacred or occult visions. It is unlikely ever to become a major drug of abuse owing to effects upon both mind and body frequently perceived as being highly unpleasant, giving rise to a state of profound and long-lasting disorientation or delirium with a potentially fatal outcome. It contains tropane alkaloids which are responsible for the psychoactive effects, and may be severely toxic.
Atropine is a tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic medication used to treat certain types of nerve agent and pesticide poisonings as well as some types of slow heart rate, and to decrease saliva production during surgery. It is typically given intravenously or by injection into a muscle. Eye drops are also available which are used to treat uveitis and early amblyopia. The intravenous solution usually begins working within a minute and lasts half an hour to an hour. Large doses may be required to treat some poisonings.
Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine (eggplant). It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey. Its distribution extends from Ireland in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada, North Africa and the United States.
Hyoscyamine is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid and plant toxin. It is a secondary metabolite found in certain plants of the family Solanaceae, including henbane, mandrake, angel's trumpets, jimsonweed, the sorcerers' tree, and Atropa belladonna. It is the levorotary isomer of atropine and thus sometimes known as levo-atropine.
Anticholinergics are substances that block the action of the acetylcholine (ACh) neurotransmitter at synapses in the central and peripheral nervous system.
Henbane is a poisonous plant belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of the nightshade family Solanaceae. Henbane is native to temperate Europe and Siberia, and naturalised in Great Britain and Ireland.
Deliriants are a subclass of hallucinogen. The term was coined in the early 1980s to distinguish these drugs from psychedelics such as LSD and dissociatives such as ketamine, due to their primary effect of causing delirium, as opposed to the more lucid and less disturbed states produced by other types of hallucinogens. The term generally refers to anticholinergic drugs, which are substances that inhibit the function of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.
An oneirogen, from the Greek ὄνειρος óneiros meaning "dream" and gen "to create", is a substance or other stimulus which produces or enhances dreamlike states of consciousness. This is characterized by an immersive dream state similar to REM sleep, which can range from realistic to alien or abstract.
Epibatidine is a chlorinated alkaloid that is secreted by the Ecuadoran frog Epipedobates anthonyi and poison dart frogs from the Ameerega genus. It was discovered by John W. Daly in 1974, but its structure was not fully elucidated until 1992. Whether epibatidine occurs naturally remains controversial due to challenges in conclusively identifying the compound from the limited samples collected by Daly. By the time that high-resolution spectrometry was used in 1991, there remained less than one milligram of extract from Daly's samples, raising concerns about possible contamination. Samples from other batches of the same species of frog failed to yield epibatidine.
Hyoscine butylbromide, also known as scopolamine butylbromide and sold under the brandname Buscopan among others, is an anticholinergic medication used to treat abdominal pain, esophageal spasms, bladder spasms, biliary colic, and renal colic. It is also used to improve excessive respiratory secretions at the end of life. Hyoscine butylbromide can be taken by mouth, injection into a muscle, or into a vein.
Biperiden, sold under the brand name Akineton among others, is a medication used to treat Parkinson disease, certain drug-induced movement disorders and Tourette Syndrome. It is not recommended for tardive dyskinesias. It is taken by mouth, injection into a vein, or muscle.
A muscarinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist, also simply known as a muscarinic antagonist or as an antimuscarinic agent, is a type of anticholinergic drug that blocks the activity of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs). The muscarinic receptors are proteins involved in the transmission of signals through certain parts of the nervous system, and muscarinic receptor antagonists work to prevent this transmission from occurring. Notably, muscarinic antagonists reduce the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system. The normal function of the parasympathetic system is often summarised as "rest-and-digest", and includes slowing of the heart, an increased rate of digestion, narrowing of the airways, promotion of urination, and sexual arousal. Muscarinic antagonists counter this parasympathetic "rest-and-digest" response, and also work elsewhere in both the central and peripheral nervous systems.
The muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M1, also known as the cholinergic receptor, muscarinic 1, is a muscarinic receptor that in humans is encoded by the CHRM1 gene. It is localized to 11q13.
N-Methyl-3-piperidyl benzilate is an anticholinergic drug related to the chemical warfare agent 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate.
N-Ethyl-3-piperidyl benzilate (JB-318) is an anticholinergic drug related to the chemical warfare agent 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate.
Tropane alkaloids are a class of bicyclic [3.2.1] alkaloids and secondary metabolites that contain a tropane ring in their chemical structure. Tropane alkaloids occur naturally in many members of the plant family Solanaceae. Certain tropane alkaloids such as cocaine and scopolamine are notorious for their psychoactive effects, related usage and cultural associations. Particular tropane alkaloids such as these have pharmacological properties and can act as anticholinergics or stimulants.
Cholinergic blocking drugs are a group of drugs that block the action of acetylcholine (ACh), a neurotransmitter, in synapses of the cholinergic nervous system. They block acetylcholine from binding to cholinergic receptors, namely the nicotinic and muscarinic receptors.
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: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)Delirium is only associated with the antagonism of post‐synaptic M1 receptors and to date, other receptor subtypes have not been implicated