Atropa belladonna L. is the commercial plant to produce tropane alkaloids including hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which are widely used as anticholinergic agents. In the present study, the genes encoding the key enzymes including putrescine N-methyltransferase (PMT) and hyoscyamine 6β-hydroxylase (H6H) were simultaneously overexpressed in transgenic hairy root cultures of A. belladonna. All of t...

A unique combination of genetic features and a rich stock of information make the flowering plant genus Oenothera an appealing model to explore the molecular basis of speciation processes including nucleus-organelle coevolution. From representative species, we have recently reported complete nucleotide sequences of the 5 basic and genetically distinguishable plastid chromosomes of subsection Oe...

The tribe Hyoscyameae (Solanaceae) is restricted to Eurasia and includes the genera Archihyoscyamus, Anisodus, Atropa, Atropanthe, Hyoscyamus, Physochlaina, Przewalskia and Scopolia. Even though the monophyly of Hyoscyameae is strongly supported, the relationships of the taxa within the tribe remain unclear. Chloroplast markers have been widely used to elucidate plant relationships at low taxon...

This single-blind placebo-controlled study was designed to investigate the dose-dependent vagolytic and vagotonic effects after a single oral administration of Atropa belladonna tincture (ABT, 0.1 mg/ml alkaloid concentration, atropine/scopolamine = 20:1). In eight healthy young subjects, heart rate and noninvasive arterial finger blood pressure were recorded simultaneously over 4 h after oral ...

A study of the plants, and their associated poisons, in Poison Garden at The Alnwick was undertaken across a calendar year. By selecting 25 plants Garden, we have been able to develop single chromatographic method for determination quantification 15 plant toxins by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Chromatographic separation achieved on C18 column (3.5 µm, 100 × 4.6 mm) with grad...

Modified Bubble Column Extraction with Ultrasonic Bath (BCE-UB) method was used to extract atropine from the stem and leaves of Atropa belladonna. Optimum condition were obtained with Kamada solvent which was chloroform-methanol-ammonia 15:15:1(v/v/v) as extraction solvent, the particle size of  less than  350 µm, an extraction time of 23.95 min, a liquor to material ratio of 15.08 mL/g and...